Page 180 of Mad As Hell

Ryan sat in the other chair, and I went to sit alone on the third sofa, but Ryan hooked an arm around my waist and tugged me onto his lap.

I didn’t bother resisting. He seemed to like putting me there as much as I loved being able to cuddle against him.

When Mr. Harris smiled at us, I relaxed even more.

“How did things go in Budapest?” Ash asked, looking at Royal.

“No issues. We got all three relocated. Everything went the way it was supposed to,” he reported, all business.

“Three?” I interjected.

Royal’s gaze flicked to me with… annoyance? “I thought she was aware of what we were doing.”

Ryan stiffened beneath me, but I didn’t need him to defend me from this royal jackass.

“She is right here and has a name,” I snapped. “And I’m so sorry if I don’t know all the shorthand jargon yet, but I’m learning.”

“Three kids,” Bishop explained, shooting his older brother a glare. “They were being moved from Indonesia to Budapest under fake visas as exchange students. We intercepted them before they could be sold off and found stable housing for them where they’ll be treated as kids and not indentured servants for the next fifty years.”

“Jesus,” I murmured, looking at Bex who looked as ill as I felt.

“Couldn’t some of them just go back home?” Bex asked.

Court touched her leg, the gesture both comforting and intimate. “Who do you think sold them, sweetheart?”

She recoiled in horror.

“It happens more than you’d think,” Linc added. “Especially in rural areas of poor countries. Sometimes the parents think they’re giving their kids a chance at a better future, but a lot of times it’s just greed.”

I sat back as the guys discussed another upcoming mission—apparently there was a new shipment going to Linc’s father’s club in Buenos Aires at the same time as the one in Morocco. The guys were split on which group to save, but both weren't an option.

“This is why we need a second team,” Linc fumed, running a hand through his hair. “We need more people so we can spread out more.”

“We could try splitting—”

“No,” Royal snapped, cutting Knight off with a sharp look of reproach. “There’s only three of us as it is. Maybe when Cas finishes his last tour and joins us we can consider breaking into pairs, but even then…” His dark eyes cut to Linc, and he heaved a heavy breath. “Kent’s not content moving a couple women or kids around at a time. He and Jasper are talking about moving up to a larger scale. They met with the Russians last week. They’re finalizing everything in the next few weeks.”

Court sat up, eyes wide. “How the hell did we miss that?”

“Because we’ve been too preoccupied with Gary and Beckett,” Ash muttered, clearly frustrated. “Fuck.”

“Russians?” I pressed, looking at Ryan.

His mouth flattened. “They operate one of the biggest trafficking networks in the world. If Linc’s and Court’s dads start using them, it opens up a huge network that will be damn near impossible to shut down.”

“Everything hinges on them being able to buy in,” Ash argued. “They don’t have that kind of capital.”

“Yet,” Linc protested. “But Beckett and Gary could, theoretically, decide to play nice with each other again, and then…”

“We need to stop Gary and Beckett now,” Ryan mused.

Mr. Harris cleared his throat. “How much is left before we would gain control of Cain Industries?”

Ash sighed. “With all the shares we’ve bought up, we have forty-three percent. We don’t have controlling interest.”

“You own forty-three percent of Cain Industries?” Bex gaped at them.

Ash smirked and nodded. “We’ve been slowly buying them up under different shell companies owned by Phoenix. Beckett thinks he’s selling off tiny pieces of his companies to help keep his accounts flush and subsidize the money he’s been hemorrhaging from bad investments. When we finally get enough to have controlling interest in CI, we’ll merge all the shell companies under Phoenix and we’ll own Cabot Industries.”

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