Page 77 of Pushed

Chapter Twenty

Machi

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It's done. She's gone.

I couldn't stay once I heard the gavel drop. The word had come out, the sale now set in stone. . . My job was over.

It was time for me to end it all. I knew Imperial was in the hands of another now, she had been purchased and there was nothing I could do but make sure this would never happen again.

Crossing the back of the stage, I found the small spiral staircase that led to Sylvan's office. The frail iron steps creaked and rocked as I shifted my weight up to the top. Gripping the railing, I took in a few deep breaths as his door came into view.

He was in there, he was always in there during the auctions. I'd watched the box seats from above in the auditorium, I'd seen his black mass, I watched him slither around like a snake, spying from the shadows.

I waited, biding my time until I knew for sure that Megan had been there. The word on the street pointed me there, the junkies and dealers she had used had been the ones to lead me right to him.

And until Hans, a part of me wanted to think that maybe the police where right. They ruled her death undetermined, placing most of the blame on her years of drug use and lack of morals.

She was another statistic, a girl who had wound up at the wrong place, possibly trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes. They told me that with women like her, this was inevitable.

I never believed them. I knew my sister, and they didn't.

When I first heard the rumors about Megan getting involved with men in the sex trafficking trade, the officer I spoke to laughed at me. He told me I was wrong and to just accept the fact that her death was probably caused by a dealer she owed money to, or the pimp she was supposed to work for.

My sister was not a hooker, she didn't sell herself for sex.

That was when I decided to set out on my own, find my way in and take care of them myself one by one.

If no one would listen to me, if no one else was going to fight for her, I would.

I just never expected to get in this deep, and I never expected to drag in someone who didn't want it.

This isn't just for Megan anymore. . . It's for Imperial too.

Pressing my toes snugly against the warped red door, I let my knuckles graze the wood. Listening, I heard two voices going back and forth and shuffling around inside. But no one came.

Knocking again, the room went dead silent, so quiet I could almost hear the intense thudding of the two heartbeats harbored inside.

Is that theirs? Or is it mine?

Was I afraid? No.

There wasn't any room in my muscles for fear or regret or remorse. All I felt was hate. Hate for what he took from me, hate for what he had his men do, hate for how he treated the women that came through those doors.

Slamming my hand against the door, I pounded it so hard flakes of paint fell off the ceiling and scattered around my feet.

“Who is it?”

“Machi.”

“You don't belong here, Machi.”

“Open the door, Ethan,” I snapped, as my fingers curled into my hand and bit the skin.

“You. Don't. Belong. Here.”

He's going to make me kick it down.