Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“You sure there’s no other way.”
I am holding my breath, terrified, and then the worst possible thing happens.
My phone rings.
Hugh’s name appears on the screen, and I frantically fight to press the end button, but it’s too late.
“Do you hear that?”
No, no, no, no.
“Fuck.”
The door flies open, and I’m faced with two men that I’ve never seen before. I have to think quick, because if I don’t, it’ll end very very badly for me. I use my greatest asset, the fact that I can speak another language. My mother spoke a lot of different languages when I was growing up, and her mother had taught her the native language and she had passed it onto me. Thankfully, it’s enough to hopefully get me out of this situation.
I start rambling like a crazy person, waving my hands around as if I was locked in the closet and they just saved my life. I then start asking them random questions, acting lost and confused. They stare at one another, and one man steps forward and grabs my arm, pulling me close. “What’s your name, girl?”
I ramble on, shaking my head in confusion.
“She don’t speak English ...”
“Maggie?”
I hear the sound of Hugh’s voice and jerk my arm out of the man holding me and rush toward him, I throw my arms around his neck and whisper into his ear. “Play along. Please.”
I start speaking a different language to him also, waving my hands and pointing to the closet.
Hugh takes a second, but he gets it.
“Sorry, she don’t speak English,” Hugh says. “What happened?”
The guys stare at him, narrowed eyes, studying his biker jacket that makes him stand out like a sore thumb in a place like this.
“Don’t know, she was in the closet.”
Hugh nods. “Sorry about that, she’s not ... well.”
He takes me by the arm. “Come on, let’s get you dressed.”
He walks me away before the two men can say anything else, but I have a sick feeling in my stomach, one that tells me they’re not just going to let it go. If they even have the slightest doubt about me, they’re going to want to make sure I don’t talk. Hugh takes me into a room, and pulls out a dress, handing it to me. “Want to tell me what was going on there?”
“Those ... those men were talking about selling women, and missing girls, and killing people, and then my phone rang and they heard me and I had to think quickly so they didn’t think I overheard them. But I did overhear them, Hugh ...”
“Maggie, hey.” He takes my shoulders and shakes me a little. “You gotta calm down, yeah?”
I take a deep, shaky breath. “Those men are selling women. Stealing them and selling them. They ... they’re monsters.”
“We’ll deal with that when we get back to the club, you did the right thing. For now, we’ve got to get out of here, yeah?”
I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.
This day just went from bad to worse.
Real quick.
10
I stare at the bikers in front of me, all of them watching intently as I tell my story. I tell them exactly what I heard, I describe the two men and the one name I heard, and I tell them what they were planning on doing. Hugh helped me get out of that hell hole, sneaking me out so none of those other nannies could see me. Delilah took Star home, and I’m thankful, because if I had to go down there and face them, I think I would have lost it.
Hugh let me have a shower and get changed and then we came straight to the club.
My nerves are shaken, and I feel sick to my stomach but here we are, and I’m glad I have these kind of people behind me right now, because I don’t feel safe and I don’t feel like those men are just going to let this go. They’re going to question if I was telling the truth, but if they doubt me, even just a little, they’re going to want to silence me and that’ll be a huge problem for everyone.
“You think they believed your act?” Riggs asks me, when I’m done talking.
“No,” I say softly. “Not enough to feel confident. They may have doubted me, and a few questions around that club will confirm that I do in fact speak English. It won’t take long to realize it was an act and when they do ...”
“We’re not goin’ to let anything happen to you, Maggie,” Hugh says, his voice firm and assuring.
“But they’re stealing girls, selling them. They’re monsters and now they are going to have their eyes on me. I don’t see how that’ll just go away.”
“Just gotta trust us,” Beckett murmurs. “It’s our job to make this shit go away.”