Page 4 of Merciless Protector

The sound of my rental car’s door closing ricocheted around the area where the loudest sound had been the howling wind and lapping waves. I swiftly made it to the gray door and leveled three sharp raps on it.

A man who looked like he was a professional bodybuilder stuffed in a suit opened it. I held up my phone and flashed the QR code that had been sent to me. The man scanned it with a handheld device and ushered me inside. He waved his hand. No words were exchanged for me to understand what to do next, but I assumed the position for a pat down.

As much as I wanted to be armed, there was no way to sneak in a weapon. The man would have found it the way he thoroughly checked me for any. Then he took my phone before waving me forward with no further instructions. If I had depended on my phone, I would have been fucked. Luckily, Griffin, the security expert in my band of brothers, and his security team assumed I wouldn’t have access to it.

I didn’t glance at the watch that had the look of an expensive, traditional one. Its old fashion clock face with exposed gears was as costly as it was attractive. Griffin’s team had taken it apart and added an emergency beacon to the watch crown. Two quick presses and the calvary would arrive. They’d made it two because no one wanted an accidental press to wreck the op.

From the hallway, I emerged into a room that was large and free of any furniture except for a large wooden rectangular table that sat in the middle. Apparently, I was late, as there was only one free seat left.

Connor knew the organizer and target. They’d gone to prep school together. The promise I’d made to David Royal lined up with the promise I’d made to my brother-in-law, which was to find the man of Connor’s childhood nightmares. That man, Ruin, sat on the back of the chair with his feet in the seat without tipping over and urged me forward.

“Come in,” he beckoned.

He sat shirtless, clad with a heavy metallic chain around his neck. Black leather pants on his legs, shit kickers covering his feet, and sporting spiky short bleached-blond hair. He might have looked charming and even welcoming, but evil lurked in his soul based on Conner’s allegations of abuse suffered at the hands of this guy.

Back then, Ruin and his pals had been rich kids at a boarding school, enabled by an adult to wield power over weaker kids. He disgusted me. I gave him a wolfish grin and walked forward, knowing I could play his game.

The open seat was the farthest on the right from Ruin, who sat at the head. Quickly, I glanced at the other men around the table. They didn’t look like the creeps they were. They looked like ordinary businessmen, wearing suits like me. Most appeared older than me.

Ruin clapped his hands to draw our attention. “As I was saying. Bidding will be done on the device in front of you. Make your first bid count, as that is all you will get. The highest bidder takes the unridden pony home.” He winked and my skin crawled. I fisted my hands in my lap before picking up the tablet. “Money must be transferred immediately in the form of cryptocurrency, as explained in advance.”

Those instructions had come in the invitation. Of course, we were supposed to be buying fillies. Fillies being young female horses. Using the word unridden made it clear we were buying virgins. His play on words was foul.

It was unlikely, even if everything went according to plan, we would recover the money I’d put up and exchanged for cryptocurrency. The point of using crypto was to keep the senders’ and receivers’ identities hidden. It was a good thing for me but bad for us to trace. Griffin had hired a hacker who would be tracking the money along with Connor. But even the best would have a hard time getting the money back.

I touched the tablet screen, bringing it to life. A program opened up. The sophistication of the app told me the level this man had put into his business of selling people. My anger was next level.

A parade of girls entered the room from the right. They were all dressed in blue with their hair in pigtails. They were young, for sure. Only one of them fit the description of Shawn’s sister. If I hadn’t known with certainty she was of age, I would have been mad at myself for the reaction I felt.

She was more beautiful in person than she had been in the snapshot I’d seen of her. Though she looked young, she didn’t look as young as the other girls. Her alluring hazel eyes landed on mine for a second. An all-consuming fire burned in me. I had to swallow to hide my reaction.

I glanced over at Ruin and immediately wanted to wipe the smirk off him.

Ruin waved over the first girl in line. A tiny brunette who couldn’t have been older than fourteen, by my guess, stepped forward. The poor girl wore a terrified expression. The crypto I had wasn’t limitless. I’d exchanged what I thought I would need. Still, when Ruin announced for us to make a bid on the girl, I placed one.

Though we hoped to rescue all the girls in the end, I had many other reasons to place a bid, including playing the part of a sicko. I also needed to see how this bidding worked. I had no idea what amount would win me David’s sister.

The app, as if driven by Ruin’s voice, opened. On the screen, the number 374 filled the top half. A smaller box on the bottom appeared. I touched it, and a screen view of a keypad appeared below, allowing me to key in a number.

A quick glance at the girl revealed that while I’d been looking at my screen, Ruin or someone had written the same number in red marker or lipstick on the little girl’s cheek.

I placed a modest bid of the equivalent of ten thousand dollars in crypto. With the rules of this bidding, I wouldn’t have an opportunity to bid up. If this bid wasn’t the highest, I’d lose. It was a good strategy on the part of Ruin. He didn’t waste time with a bidding war, and likely, the person who wanted to win would overbid to ensure their victory.

“Bidding is closed,” Ruin announced.

When he said nothing more, I looked back at the tablet. I hadn’t won. There was a list of numbers from bidders one to six, but not in order. I’d been labeled bidder five because the fourth line with that label was highlighted. I assumed that to mean that there had been three bids higher than mine.

A little blonde girl was next. She appeared slightly older, maybe fifteen or sixteen. This time, I kept my eyes forward and watched as Ruin wrote 672 on her cheek.

“Bidding is open,” Ruin announced.

The screen on my tablet flashed with the number 672 on top. This time, I upped my bid to twenty thousand.

After Ruin said the bidding was closed, once again, bidders one through six were listed. My bid was dead last. Only this time, I was labeled as bidder number three. So, the bidder numbers weren’t static. I wouldn’t know who I was bidding against because our bidder number changed. The only thing I could think of was we were assigned a bidder number based on the timing of our bids. Thus, the first time, I’d been the fifth person to enter a bid. This time, I was the third.

The only confounding thing was my lower bid the first time hadn’t put me last. My higher bid this time did. I couldn’t begin to think what these creeps desired. My only desire was to put them all away and get these girls back to their families.

I didn’t win the next bid, and I’d bid fifty thousand. Again, I was dead last. Nor did I win the next bid at two hundred thousand dollars. Only one other person had been less.

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