Page 9 of Kyle (Gold Team #3)

I was half-sulking, half-berating myself for lashing out the way I had.

I’d said too much.

I hated thinking about that time in my life and every time I did, my skin crawled.

I could remember every last detail down to what the metal cage had felt like as the bars dug into my sides when I tried to lie down.

I remember what the room looked like, what each girl had sounded like as she sobbed, what they’d said, how much the man who bought me had paid.

My life had been worth a whopping eighty-five thousand dollars. I was thirteen and untouched. My price was higher than the others. I was told I was special—a treasure.

But the truth was, I was a nobody. No one missed a foster kid when they wound up gone.

The knock at the door made me jump. I knew I was hiding out but I didn’t want to face Kyle. I slowly walked to the door, needing every step to pull myself together.

Shockingly, Declan was standing there instead of Kyle.

“May I come in? ”

I absolutely did not want to go for round two with the man. He was infuriating but I stepped to the side and allowed him to enter anyway.

His gaze went around the plain room. It was ugly and bland with wood paneling covering the bottom half of the wall, the top half was painted white, and the trim and closet doors painted a glossy black.

The color scheme made no sense and it left your eye fighting for a focal point when you added in the baby blue and white comforter.

“Interesting décor,” Declan noted.

“Is that what you came in for? To discuss the homeowner’s decorating style?”

His brow creased and he sighed. “I deserved that.”

I didn’t respond. What he deserved was a kick in the balls for being an asshole, but I kept my retort to myself. I had to work with him over the next few days and there was already enough tension between us. Threatening physical violence wouldn’t do anything but add to it.

“I owe you an apology.”

My face must’ve registered surprise because Declan sighed again. “I was a complete douche and let my personal shit get the better of me.”

He paused and once again glanced around the room.

When his eyes came back to mine, they were unguarded and troubled.

“My parents died when I was a kid. With no family to take us, my sister and I were put in the system and separated. I guess the social workers thought it would be easier to adopt us out individually. Not to mention, there were no state run orphanages that allowed boys and girls to live together. Violet was adopted quickly. I was not.”

Holy shit.

“I’m sorry, Declan. How old were you when your parents died?”

“Three, just like you. ”

My body jerked and my eyes drifted closed. The funny thing about that age was, you couldn’t remember but you could. I had some vague recollections but not enough to know if they were actual memories.

“Damn,” I whispered.

“I know it doesn’t make it right, but I thought I owed you an explanation. When we first met, I didn’t think I’d have an issue with this assignment. But the more intel we got on the orphanage, the more shit started creeping up. Things I long ago buried.”

“I get it,” I told him.

“I suppose you do. What happened earlier won’t happen again,” he vowed.

I figured he meant what he said, but trauma has a way of bubbling to the surface at the worst times. The tiniest things could trigger a memory and you’re left fighting to push it back.

“If this is too much—”

“It’s not. I have it under control. If you’re worried about us keeping you safe, you don’t have to be.”

“I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you and what being at the orphanage will bring up.”

His lips tipped up into a sad smile.

“’Preciate your concern, especially after I was such a twat, but I’ll be fine. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine as long as I don’t think about it,” I told him honestly. “It was a long time ago. I’d like to think I’ve moved on.”

“You and me both.” He chuckled without humor.

“But we both know the venom is just under the surface eating away at our insides, fighting to get out. Time doesn’t erase the memories.

” He was right, time didn’t. And I didn’t think there was anything, time or otherwise, that would dull the horror. “I’m glad you were rescued in time. ”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk about tonight,” Kyle said from the doorway.

Declan’s eyes cut to Kyle and with a nod he agreed, “You’re not interrupting. We were done anyway.”

I was grateful Kyle had shown up when he had, I needed to stop thinking about the past, stop with the idiotic daydreams about Kyle, and start concentrating on helping the girls escape Amisha.

I followed the men into the living room that was no better than the bedroom.

With so many different patterns it was enough to make you dizzy.

Only instead of white on the walls above the wood paneling this room was Pepto-Bismol pink.

No joke. Bright pink that made no sense and matched nothing in the room and made the brown couch look dingier than it already did.

A map was spread out on the coffee table and I knelt next to it to get a better look. Kyle sat on one couch and Declan took the one opposite from him.

“We’re here.” Kyle pointed. “We’ll take the direct route through the center of the city to Amisha’s house. But our egress will be around the city, we’ll zigzag our way back here. Each time we go to recon we’ll take a different route, both there and back, but for tonight we can go direct.”

Declan picked up one of the aerial images I’d provided and studied it.

“Tex confirmed the building across the way from the house is abandoned, but we can expect transients. I still think it’s our best option to watch the house. Unless you have an idea.”

I looked up from the map to find Declan looking at me.

“You’re asking me?”

“You’re the one that pointed out you’ve spent time in the city. We haven’t. Do you have any suggestions?”

“I do but it’s risky,” I answered .

“Hit us with it,” Kyle encouraged.

“There’s an apartment building here.” I pointed to the map.

“From the roof you have a better view of the front of the house. You’re right about the transients and we have to take into consideration they’ll talk.

No doubt they won’t give us trouble when we’re there, but come morning they’ll sell us out.

We have a better chance sneaking around the apartment building unseen. ”

“Have you been on the roof?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah. There’s an access door on the third floor. If we use the apartment building, I suggest we split up—”

“No fucking way,” Kyle interrupted. “We stay together.”

“Hear me out before you shoot me down. If someone sees the three of us together, we’re basically screwed. But there’s four sets of staircases. If we split up and each use a different one, meeting on the third floor, if someone happens to see one of us, it wouldn’t be so alarming.”

“She’s right,” Declan said. “We’ll use the apartment building. What else can you tell us?”

Kyle didn’t look pleased as I told them everything I remembered about the three-story building. Amisha’s house wasn’t in the best area of the city, but neither was it in the ghetto. The apartments were decent but not fancy and they lacked security, which was perfect.

“I’ll go up first and clear the third floor and check out the roof. When I’m done, you send up Anaya, and make your way to the south side stairwell,” Declan told Kyle.

With a sharp nod Kyle conceded. I started to feel funny, Declan had agreed flat out my idea was a good one, and even though Kyle didn’t want to split up he, too, had seen the benefits of the higher vantage point and he’d given in.

They were both watching me with something that looked a lot like respect, and the longer they did it the more I came to understand the funny feeling that was swirling around in my stomach felt a lot like happiness.

I felt useful, respected—they’d heard me out and didn’t have a problem switching their plan to mine.

It felt good to be considered, to be useful, to be heard, but mostly to be valued.

But it was Kyle and the warmth in his gaze that made me the happiest.

“Tonight is recon only,” Declan reminded me.

“Okay.”

“Seriously, Anaya, no matter what we see we do not engage. Before we make our move, we need to know the players and see if there’s a schedule Amisha keeps.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you look like I need to be worried?” Declan pushed.

“I said I understood, not that I liked it. Every night that goes by, those girls are being hurt.”

The happiness I was feeling fled and all that was left was pain and disgust.

“They are.” Declan’s tone had softened. “But you have to be alive to save them. And if we rush in before we have all the intel, we need…”

Declan let his sentence hang. I knew what he was saying, I didn’t need him to finish.

“I get it.”

“Good. We straight, Kyle?”

“Yep,” he clipped.

“Great. I’m gonna grab a snack and shower and we’ll hit the road in an hour.” Declan stood.

“What about a car?” I asked. “We took a taxi here.”

Declan smiled wide and shook his head in amusement. “We’ll borrow one.”

When Declan left the room, I turned to Kyle and inquired, “Did he mean we’ll steal one?”

“It’s not stealing if you return it.”

“Um…” I didn’t know what to say .

Kyle chuckled and smiled. “Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing.”

“I hope so,” I grumbled.

I wasn’t sure stealing a car was the best plan, but I had no choice but to go with it. And if Kyle said they had it under control, I trusted him.

“Are you hungry? We’re gonna be out most of the night. If you wanna eat you better do it now.”

Food? Was he kidding? I was already in knots and thinking about Amisha and her house of horrors made me want to throw up. The last thing I needed was food in my belly.

“I’m not hungry.”

He studied me for a long time and looked like he wanted to say something but he refrained.

“Everything good with Dec?” he asked instead of pressing me about eating.