Page 19

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

ZOEY

Indiana swiftly lifts me in his arms and carts me away. Looking over his shoulder, I see my daughter in Icer’s hold. He’s carrying her like she’s a precious commodity and I send him a grateful smile.

He nods his head and continues scanning the building as we continue through until we reach the loading docks.

“Any of these the men you two saw?” Indiana asks me. Reluctantly, I lift my head from his shoulder and scan the men who are bound and on their knees.

“No,” I whisper. “Never saw any of them, but they kept those stupid masks on most of the time.” Then, as if a light switch has been flipped on, I gasp. “Indiana, there are women in cages down in the furnace room.”

Icer and he share a look then turn toward Riptide. “I’ll keep the girls here with me while y’all go and check it out,” he states, not giving them a choice to decline. He walks over to Icer, who growls at him, and holds out his arms for Elodie to be transferred to him. “Not playing, Icer. There are innocents who need our help.”

“Please, Icer,” I beg. “Letti’s down there.”

“Who’s Letti?” Harrison asks me. “And why, exactly, do you know there are cages in the furnace room?”

“I’ll explain later about that, I promise. This is about Letti, though. She’s a woman about my age, and she’s been kept down there for at least a month by her estimation. She looks near starved, and the only bath the women are given is with a water hose. Please, check on her and make sure they didn’t take her with them when they left.”

“Fine,” Icer barks. “Not happy about this, Zoe.”

“What the fuck am I, chopped liver?” Rip asks, his voice sounding less than amused. I have the distinct feeling they’ll be paying dues to the piper once we get back home. “Don’t care if you’re happy or not, an order is an order.”

Icer practically growls as he spins and heads back into the building, Harrison directly behind him. As I stand there with Rip now holding Elodie who is in a light doze, he looks at me and asks, “Why do you know about the cages, Zoey?”

His voice may be soft, but there’s a vein of steel behind it that tells me I can’t just shoo things away like I did with Harrison. “Um, when I woke up, I found myself in one of them,” I finally admit. “The only reason I was in the room y’all found me in is because they wanted me to see what they were doing with Elodie.”

“Fuck, this is worse than I suspected,” he growls out. “So, they’re about to go into a room that’s filled with abused women?”

“Pretty much,” I reply. “Letti said their goal was to get the women pregnant. Some of the babies were sold by auction, others are raised then groomed to become assassins, and the women, if they couldn’t get pregnant, were sold off. Most of them were beaten regularly and raped frequently.”

“The guys are going to flip when they see them,” he murmurs. “Abused women are their Achilles heel.”

“They wouldn’t be the protectors they are if they could brush that off,” I state. “It’s not a pretty sight, Riptide. I’m going to warn you now, those women are going to need a lot of assistance and I don’t mean just medical.”

“We’ll help them get whatever they need,” he vows. “It was our job to protect these women and we failed.”

Gently placing my hand on his shoulder, I tell him, “You aren’t responsible for other people’s actions, Mr. President.” He smirks when I use his position in my sentence. “You do more for this community than those in a position of power. It’s their responsibility to keep the trash out, and if they’re not willing to work with you when you try to get rid of them, then that’s on them, not you.”

He shakes his head and sighs. These men tend to do that a lot. “When we moved to this town, we swore we’d keep the residents safe. It was the reason they accepted us so openly. When they find out that we didn’t, they’re going to try and run us out.”

“They may surprise you,” I counter. “I’m not a fan of this community, you know that, but even with the bad seeds there are good ones too.”

“After the way you’ve been treated before leaving and since coming back, I’m shocked that you’re defending them, Zoey.”

“I’ve kept myself hidden from them since moving back, so that’s not a fair assessment, Riptide. Everyone deserves a second chance,” I declare.

“Then when are you going to give them one?” he rebuts.

“Touche,” I groan. “Stop being so sensible.”

He shifts Elodie to his other shoulder and starts bouncing when she begins whimpering in her sleep. “Shush now, princess, nobody’s going to hurt you again.”

An angry roar echoes from below us and I jump. “What the hell was that?”

“Icer,” he answers, “You’re about to see that side of him I warned you about.”

“Should I—” I begin asking, pointing to the floor as Riptide shakes his head. Bobbing mine in response, I state, “Stay here, got it.”

“Let him get it out of his system before he comes back up,” he suggests. “We’ve learned to let him rant and rave before attempting to calm him.”

“He hasn’t been medicated today, I take it,” I mumble. “Was that smart?”

“We needed him to be himself, not the other version he is when we drug him,” he tells me. “It was our best option to shake the town up and get them to speak up.”

“I take it that worked since you found us?” I continue.

“From what I got from Indiana via text, the sheriff squealed like a pig,” he announces, snickering. “Always knew the fucker didn’t have a loyal bone in his body.”

“I can’t believe he’s still in office,” I gripe.

“So you’ve said before,” Rip chuckles. The men on the ground begin fluctuating on their knees. Since they’re bound and gagged, I hadn’t thought of them as a threat until now. Rip gives me a look that lets me know he has it under control. “They’re not going anywhere, Zoe.”

“Not worried about them going anywhere,” I grumble. “I just don’t like the idea of them being as close to me and Elodie as they are. It makes me nervous.”

I don’t like the fact that my baby was traumatized by the asshole who threatened to whip her while taunting her that I didn’t want her anymore because Harrison is back in my life.

“I’ve got you,” he assures. To prove to me that he’s the boss, he lifts the gun in his hand, that I didn’t see before now, and shoots the one moving the most in the knee cap. Behind the gag the man screams and tears begin to flow down his face. Somehow, I don’t think it’s the last time he’s going to find himself crying.

Surprisingly, Riptide’s actions don’t shock me or even bother me all that much and the fact that Elodie doesn’t even squirm tells me exactly how exhausted she is. The reasons behind why I don’t find his actions troublesome is because I feel that some of these jerks were responsible for the bruises and abuse that the other women suffered. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve everything they get.

“You really shouldn’t have a gun in one hand and my daughter in the other,” I berate him. “Knew I’d end up playing the mother role.”

I raise my arms and wiggle my fingers in a ‘give me’ motion. He rolls his eyes but gives in and gently places her in my arms. The weight of her body has my shoulders sagging. I’m not as strong as I usually am seeing as I’m slightly injured but I try and not let him see me wince. I’m not wholly comfortable with him carrying a weapon in the same arms he’s holding my baby. Mama Bear may be hurt, but she’ll defend her cub with everything she’s got while pushing off her own injuries until she’s home and her girl is safe.

“I’d protect that girl with my life,” he complains.

“Never had a doubt about that, but accidents involving guns happen every day around the globe. I watch the ID station on television, I know things,” I tease.

He rolls his eyes at me then snickers. “Of course you do. Probably watch Forensic Files, too,” he teases.

“The guy who does the narration has a soothing voice that helps put me to sleep,” I admit, shrugging as best as possible with Elodie snuggled in my arms.

“No wonder Icer and Indiana claimed you, you’re perfect for them,” Riptide snarks.

“Hey, you make it sound like we’re a threesome or something,” I exclaim. “That’s not what this is!”

Actually, I don’t really know how to define our relationship. Icer has inserted himself into my household, stating that Elodie is his princess, his niece, which makes me his sister. While I always wanted a sibling, Icer’s behavior is a little bit psychotic. He’s probably an undiagnosed psychopath or something, but he treats my girl like gold, so I truly don’t care. But now I need to watch Signs of a Psychopath to see if I’m correct about my recent revelation where Icer is concerned. I start giggling at my thoughts which has Riptide raising his brow at me.

“Not a threesome, but Icer’s adopted you both so you’re now stuck with the fucker, and there are no takebacks,” he advises. “Now, what has you over there laughing?”

“Not telling,” I emphasize, hiding my mirth.