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CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

A set of footsteps clomped out from the shadows, and Nina’s heart lurched. When Robert had set up his plan, she’d been sceptical. For one, he’d insisted she sit in a car, safe from all of this. Fat load of good that had done her! And second, the man was grieving – not his wife but all the time he’d wasted on a lie. But sometimes the only way forward was to burn bridges. Still, Robert’s plan hadn’t included so many thugs. It should’ve though. And it certainly hadn’t included them being bound and kidnapped.

And their wee surprise – where the hell was it?

Anne leaned into Robert, her body moulding to his, and Nina hissed, her inner green-eyed monster urging her to wring the other woman’s neck.

When Anne flung her hands – her right hand still clutching the knife – around Robert’s neck, angling so Nina could see, Nina clenched her jaw.

Then Anne rose on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Robert’s lips.

Nina should stab the bitch. If not for the fucking ropes binding her limbs, she would have.

‘No, Anne.’ Robert’s tone came out flat but infused with enough steel that Anne leaned back.

The bitch shook her head. ‘Is that how it is? Be faithful to the… mistress, not your own wife.’

‘I think you need to sit back and have a think about marriage.’ Robert stepped away from Anne. ‘If there’s one thing you know about me, it’s that I don’t like liars.’

Anne let go of him, shaking her head. ‘You’ve led such a sheltered life. Yes, you were raised by a single mother, but you’ve always had a roof over your head, a goal for your life.’ She wound her way to Nina. ‘You’ve never known cold, poverty. Never known the prospects a girl has in most countries of the world. I broke those barriers, just like your little lover here.’

Anne’s fingers intertwined in Nina’s hair, tugging at the strands as she went. ‘We got out, made a life for ourselves. But unlike this whore?—’

Anne kicked Nina in the ribs, and pain zapped through her side, but she bit back the scream of pain; Anne wouldn’t get the satisfaction.

Anne’s wee tirade continued. ‘Unlike this husband-stealer, I now make it so all girls have an out.’

Robert hissed, ‘By trafficking them?’

‘Potato, potatoh.’

Nina gritted her teeth. Human trafficking never gave anyone any power or a potential future. And while Nina helped people learn the truth, Anne betrayed their hopes.

Robert shuffled, inching closer to Nina. Anne whirled round, knife held up. ‘Stay right there.’

‘You traffic innocent women, make them live terrible lives and profit off of them.’ Robert shook his head. ‘No matter how you explain it, it’s shameful.’

‘What should I do? Pay for their uni tuition instead?’

Robert’s jaw set at that comment, and Nina remembered Daisy mentioning the huge fight they’d had when Robert had used the money he’d saved for IVF treatment at a private clinic on Daisy’s tuition. Robert laughed, and finally a single tear slid down his cheek. Even in the dim light, it glinted. ‘You were never pregnant, Anne.’

‘It was fun to see you break every time I gave you the news,’ Anne snarled. ‘As if I’d have your child.’

That was it. Nina had heard enough vitriol from this woman. Besides, their wee surprise was late – really late.

She scooted forward on her knees, then shoved her shoulders straight into Anne’s legs. Those heels weren’t such a great choice now, were they? The bitch crumpled to the ground, and the knife skittered against the dirty floor.

Anne screamed just a second before Robert leaped into action. Footsteps, then hands grabbed Nina. But she rolled, despite the pain it caused her hands – then kicked out. Her feet collided with a wall of human muscle. She aimed lower the second time, jack-knifing.

‘Argh!’ She’d hit home.

From her right, there was more yelling and punching.

Then Anne screamed again. ‘Get ’em!’

No chance in hell. Nina crunched into a foetal position, then jabbed her feet into the man’s knees… She— Oh hell!

Pratt, the thug who’d previously abducted her at the airport, picked her up like she weighed no more than a bag of puffed rice and barked something in a language she didn’t recognise. Fuck this. When society had restricted her, she’d fought back. And with Pratt restraining her, Nina reacted, relaxing her entire body, so she became dead weight. He grunted and then dropped her, which gave her just enough time to ram her knees into his nose.

A crack echoed throughout the room, and Pratt staggered back, instinctually reaching for his face. Once more, Nina raised her feet and kicked straight into the buff man’s family jewels. Over the years, she’d realised that was the quickest way to impair a man.

And with the slight heels on her boots, Nina’s second kick to the man’s nuts had the behemoth crumpling to the floor.

Nina grinned. ‘Softie.’

She struggled over to him and used his body as cover. He still squirmed, but his width hid her from the other attackers.

On the other side of the room, Robert fought. He’d somehow freed his cuffed hands and looked to have grabbed the knife Anne had been brandishing. But him against five men… he wouldn’t last long.

Wait, five men? Nina’s eyes darted around. She’d only felled two, and Robert… Well, he’d injured a few of the men attacking him, but judging by the ribboned remains of his T-shirt, they’d also got him good.

What had happened to the rest of the bevy?

Looking around, Nina noticed two things – no Anne or Dickheadson, and the smell of kerosene.

A memory slammed into her. The same pungent odour fighting with the overpowering stench of blood. Jonas writhing on the floor, and Nina – bound, gagged and groggy.

Just like she felt right then.

A thunk drew Nina out of her flashback. The giant was moving again. Hell no!

Nina kicked the man in the side, knowing it wouldn’t affect him. But he moved, slightly, giving her exactly what she searched for – a knife, tucked into his belt. She grabbed the hilt and tried to saw through her binds, but the knife clattered to the floor. Damn it!

Once more, Nina picked it up, this time holding the other side of the blade, and nicked her own skin. ‘Fuck!’ She tried once more, angling the blade so it found the rope.

Fuck, how had Robert freed himself from actual freaking metal cuffs when she struggled to get the ropes off?

Grunting, Nina angled the knife and tried again. Pratt must have recently sharpened the thing, because it sliced through the thick rope like it was molten butter.

Nina turned and cut through the ties holding her feet together. Then she pulled the gag out and shook herself.

Right, where the hell were Dickheadson and Anne? They’d taken around ten thugs with them.

Holding on to the knife, Nina rushed towards where Robert had just felled two men, and was just about to stab a third man when he toppled at her feet.

She blinked at Robert. The man looked like he’d been to war. Blood stained his torso, and his shirt had ripped, showing off those incredible muscles. And his jaw was set in a determined snarl. ‘Get Anne. She fled out the back door.’

‘But—’

Another thug went down.

‘Now, Nina!’

As much as she wanted to stay back and help, Robert didn’t appear to need assistance. He’d single-handedly punched his way through all these men. Anne was right. When the fighter came out in Robert, the man became even hotter.

Storing her appreciation for later, Nina ran towards the back door.

The sounds of grunts from behind her faded until all she heard were her own ragged breaths. She burst through an emergency exit door and splashed into a puddle.

Nina blinked. She’d emerged in an unlit alley – and it was empty.

Taking another calming breath, Nina shut her eyes and listened. There – a faint scuttle of feet and the rustle of clothes.

Pivoting to the left, Nina stuck to the shadows even as she picked up her pace to a jog. When she neared the end of the alley, she halted. Here, the footsteps sounded more pronounced.

And then she heard a car engine. Anne was getting away, and their wee surprisestill wasn’t here.

‘Leaving so soon?’ Nina emerged, staring at the dark SUV. It was the same one Robert had spotted outside Shah’s shop.

The woman entering the car froze. ‘How the fuck did she get away again? Kill her!’

Nina held up her hand – after tucking the knife in her back pocket. ‘Come on, seriously? You framed me for murder, then tried to abduct me and kill me, not to mention you blew Shah’s brains out right in front of me. Surely you can finish the job on your own?’

Anne faced Nina, one hand still gripping the car’s door. ‘I see why he’s enamoured with you. You’re tenacious.’

‘He loves me.’

Anne laughed at Nina’s admission, sparking a little doubt in her heart. Robert had never said those words to her; she’d assumed them.

‘Love is a mirage; there one moment, gone the next.’ Abandoning the car, Anne sauntered over to Nina. ‘And?—’

The driver’s-side door opened. Dickheadson stepped out and scrambled over to where Anne stood, his phone held up. ‘I just received a call.’

Anne rolled her eyes, then snatched the device. ‘I told you to dump it.’ She dropped it on the ground and smashed her stiletto down on the screen. ‘Get the car ready.’

Dickheadson gripped Anne’s arm. ‘No, we need to go. The… the girls. They’re all gone.’

Anne blinked – then blinked again. Then her lips parted in a snarl. ‘What the fuck do you mean they’re gone?’

‘Someone’s taken them away. All of them, from all locations.’

Anne’s blue eyes now blazed towards Nina. ‘What the hell did you do?’

Nina shrugged. ‘Surprise!’