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I know Teigan was only doing what she had to do to survive, to get through another day, but every fibre of my being wanted to see her fight. I wanted to catch a glimpse of the girl I once knew, who would have handed a guy like The Sheriff his ass without even hesitating. She was fierce and strong, and took no shit from anyone. I wanted to see that girl fight back, and when she didn’t, it broke that little black thing in my chest, that used to be a heart even more.

On the morning of the auction, my nerves are at an all-time high, as I try to mentally prepare for any situation that might come my way. I plan to work out in the gym until I’m exhausted and then head to my room.

The further I can keep away from people, the better. I should have known all that would go out of the window when Kian informed me there was a family meeting in thirty minutes. Before I have time to grumble and tell him I won't be coming, he says it’s mandatory and slams the door.

Exactly thirty minutes later, I make my way to the meeting room, and I’m not surprised to find I’m the last person to arrive. I take the only remaining empty seat, not bothering to say hello to any of my family. I can feel all their eyes on me, but I ignore everyone.

A few seconds later, Bree clears her throat and begins addressing the room. “Thank you, everyone, for coming. We need to talk about tonight.”

I roll my eyes. “What’s there to talk about? I go in, win the auction, and bring Teigan home. End of.”

Bree lets out a sigh as Liam groans beside her. I finally lift my eyes to look at my family, and they’re all wearing matching looks of concern. Bree’s gaze locks on mine, and despite my glare, she doesn’t look away. “Look, Evan. I know you have your own plan for tonight, but as far as we are concerned, there’s a much bigger picture that we need to take care of, too.”

My brow furrows. “Like what?”

Liam scoffs beside her. “Did you not see the other nineteen people who are up for auction? Some of them are children, for fuck’s sake. We can’t just sit here, watching the auction, and not help them. Besides, this is the best opportunity we’ve had to learn about The Aristocracy in a long time. Whitlock told us that at least one other leader will be there, and that’s too good an opportunity to pass up.”

All of a sudden, nobody in my family is able to look at me, and it’s clear I’m in the middle of something here that I know nothing about. “Why do I get the feeling there are things going on here that I don’t know about?”

Bree lifts her chin defiantly. “Because there are.”

My lips twist into a scowl as I glare at my sister-in-law. “Why did you keep me in the dark? What don’t I fucking know?” I sound menacing, but Bree doesn’t look even a little intimidated. If anything, she rolls her eyes like she’s bored with me.

“We didn’t keep you in the dark deliberately. You were invited to every meeting we’ve held over the last week, but you’ve refused to attend them all. If you had been here, you’d know what everyone else knows,” she snaps.

“And what is it that everyone knows?”

I wait for Bree to answer, but it’s Shane who speaks. “We needed to get more information. Specifically, we needed to know who would be bidding against you. So, after much discussion, me and Ryleigh went undercover to the club a couple of nights ago. We requested a private audience with Lilly, who confirmed that Teigan is doing well, and she’s been left alone like we requested. She told us everything she knows about who has shown interest in bidding on Tee. She also gave us a little more information about The Aristocracy as a whole. We’re better prepared now.”

Kellan clears his throat. “We needed to know who you’d be bidding against, so we could show you have more money available than they do. The Sheriff told us you’d have to present your funds to prove you can afford any bids you make. We didn’t want to play our hand before we knew what others were doing. Now we know what their budgets are, I was able to set up a dummy bank account, to make them believe you have more money than you do, so you can afford the winning bid.”

I ignore Kel completely and turn my glare back to Shane. “Are you telling me you took my baby sister to an illegal underground sex club?”

Everyone around the table groans, but it’s Ryleigh that scoffs the loudest. “Don’t you fucking dare try playing the big brother card now! You don’t give a shit about anyone in this room. We’re here to help you, to help Teigan, and you don’t even have the decency to treat us with even a little respect. You may be family, and we do anything for our family, but I’m telling you right now, my patience with you is wearing very thin. So stop being an asshole and start acting like a part of this family.”

My eyes widen in shock as my little sister—clearly, no longer as little as I see her in my head—slams her fist down on the table, glaring at me. Bree chuckles. “She’s got a point. We’re all on your side, Ev. So stop acting like you have to do it all alone.”

“Fine. Sorry,” I grumble.

Kian, the cocky asshole that he is, chirps loudly. “Sorry, can you repeat that a little louder for the people who didn’t hear it?”

I glare at him, and his mouth tilts into that smirk that tells me he heard me just fine, but he enjoys making things hard for me. “I said I’m sorry. Now, let’s get back to fucking business, shall we?”

Liam, taking pity on me, gives me a small smile as he pulls the meeting back on track. “I know your priority is getting Teigan out safely, and we completely understand that, but we all agreed that we couldn’t sit by and watch those people get sold into who knows what kind of shit situation.”

“I’m assuming you have a plan?” I ask.

This time, it’s Bree’s turn to wince. “Not really. We’ve tried everything, but the information is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Even Kellan can’t hack the database to find out the identities of the bidders.”

Everyone looks to Kel, who looks fucking devastated. “It’s top level shit. All the people who have been approved to bid in the auction have been entered into the system under a code name. I can see how much their maximum bids will be, and the Lots they’ve shown interest in, but I have no way of matching that information to who they are.

“I’m trying to break into the main members’ database, but I’ve never seen security like it. They have a top level hacker working for them, who has spread all the information out over different programs, using some high-security code. Even if I crack one system, I only get a piece of the puzzle, and no way to link it to the other pieces I’ve found. It’s crazy, but really fucking clever.”

“So what do we do?” I ask.

“We’re going to have to go old school. We are going to have several unmarked vehicles scattered around outside the event.When each winner leaves with their Lot, a team will be assigned to follow them. As much as I’d like to intercept each one as they’re getting away, it’s too risky. We need to follow them, gather as much information as we can, and move when the time is right,” Bree explains.

I’m shocked when it’s Ryleigh that shouts at her. “So what, you’re just going to let those poor children be taken to the home of their abuser? How long will they be there before we set them free? So much bad shit can happen to them, even if we only leave them there for an hour. How many of those little kids will still be virgins when we rescue them?”