Chapter 6: GABRIEL

I looked up at the roof of the building where one of my guys was lounging, waiting for some action. I didn't want to yell up to him or give his position away, so I pulled my phone and hit the number three. "Where did he go, Wolf?" I swear that fuck sniffed the air.

"He just crossed the town limit; why?"

"Bring him back, but not here, you know where. And Wolf, I want him alive!"

"On it!" I barely saw his shadow on the side of the building across from where he'd been as he leaped to the ground about twenty feet below and took off at a sprint. "Use the car, Wolf, or grab a bike; this isn't the desert."

I heard him stop even though I could no longer see him. "Oh, yeah, okay." I shook my head and hung up as I heard an engine roar to life somewhere on the other side of the lot. Finally, I was getting somewhere. I worked the kinks out of my neck and headed back inside.

I felt eyes on me as I walked but paid no attention to the men who were lounging about in the yard. Some of them, the ones I'd cleared, were going about their tasks while the others were still waiting for me to vet them. There had been more than a few grumbles about that decision, but most of these fucks were suspect as fuck, and I don't do business with scum no matter the situation.

A few had tried pulling the seniority card before I reminded them that I'm not my dad and whatever the hell they had going on with him had nothing to do with me. It's like a business takeover; it's up to the new owner if he keeps on any of the old staff or not. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of the whole lot of them and close up shop, but then that would defeat the purpose, and I wouldn't do what I'd come here for.

I'd not thought of the girl, Silla, for the last five minutes or so, but as soon as I crossed the threshold of the clubhouse where I'd left her and her mom that face, those eyes, and that mouth came flooding back to memory. She's certainly not what one would expect in a place like this. It's literally like finding a diamond in the rough.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was somebody's plant. She wouldn't be the first beautiful woman my enemies had sent to entrap me. But she was too green. The look in her eyes was too innocent for her to play the game. Plus, I knew her family's history, and she grew up here as far as I know and had never left the small town.

The only question now is, what the hell am I supposed to do with her? It's obvious that she's not like the other women that hang around here, and I'm thinking that's thanks to the mother as timid as she is. Somehow she'd been able to keep her daughter out of the clutches of these miscreants all these years with no help from the sperm donor, obviously.

What the fuck had my dad been doing anyway to leave a situation like that for so long? He had to have known something was wrong there because today was the third time I had to deal with Sam since I came here, and there's no way he'd just started being an asshole.

What's more, dad didn't mention him to me; in fact, he didn't mention any of them, his focus being only on finding out who was using his outfit to traffic human flesh. I gritted my teeth and clenched my jaw as I headed back to the room where she was.

The name I got from Billy was just a start, but it was something. It was also the first real lead I'd gotten that might help with what I'd promised dad to take care of. Human trafficking isn't something I've worked with before, but since tracking down assholes is one of my specialties, I guess the old man saw me as a good fit.

I wasn't expecting it to be easy, but I don't think I'd expected a bunch of uneducated dirtbags to have their shit this together, either, which leads me to believe that dad had been barking up the wrong tree. No way, one of these assholes was the brain behind a setup as sophisticated as what dad had discovered, and I was having trouble finding that thread to tug on until today.

But now I have a new headache; where the hell am I supposed to put her for the time being while I clean this shit up? It stands to reason the real buyer had either seen her and special ordered or had put in a bid for a specific type, and she fit the bill.

Either way, she's in danger until I get this shit over and done. I walked back into the room, where it looked like neither woman had moved since I'd left. I studied her bent head for the longest of seconds while trying to come up with something.

I could send her to the safe house, but that was too far away, too many miles between here and there. This one for reasons I refuse to look at too closely, for now, I want to keep in my sights. Her I want to watch over myself and not leave it to someone else to do. I'll question why that is later; right now, I want her out of here and away from this filth.

"Silla!" There was no real reason to call out to her; I just wanted to see that face again that she was hiding from me. When she lifted her head and looked at me, I felt the air flow through my lungs easily again, but that pain in my chest that seemed to be centered directly over my heart wasn't getting any better; in fact, it seemed to be amplified the longer I stood there looking at her.

There was a flush of embarrassment on her cheeks, and I realized how ashamed she must be that her own father was about to sell her to someone else. Misplaced as it was, I understood. "Look at me." I waited for her to lift her head again and took the hit to my senses when she did.

A vision of me holding her close, offering comfort flashed through my head, and I bit it back. Since when do I allow wayward thoughts to infiltrate my mind? Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep; it's for certain that my nutrition has suffered since coming here to this town of greasy food and beer, which seems to be the main staple in these parts.

That's not it. I've been getting by on four hours sleep since I signed up, and my personal chef is still on the clock. It's her; she's fucking up my equilibrium and doing it so effortlessly it should be a crime. What the fuck was I about to say to her again? One look at her solemn face reminded me. Oh, yeah.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, but the two of you can't stay in your home for a while."

"What? Why?" She reached for her mother's hand, and the two of them clung to each other like survivors of a wreck. Should I tell her that Billy wasn't the real buyer, that there was someone else behind it?

No, that would only scare her more than she already is. It would be the first time I'd let emotion get the better of me, but I knew even before a plan began to form fully in my head that there was no way I was going to tell her the truth, not now, because I didn't want her to be afraid.