Page 73 of Lawless

“Ellis couldn’t find anything. Griff and his boys neither. But it turns out, Alana was hiding all the secrets. They have the power to ruin Victor and his inner circle along with many, many others across the country.”

“I was in Mexico yesterday meeting with Luciana Rivera.”

“The fucking cartel are involved in this shit?” Dev barks, his eyes wide.

“No, not the cartel. Luciana. She’s not working under orders, she’s out on her own with this.”

“Shit. What is it?”

Ellis is the one who speaks up, saving me the trouble.

“Dad and the others are involved in a human trafficking ring. They’ve been trading women and girls for years.”

“T-trading…” Devin’s voice trails off. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck,” I agree. “They sold Alana’s little sister when she was only thirteen.” My lips part to spill more of Alana’s dark past, but I quickly shut them again. They’re her stories and they don’t need to be exposed to anyone unless she decides to tell them herself. I’ve already taken enough from her. I should be thanking her for the intel, not fucking her life up anymore.

J needs her. Hell, Mav certainly needs her.

And I… am not fucking going there.

Ezra pushes to his feet, his fist curled tightly at his sides as his chest heaves.

“They’re all going to fucking hell,” he warns. “That is not how we do shit in Harrow Creek.”

“It won’t be soon. You’re with me, right.”

“Too fucking right, we are,” Devin answers for all of them.

“They’re still at the cabin,” Ellis says. He doesn’t need to agree, I already know he’s fully invested. After all, he was the one who installed the trackers in Alana’s nipple bars before I punched them through her skin.

19

ALANA

The first thing I notice when I come to is the pain.

My head is fucking throbbing, but I can’t remember why.

Everything is hazy.

Moving my arm is possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but after agonizing seconds, I manage to press my fingertips gingerly to my temple.

I hiss in a breath when I make contact and the pain multiplies to beyond unbearable.

I don’t cry, but that doesn’t stop fresh tears from leaking from my eyes as I desperately try to grasp what is happening.

Ripping my eyelids open is almost as hard as moving my arm, but once I manage it, I’m greeted with nothing but darkness.

My mouth is so dry it’s almost impossible to swallow. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that I’d swallowed a mouthful of the sand on the beach.

The beach…

I let out a soft sigh as I remember messing around in the ocean with Mav.

As we stood there splashing each other, I was able to laugh like I hadn’t in a very long time.

I was no longer an adult with a life that was only fit for films and novels; I was young and carefree and on vacation with the most important man in my world.

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