Forsaken (The Found Book 2) (14 page)

“Look at her. She’s been beaten!” Seth grabbed the phone out of Sierra’s hands, and pressed play again. Annie and two other young girls were being led out of a business park office in the middle of the night. But the lighting from the parking lot clearly showed the youngest girl with her clothes torn and Annie with a bruised and swollen face. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.

The young girl was being abused, and Annie stepped in, which was when someone took a swing at her. God knew what other injuries she had sustained. It was obvious she was unsteady as she walked.

“How can you even be sure she was capable of making the God damn signal? Look at her!”

“The lighting was shit as they walked to the car, but Nate saw Annie talking to the other two girls, giving them a pep talk. She put her arm around the girl with the torn clothes as she started to cry. Annie was fully aware and taking charge.” Sierra gently pried the phone out of Seth’s fingers.

“What if Nate loses her?”

“He won’t lose her. We have the tracking device embedded under her skin, remember?” He’d remembered, he just wanted to hear her say it again.

“Was Leslie with them?”

“She was earlier. There was a shot fired in the building and a body taken out back.”

“Jesus, what if that had been Annie?” They stared at one another. Both of them knew it wouldn’t have happened. There is no way they would have killed what they considered
product
.

“It was one of the men who went in with Annie and the other two girls. Probably the one who roughed up Annie and the other girl.” Seth had to agree with that conclusion but he really didn’t give a shit. He made another grab for Sierra’s phone, but she stepped out of reach.

“You’re not doing yourself any good watching it over and over. We need to focus on the plan.”

“What plan? Letting Annie get raped, beaten and sold? That’s one hell of a plan you’ve all developed.”

“You’re the one who told us how this worked. You’ve got to trust us. We have a tracking device implanted in Annie. We’ve got Nate and Kota covering her 24/7. We’re going to find out where they are housed before they are brought in for the sales event you told us about.”

“Who the fuck is Kota? I thought you told me there wasn’t anyone else available for these operations?”

“As soon as Annie got chosen, we dropped part of what we were doing with Rixitron and got his ass on a plane out here. Kota is part of my naval team. He’s good, damn good, and he won’t let anything happen to our girl. None of us will”

Seth looked at the newly painted area of his office wall. It almost concealed where he slammed his fist. He wanted to do it again, but it wouldn’t do Annie any good. He needed to be ready to help her as soon as Leslie Gordon presented her for auction.

“I need to make sure I’m part of every event going forward. I can’t take the chance I’ll miss Annie.” Seth broke out into a cold sweat. He hadn’t been part of every party Leslie hosted. He pulled out his cell and pushed a button.

“Thiago, I’m done. I can’t stand it a minute longer.” Seth kept his eyes on Sierra as he spoke to Labado.

“Portia is a drugged up mess. I want out. I’ll continue to run Tomas’ company, but I want out of the marriage. I can’t keep this farce up a moment longer.” He saw the moment when Sierra caught onto what he was doing.

“Yes I’m serious. You can’t change my mind. You can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube.” Seth listened, and for the first time since seeing the video, found himself smiling.

“Yes, Thiago, if I had somewhere new to put the toothpaste I could tolerate this hell a while longer. What do you have in mind?” Sierra was grinning and giving him a thumbs up.

“I saw the girls Leslie had to offer, none to my taste. I’m very particular.” Seth listened to the drivel Thiago spouted, and it made him sick. The only thing allowing him to keep it together was knowing that wading through the horror would help him find and keep Annie safe, and eventually bring down the whole slavery ring. He pulled himself out of his musings.

“No Thiago, that won’t work. I don’t trust Leslie to know what I would like. If I can’t see all of the girls she has available, then I’m not interested. I’ll just leave now.” He waited, he knew he had won, Thiago would have to convince Leslie.

“Do what you can. I’m going to hire a divorce lawyer.” Seth pulled the phone away from his ear and gave Sierra a grim nod.

“All right, fine. I’ll come to your office tonight as long as you’re sure you can make this work with Leslie.” He put his cell phone back into his pocket.

“You sure know how to play him.”

“I would hope so, it’s been almost two years.”

“You know Annie won’t be in the first batch of girls they show you, they’ll want to have her healed up first.”

“Yeah, I know.” Seth eyed the wall again. He took a deep breath and prayed to every holy entity he could think of that Leslie would want to keep Annie in the best condition possible for upcoming auctions.

****

“Carson, my boy, it’s good to see you. I’m sorry things have gotten so intolerable at home. I think we can do something to make it easier on you.”

“I’m not so sure you can. I think I’ve waited too long, Thiago.” Seth took the proffered glass of bourbon and sat in Labado’s garish study. Portia had taken the name of his decorator and was in the process of redecorating Tomas’ mansion in the same style. Just one more thing making his eye twitch.

“Leslie will be joining us in a moment. I wanted to talk to you first. As you know, this project is her baby, and it took a little persuading on my part to convince her you should get first pick of the new stock.” Fuck, could there be a more demeaning way to refer to these poor abused women?

“I thought Leslie reported to you? You had to convince her? Help me to understand.” Seth worked hard to convey both respect and derision in his tone. It worked because Labado sat straighter in his wing-backed chair.

“Don’t misunderstand. Ultimately Leslie will do what I tell her. However, because she has done such an outstanding job with this endeavor I have granted her one favor—she gets to choose the pick of the litter, shall we say?”

Seth once again fought back a wince at the wording Labado chose. “I hope you explained the circumstances.”

“I did, and I have told her all of the stock must be made available to you to choose from. She was not particularly happy, and I’m sure you’ll notice. I wanted to warn you of her less than gracious mood before I invite her in.” Hell, when had Leslie Gordon ever been a degree above a cold fish?

“Thank you for the heads up. I also appreciate you making all of the women available for my inspection. As I said earlier, this is the last chance before I part ways with Portia. I can’t stand it anymore. Perhaps with some comfort…some solace…” Seth saw Labado’s eyebrow rise, and changed his tactic. “A woman who is totally under my control.”

“Exactly, that’s exactly what you need. Someone you can subjugate. Someone you can own and do with as you will. It will fulfill you, trust me. I have partaken of three of these women, and it has made me a better leader.”

“Why three?”

“The third one has staying power. But the first two? Well, they were satisfying in their own way.” Seth kept his face impassive, like when he witnessed his first execution, because it was exactly what was being described. At that moment he vowed Labado would never see the inside of a cell.

“Carson, it’s so good to see you.” Seth stood as Leslie Gordon entered the room. These two people who needed to die. He held out his hands, so she could take them, and lean in for a kiss on the cheek.

“I hear you changed your mind, and are now ready to avail yourself of one of my girls.”

“Yes, I am very interested or at least curious to see what you have to offer.”

“You didn’t appear to be a few weeks ago, as a matter of fact, you seemed put off by the whole thing when I initially introduced it. What changed your mind?”

“Portia. She’s a mess. I can’t stand it anymore, and I want a divorce. It’s not prudent, but there you have it. Maybe this will allow me to put up with this hell a bit longer.”

Leslie laughed. “Yes, no matter how pretty the package, if it’s filled with shit, you can only tolerate it for so long.”

Seth laughed with her. Thank God for his ability to blend in, he’d never needed it more.

“I have some lovely girls I planned to introduce tomorrow night. I really don’t want to show the buyers, and then say they can’t have someone because you get first right of refusal. Therefore, you’ll get a private showing first.”

“That’s very gracious of you. Are these all the girls you have?”

“No. These are the girls who are ready for presentation. We have some girls we just acquired. They will need some training before they are suitable for review.”

“I’m intrigued.”
What did I just say?? How have I not killed them already?
He would have to continue to trust this innate part of himself that would play the convincing part, until he could pound them into dust. “Is it really necessary for them to be trained first?”

“You really are a perverted fuck. I love it. So you like them with some fight. I think you should show him the new ones.”

“That’s impossible, they aren’t presentable.”

“I want to see them all, and I want to see them tonight,” Seth insisted.

“They are not all here. They are all over the country. Some of them are still being brought in to the country.”

“But you have some here in Miami you intend to train, and are ready to be auctioned, correct?” He pinned her with a glare, forcing her to answer.

“Yes, we do.”

“How new?”

“There are some we just got yesterday.”

“Perfect, I want to see those, as well as the ones you planned to auction tomorrow, and any others you might have in the pipeline. I don’t want to miss out. If I don’t find one that meets my needs Thiago, I will to file for a divorce.”

“Don’t be hasty. We need you to stay right where you are. With everything going wrong, our business cannot take one more upset.”

“Then you better hope I find something to meet my needs.” Seth left the room, praying Thiago would be able to able to convince the bitch she needed to show
every
girl they abducted.

****

“Stop, take me. Please, take me.” Annie gripped Ashley around the waist, trying to keep her in the cage. Sharon whimpered in the corner. Ashley was a dead weight, she wasn’t fighting, she was shell-shocked, but Annie fought enough for the two of them.

“Shut up, your turn will come. Kevin only likes blondes, and it’s his birthday.” The man with the greasy pony-tail pulled harder and Annie lost her grip. Maybe if Ashley had pulled back as well they could have won the fight.

“Bitch, are you so excited to be fucked? Don’t worry, we’ll be ready for you.” Annie was never so scared in her life.

“I thought Ms. Gordon said you were supposed to keep your hands off us.”

“Well the bitch isn’t around now, is she?” He watched Ashley fall to the floor. “Get up!” When Ashley didn’t move, he kicked her, and she still didn’t move.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s in shock.”

“Well, we’ll get her squealing in no time.” He threw her small body over his shoulder. Then slammed the cage shut, fumbling with the padlock. Annie grabbed at it.

“Bitch, if you give me trouble, I’ll take it out on your little friend. Right now we intend to have a little fun, but she could end up having a bad accident, do you want that on your conscience?”

Annie looked into his dead eyes, and dropped her hands.

“Good choice.” He set the lock. When he opened the door, he looked over his shoulder. “When I come back, you’re next sweet cheeks. I’m partial to brunettes with attitude. I love beating the fight out of them. My job is making you docile for the auction. I’m supposed to just scare you, but I’ve found my cock is the best way to get you to obey. Don’t worry, I know how to hurt you without leaving a mark.”

A man pushed through the door, shoving him back into the room, making him stumble with Ashley. “What the hell?”

“Kevin’s having second thoughts. He’s afraid of Ms. Gordon. You need to go talk to him.”

“Goddammit, what a pussy.” The first man handed over Ashley. “Put her in the cage, while I go talk to the birthday boy.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing. Just put her in the cage. She’ll be lively enough when we start playing.”

Pony-tail man left, and his friend fumbled with the lock and threw Ashley onto the cement floor of the cell, making her moan in pain. He followed his friend out the door.

Annie turned as the other woman in the cage, Sharon, groaned. “We’re going to die.”

“No. They kidnapped us, so they could sell us. We’re too valuable for them to kill us.” Annie sat on the cold floor, as she pulled Ashley’s head onto her lap, she briefly opened her eyes and gazed at Annie.

“I’m going to kill myself.”

“Don’t talk like that Sharon. We’re going to be rescued.”

“No we’re not. Nobody cares about us, we’re nobody. My parents kicked me out. There is no one who cares if I live or die.”

Annie looked at the young woman huddled in the corner, and realized she had lived a hard life. She had probably been picked up on the street.

“You have to believe it’s going to get better.”

“It never gets better, it only gets worse. Don’t talk to me.” She turned her head away, pushing her face between the bars so she could stare at the wall. Annie looked at the two women who were her cellmates and tried to stay calm, but she was beginning to lose it. She brushed Ashley’s pretty blonde hair with her fingers, praying she would just stay asleep. She’d meant what she’d said, she wanted them to take her and not Ashley. Ashley was too young to suffer. Annie knew she could survive. Her chin trembled and she bit her lip. With her cold, sweaty, and trembling hands, she continued to stroke Ashley’s hair. .

She knew Nate was outside. When they had planned all of this, they counted on the fact they wouldn’t want to abuse her she’d be in good condition for the auction. Annie knew this one of the risks, and she was willing to deal with it in order to stop this atrocity. Still contemplating rape in the abstract, and then seeing the eyes of the man who intended to violate her, she…