Page 29 of Ruthless Betrayal

He was only halfway down the steps when he noticed how cold it was down here. They were underground, and it was getting colder in the evenings anyway, so it made sense, but when he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the women there, all ten of them in the those damn tiny dresses and huddled together, he wished that they hadn’t killed the men upstairs so quickly. They deserved to suffer.

Ten pairs of fear-filled eyes locked on him, and he saw the women shrink back even further against the brick wall when the sound of more footsteps on the stairs reached them.

“No one else come down here,” he called out, and the footsteps stopped. The women were already terrified. They didn’t need more big scary men in this basement with them.

“I’m Connor,” he said, trying to keep his voice gentle. “I’m not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you, I swear.”

“Did you find them?” Owen’s voice called out from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, and we’re going to need jackets. Ten of them.” He wished he’d worn one himself, but he couldn’t have anticipated this. He stepped a little closer to the women, and they all tensed up. “I want to get you guys out of here. Somewhere safe.”

“The men upstairs?” one of the women said. She looked particularly dirty, as if she might have been down in this basement the longest, but she was also standing in front of the others. He pegged her as a leader. “Are they dead?”

“Yes.” No point in lying. They heard the gunshots. And hopefully, they’d be relieved to hear it. “We took them out, but we don’t know if anyone else will come. We need to get you to our safe-house.”

“You’re not the police.”

It wasn’t a question, but he answered it anyway.

“No, we’re not. But we’re here to rescue you anyway.”

The woman stared at him a moment longer before nodding and taking a step closer. He had to admit that he was impressed by her bravery as she walked toward him and up the stairs. The others slowly followed, and he moved to the side to give them plenty of room.

When he followed the last woman up the stairs, he saw that the bodies had been covered with the blankets from their own cots. It didn’t hide what they were, or the blood splatters all over the place, but it was a good idea. There weren’t nearly as many men here now, either.

Another smart idea. Declan was handing out jackets that had obviously been collected from their men, mostly black leather, and Connor could see some of the fear fading from the women’s eyes.

It didn’t take long to convince them to get in their cars and go to the safe-house. They seemed to want to leave this place behind, and he couldn’t blame them one bit.

When he arrived at the safe-house, he ushered the three women that rode in his backseat inside, and Alessia rushed forward as soon as she saw him. Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him tight, and he saw Owen’s raised eyebrows. He just stared back until the mafia boss looked away, distracted by his own woman.

They’d have a conversation later, but Connor wasn’t worried about it. Alessia had proven herself as far as he was concerned, and he wouldn’t listen to a single word against her.

She pulled away from him, and he watched for a moment as she joined Ruby and Amy in passing out waters to the women, and making sure that they were settled on the couches. He hung back, already seeing that these abducted women were more comfortable without men near them, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Alessia as she made her way around the room, providing comfort to these victims.

He was once again amazed by her. She was warm and caring, which was a miracle when you considered how she was raised. The woman blew him away.

It was no wonder that he’d fallen for her so completely.

15

ALESSIA

The safe-house only had three bedrooms with one bed in each. Some of the women doubled up, sleeping two to a bed, and the remaining four chose to sleep on the floor of the bedrooms. It seemed that they were afraid to be apart from each other more than necessary.

That made sense, based on what they’d told her. They were in that basement together for weeks, barely fed and often knocked around. They’d all declined a pelvic exam from Amy, telling her that it wasn’t necessary. They were untouched in that way by their abductors because their buyers wouldn’t like it.

That thought made Alessia’s stomach turn.

In fact, the whole thing was making her want to burst into tears, so she stepped outside the moment the women were all settled down for bed.

The safe-house was in the middle of nowhere, seemingly an old farmhouse. The fields surrounding the property were overgrown, but the house itself had been maintained well enough. It was out of the way, and she was sure no one would think to look here for anybody.

Going to the rail of the wrap-around porch, she pulled in a lungful of fresh air. They were just outside of the city, but it made a world of difference to be away from all the fumes.

But the clean air couldn’t do anything to scrub away the guilt she felt.

She was happy that the women were found, but seeing them in the fletch like this just drove home the point that her family was responsible for this.