Page 58 of Verses and Blooms
Audrey was strong. So fucking strong. This wasn't something anyone should have to face again, especially after just getting her back after her second time in a place like that.
She flipped through the next several pages while everyone barely made a sound. Hell, we barely breathed.
“Was the facility you were taken to this time the same as before?” the chief asked against the silence.
Audrey shook her head, glancing up at him. Her mismatched eyes were shadowed now, but her mind was sharp. She wasn’t letting this take her down.
“No. I remember distinctly when they took me to that ditch the first time. They thought I was as good as dead, but I opened my eyes as they were carrying me out. I saw a glowing neon sign and for some reason that stood out to me. I couldn’t seem to let it go until they were long gone.”
“What was on it?” Ansel asked.
She tilted her head, letting out a humorless laugh. “Roller skates.”
The chief tapped at his phone quickly, sending a message to Sanchez’s team.
“The neon sign was closer to the ditch, or where they carried you out?” I asked. We had to be specific to find this place.
“The ditch was in the middle of nowhere. I just saw the sign and it stuck with me until I had to crawl my way out of that ditch,” she clarified before glancing back at the paper.
“The middle portion might be a bit dry. It’s mostly suspected business façades, connections, and accounts. A lot of technical mumbo-jumbo. You can skip that part if you’d like,” the chief offered.
Audrey did, skim-reading and flipping pages until she reached one full of pictures.
Women, men, omegas, betas, all looking like wraiths.
Each and every one of the women was in that same dirty white dress. The men white boxers only. You could see the dark shadows and sunken features, bones sticking out of sunken malnourished skin.
Blinking rapidly to clear her fresh tears, my omega studied every single face. There were no names, only numbers. Likely to protect their identities. Her finger traced the features of a girl with dark hair and bruises under her eyes, her lip bleeding, and pure venom in the glare she sent at whoever took the photo.
“She’s dead,” Audrey whispered. “Her name was Sam. She was there when I arrived, and she never stopped fighting. She got a few other girls to fight back, trying to take over the guards so we could escape. They caught her. The guards tortured her in front of us, in every imaginable way. She never stopped fighting until her last breath. I can still hear those screams.”
I could feel the echoes of her pain through the bond, and my own eyes burned in response.
“Sometimes I ask myself if I should’ve fought harder. That maybe I could’ve saved her.”
“No,” the chief said firmly. “You couldn’t have. She was a fighter and went out like a true hero. But they would’ve killed every one of you who acted the same way. You survived, and now you’re on the other side. You’ll show your strength by fighting them beside us. People who are trained to take an operation of this caliber down.”
She studied him, not looking away as their gazes locked. He was treating her like a daughter now, making sure she understood that she hadn’t shown weakness, she survived. I think she needed to hear it from someone other than us.
“If you weren’t here now, we wouldn’t know who was involved. You’ve given us more than you realize already. Sanchez has new leads to follow and we’re going to look into this signand your parents. I’m sure the names they used with this group weren’t real.”
“No,” she admitted softly. “The names were unfamiliar, but I know those faces.”
“We’ll figure out the answers you need,” he promised. “And we’ll talk to Sam’s family. Let them know how strong she was.”
Audrey’s eyes drifted closed, sending a fresh wave of tears down her cheeks. When she opened them, they were glassy but clear enough to see the page. She continued studying each and every face meticulously, not skipping a single one.
I was so damn proud of her. She wasn’t just facing her fears and her trauma, she was doing her best to save lives.
Audrey named a few more of the victims, and when she reached the list of male omegas, she named even more.
Our girl was more observant than she gave herself credit for. Just seeing a picture was enough to bring about new memories and names. It was hard on her and we’d have to be extra gentle with her tonight.
When she turned to the final page, it was the one with the chief’s daughter. She was the one they had the most information on. He’d given them a whole profile of her own with every detail he could.
Audrey’s eyes lit up, and she glanced at the chief, her voice frantic.
“Is this your daughter?”
