Page 105 of Behind the Shadows

“Sit, or I won't give you the answers you want.” He stared at me patiently, waiting.

Reluctantly, I sat down again.

“Lily and your uncle learned of an opportunity to dive deep into the underworld and have a part of the sex trafficking business. It was a huge moneymaker, and it funded a lot of my ‘missions’, if you will.”

“Your kills? Paying off people to not turn you in?”

“Exactly. We all met and discussed the possibilities of the business and what that meant for our futures.”

Bile swam up my throat as he referred to selling girls as a goddamn business. Everything inside me wanted to slit his throat. My hand instinctively went to my cross, but it was gone. My anger boiled over into a full-on rage that I was barely able to contain. That weapon was everything to me. It was marked with Holland’s arousal, the knife I used to protect myself and kill when I wanted to.

“Where’s my cross?” I glared at him.

“It’s safe for now. You’ll get it back when you leave. You have my word.” He motioned to the kitchen counter, and I saw my necklace near the sink.

“Like your word is something to be trusted.” My nostrils flared.

“I’m many things, Kip, but I do keep my word. You’ll see.” He reached for his water and took another sip. “Now, where was I? Oh yes. After much discussion, we all agreed that the best placeto run a sex trafficking ring would be right out of the church. Summer camps, youth groups, Halloween carnivals that weresafe.”

What the fuck?

“Pendleton offered his place; your mother attended religiously.” He chuckled. “Pardon the pun.”

I didn’t laugh.

“It was the perfect front. Everyone loved Pendleton and his sermons were very good. He was quite impressive. They didn’t put me to sleep like other pastors did. He was fun and engaged the congregation.”

I couldn’t believe the shit coming out of this man’s mouth. He sat in church, pretending to be someone good while he, my mother, and the pastor stole girls and sold them. Would he be happy to be reunited in hell with my mother? Regardless of how I felt, I had to play along. I was finally getting answers.

“I remember the church, I think. I was there with the pastor’s son a lot since Mother always dragged me there.”

“Yes, you did spend a significant amount of time there. Until you walked in on us selling Samantha and Ally. That’s when everything changed and measures were taken.”

46

HOLLAND

I followed Ella down the stairs to what she called Dope’s dungeon, the smell of weed making me scrunch up my nose.

“He loves his pot,” Ella said, fanning her hand in front of her nose. “I have no idea how he’s so fucking smart the way he smokes, but he’s a fucking genius.” She laughed.

“He probably uses it to slow down his brain. Often people self-medicate with whatever helps instead of medication with serious side effects. Has he ever mentioned OCD or ADHD?”

“Not outright, but he says the weed helps him focus. All it does is make me sleepy, and I struggle to string a sentence together.” She shook her head, her soft laugh bouncing off the walls.

I grinned as we entered the dark room where a redheaded, good-looking man sat at a desk with two computers whirring in the background and three large screens spanning his desk.

“Ladies.” He nodded at us as we joined him.

“Dope, this is Holland.” She sat on the loveseat as I reached out to shake his hand.

“Awww, the woman who brought Kip to his knees. You’re a badass just for that accomplishment.” He grinned at me.

My cheeks burned with his compliment.

“Don’t mind him. He literally has no filter. He’s not super good at reading the room, either.” Ella gave him a pointed look.

“It’s the weed. I’m slow to react at times.” Dope laughed, then sank into his computer chair. “It’s good to meet you, Holland. Kip has … well, he’s said some things.” Dope cleared his throat. “That came out wrong, but we’re all connected it seems, so no reason to beat around the bush. He told us about Draco and what you went through. When he couldn’t get in touch with you the other day, I saw my man unravel like never before. He’s in deep.” He rolled his chair up to his desk again.