Page 16

Chapter Thirteen

Irene

TWELVE YEARS AGO

T WELVE YEARS AGO

Ulia sits with us in the passenger van, chatting away happily as I groggily attempt to gather my surroundings. The road under us is bumpy, and my head flops back and forth as if I have no muscles in my body. Terror electrifies me once more as I realize who I’m with.

“You tricked me,” I snap, though it’s barely above a whisper.

Tilting my head toward her, she looks almost sad.

“I didn’t…” something lodges itself in my throat as I try to talk through it.

She raises a hand, and I can’t help the instinctive flinch I give.

Unfortunately for everyone in this van, they have seen a lot more of me than I wanted them to.

I try to blow away a piece of hair from in front of my eyes, but it falls right back where it was.

Ulia sighs and moves her hand toward my face slowly, cautiously.

“I did not want you to harm yourself, dear. There was a lot going on, and your brain was telling you that all involved with threats. I did not trick you, I simply ensured your safety in that moment.” She sweeps a piece of matted hair away from my eyes, tucking it gently behind my ear.

“You remind me so much of myself, young lady. So brave, loyal, and just a smidge of trauma that will forever hang onto your soul.”

“We are here!” A male bellows from the front, catching all of us off guard. I duck my head, attempting to put it between my knees in an effort to make myself smaller.

“Please don’t!” One of the girls shrieks as the doors are slammed open. Horror grips my chest in a vice-like hold as guys surround the opening. My eyes screw shut, and nothing about the next however long is going to be okay.

“Let’s take a moment,” Ulia bellows out from next to me, her hand landing on my back. I shriek and throw myself out of her touch, not making it a foot before the chains on my wrists stop me.

“No!” I scream immediately, working to get my thumbs free. I can’t let them hurt us, can’t let them take more of ourselves. We have already given up too much. I have to protect these girls. Protect myself. I have to kill them!

The bone and joint pop in my hands, then I’m sliding free. I bolt past the girls and attack the giant male standing next to the door. He seems shocked to see me flying at him, but his arms wrap around my waist as I scratch, bite, and punch everything in my way.

“Let us go! Leave us alone!” I shriek as I feel more hands grab onto me.

Yells from around me take root as I struggle against the others trying to peel me off of him.

If I let them, we will all be dead. It’s him or me, and I refuse to let them sign our death warrants again.

Oddly, the man doesn’t fight me, he simply holds my body to his and whispers things I can’t process. He lets me do this.

“That’s it, take a breath,” he coos as I finally take a moment, the panic receding and letting me breathe again. “There you are. You must be Irene. Ulia said you were strong.”

There’s a soft edge about him that I didn’t realize when I first…well, attacked him. His dark blue eyes capture me, but not in a weird, lovey way. This guy is a man, and that’s not really a gender I want to be around right now.

“What do you want with us?” I whisper, pulling back slightly as I plant my hands on his shoulders. For a brief moment, I glance back at the girls in the van. They stare at me like they are waiting for the verdict on whether it’s okay to come out or not.

The jury is still out.

Something about my question must be hilarious because he sets me down and then starts in with a full belly laugh.

Everyone around him smirks and shakes their heads, but I can’t help the mortification that passes through me.

Taking a couple of steps back, a small hand lands on my shoulder.

One of the girls that I don’t know the name of, but I do remember that she was supposed to be up for action last night.

“Ulia told me that’s the president, Stingray,” she whispers as her eyes glance toward the laughing older man. I don’t know how much more embarrassed I can be, but let’s just say that it is absolutely possible.

“How old are you, kid?” he asks me, his gaze never leaving my face. It’s almost as if he’s trying to show me that he isn’t interested in me, or any one of us, to be exact. If they truly saved us, then they will expect something in return. What that is, I don’t know.

“Uhm, I think I’m sixteen if I’m anywhere on target... I was born on November first of nineteen-ninety-six.” My hands shake as I recall the day I was grabbed all those years ago. Birthdays are overrated anyway.

“You would be sixteen then, for another few months,” says another guy.

Dark-rimmed glasses and acne make up a good chunk of his features, but the searing brown gaze that connects with mine has me halting my brain.

He can’t be much older than me, but he matches a couple of the other people who look similar in age as they are kind of scrawny.

The only difference? He’s freaking tall.

“Oh-”

“You have about three months to go before then, but we don’t want anything from you or the other girls except to be safe.

We want to know more about you, but we need your help in gaining information, okay?

” Stingray asks as I leave the gaze of the scrawny kid.

I nod along as I think about the task at hand.

There’s nothing new with guiding others on the girls’ needs.

I’m the senior of the group because I’m the only one who wasn’t sold off or killed after the third try.

I have no idea what they did or why I was kept, but I did what I had to do.

That being said, I also don’t want to continue to be that person.

“I will help however I can,” I push out, the words barely getting past the saliva lodged in my throat.

“We appreciate it.” He nods to the others around him, who quickly disperse.

“We work with teens and kids who come back from negative situations, similar to yourself, and bring them peace. Whether that’s going back with their families or having them integrate into the MC, we work side by side with the agency to get the ball rolling!

” Ulia tells the group of us as the others unload from the van.

Having the men gone, it gives me room to breathe, if only for a moment.

A finger taps my shoulder, and I nearly jump out of my skin as I spin around, immediately on guard.

“Sorry to scare you,” he says as he adjusts his glasses higher up his nose. He’s definitely boyish, and I would say only a few years older than me, if not only a couple. He looks…nervous. “I’m Globe. I’m still a prospect, but…”

“Globe, you got company!” One of his friends laughs as a pretty girl walks through the group.

She wears an outfit that would get her sold in a heartbeat and shoes that make my ankles roll just looking at them.

I shake my head immediately, attempting to banish those thoughts. They don’t belong here anymore.

The kid, Globe, narrows his eyes at the girl before turning back to me. His hand comes to run the back of his neck sheepishly before throwing a thumb over his shoulder. Opening and closing his mouth a few times, he finally just turns on his heel and walks over to the group.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you settled in,” Ulia says, grabbing my hand gently to bring me into the agency warehouse. “This is your family now. Just know that we will be here for you through thick and thin.”

If only I had known that my life would never have been the same again.