“She’s off-limits,” my father said. “That’s all you need to know.”
My father’s words didn’t make me feel any better. I already harbored so much guilt for what he had done to so many, and now I was being spared what Juliet had been forced to endure because I was his daughter? Not that I wanted to be beaten and raped, but my God. When had my father grown scruples? This was the same man who’d attempted to rape me seventeen years earlier. Who’d raped Gina. Who’d raped and tortured Talon.
Talon. Oh my God.
My mind whirled. I knew now how Ryan felt. He’d been spared Talon’s fate because he was Wendy’s son, just as I was now being spared Juliet’s fate because I was my father’s daughter.
A mixture of nauseous gratitude and disgust swirled through my mind and body. How could I be even the littlest bit thankful that I was the spawn of this monster?
I didn’t deserve to be handled with kid gloves. And I hadn’t been. He’d stuck me in that concrete cell with Juliet. Yet I had been spared the worst of it—what I’d been forced to witness happen to her.
Ryan and I had more in common than I’d ever imagined.
The thought of him warmed me. I hoped with everything in me that he hadn’t found the bread crumbs my father claimed he’d left. I couldn’t bear the thought of him wandering into a trap. I’ll find you, Ryan. I’ll do anything to get back to you.
My father eyed me, as if looking for me to say something.
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I said.
“You don’t owe me anything,” he said.
“You got that right.”
“She’s got a mouth on her, boss,” the other guy said. “And when I say mouth, I mean I’d love to shove my cock into it.”
My father stood and advanced on his goon, grabbing him at the neck. “You touch one hair on her head, and I’ll choke the life out of you.” He squeezed the man’s throat. “Do you understand me?”
“Sure,” the man rasped. “I get it, boss.”
“Now get the fuck out of here.” My father loosened his hold. “Take care of things yourself.”
“If you say so.” He rubbed his neck and left.
I suppressed a shiver. Theo’s fake blue eyes had held the look of an insane killer. He’d meant every word he said. I cleared my throat, determined not to give him the “thank you” he no doubt expected.
“So you’re bringing in new blood, huh?”
“Business doesn’t stop just because you’re here, Ruby.”
“Where’d you get this batch? Another raid on a resort? Or did you pick up some homeless people?”
He didn’t respond. Not that I expected him to.
“You do understand that I’m going to do everything within my power to free these innocent people and bring you and the rest of your goons down.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” he said, his voice resigned.
“Take me to them. The new ones.”
“No.”
“I’ll follow you when you leave here, then.”
“If I have to, I’ll chain you down. Do you understand me?”
I understood perfectly.
“Where’s Gina?”
He cleared his throat but again didn’t answer.
“Is she here?”
He let out a sigh. “If you must know, no, she’s not here.”
“Where is she, then?”
“She’s been sold.”
My gut nearly exploded as I swallowed back brine. Sold. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I fought back the need to vomit. “To whom?”
“I don’t have those records. We just provide the merchandise. We don’t deliver it.”
This time I couldn’t hold back. Though I tried choking it down, I threw up all over my father’s desk. The ramen I’d eaten made a second appearance.
“Now look what you’ve done,” he said.
“What I’ve done? My beautiful cousin, who you set up to look like she’d killed herself, is now someone’s property? I’m going to get her back, Theo, if it’s the last thing I do.”
“It may very well be. If she went where I think she did, her master is a powerful man.”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
“He should.”
Yes, he probably should. But right now my anger was taking over.
“Those other kids who were taken around the same time that Talon was… Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“Ruby, that was twenty-five years ago. Kids are sold, but they eventually grow up. I don’t know what’s done with them after that. It’s not my business.”
“Not your business? These are human beings!” I stood and threw the tray still holding ramen onto the ground. I fought back more retching. “How did you get like this? How, for all of these years, have you been able to treat people like things to be bought and sold? Used and abused? How?”
He sighed, his countenance resigned. “It’s a long story.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ryan
Raj went down first, and then Talon. Because Talon had freaked a bit during practice, we’d decided to let him go in the middle. Finally, I dropped into the dark water. We were using lights since we’d otherwise be basically blind. I’d been prepared for the noise. Breathing through a regulator was loud, and it had startled me during our practice runs. Inhale, and then exhale fully. I’d done okay during practice, but now my nerves were frazzled. I had to stay calm, or I’d hyperventilate. I turned my head to look to each side. My mask cut off part of my peripheral vision, and I was surprised at how much I missed it. Raj had taught us some hand signals to communicate with each other underwater, but vision would be limited because it was nighttime. He was taking us toward the island. I tried to control the urge to continuously adjust. He’d told us to relax and let the water take us where we needed to go.
Talon swam ahead, between Raj and me. I kept my eyes on his fins and followed.
I tried to calm my rattling nerves by making Talon my anchor. Keep your eyes on Talon.
He seemed to slow down. When my mask bumped his fins, though, I knew something was amiss.
I stared at him, looking for hand signals. I gave him the okay sign, questioning him.
He didn’t “okay” back. Was he even looking at me?
One of his arms flailed out suddenly. I went closer, and when I saw his eyes through the glass of his mask, sheer panic looked back at me.
What was wrong?
Raj was ahead of us, but if something was going wrong with Talon, I couldn’t afford to take the time to alert Raj. I tried the okay signal once again, and again Talon offered no response. Bubbles rose from his mouth in a constant stream instead of shutting off between breaths.
When his arms started flailing, I knew I had to act.
Was he breathing? I couldn’t tell. He hadn’t used the “out of air” signal, but then he hadn’t used any signals at all. I ripped my octopus out of its holder and offered it to him.
Talon spat out his regulator and grabbed the octopus, inserting it into his mouth. He took what looked to be two long breaths.
I gave him the okay sign again, and this time he returned it. I pointed upward, indicating that we should rise to the surface.
His tank must have malfunctioned. When we reached the surface of the water, I pulled the regulator out of my mouth. “What the hell happened?”
Talon removed my extra regulator and took a long, deep breath. “I don’t know,” he said, still breathless. “My air started coming really fast. Like a fire hose. I didn’t know what to do.”
Raj rose to the surface and swam back toward us. “Everything okay?”
Everything was not okay, or we wouldn’t have come up. But I didn’t say that. Talon was still a little breathless, so I spoke. “He had a problem with his tank and regulator. The air started coming really fast.”
“Free flowing. Shit,” Raj said. “We’re close enough that we can swim from here.”
About ten minutes later, we reached a point where we could stand on the ground and get our shoulders out of the water. Although we removed our fins, walking with all the equipment was arduous, but we soon reached the sandy shore.
Talon was still visibly shaken up, his body rigid and tense.
“Why didn’t you signal?” Raj asked him.