Atonement (The Protectors 6)

“Hel-hello,” I managed to get out, my voice sounding hoarse. “Is Remy there?”

“Who?”

“Remy,” I repeated impatiently. “He just called me from this number.”

“Oh…I let some guy borrow my phone. He got off at the last stop.”

Disappointment tore through me, crippling me.

“Ma’am, can I ask where you are?” Magnus said as he took the phone from me.

“Red line…oh hey, this is my stop. I have to go.”

The call disconnected.

“She said the Red line…do you know what that means?” Magnus asked.

I nodded. “She was on a commuter train in Chicago.” I took my phone and searched for Remy’s number and hit dial. Instead of the voicemail I normally got whenever I called it, there was a message saying the line was no longer in service.

It didn’t matter. Remy had called. He’d finally fucking called.

Aleks is alive.

“I have to go,” I mumbled as I climbed off the bed and began searching for my clothes. I was vaguely aware of Magnus doing the same.

“Dante, talk to me,” Magnus urged, but I shook my head.

“Can you take me to the airport?”

I didn’t wait for an answer as I snatched up my bag and went to the dresser and began grabbing my clothes from the drawer. I wanted to laugh at how domesticated Magnus and I had become in the past week.

Magnus appeared at my side. He took a hold of my arm, but I was too raw to deal with his touch. My little brother was alive. But I had no idea what that meant. Why the fuck hadn’t Remy said anything else?

Why the fuck hadn’t I answered the goddamn phone? I’d used a specific ring tone for Remy’s number and unknown callers just so I wouldn’t miss a call.

But I knew the answer to my own question. I’d missed it because I’d practically been passed out after the incredible encounter with Magnus.

The one where he’d told me he loved me.

Jesus, I couldn’t deal with that now. I needed to get to Aleks.

“Dante-”

“Magnus, can you take me to the fucking airport or not?” I snapped. When he didn’t answer fast enough, I lost what little control I had left and bit out, “Fuck it, never mind. I’ll call a cab!”

The next thing I knew, my back was being slammed against the dresser and my bag was ripped from my hand. “Knock it the fuck off, Dante,” Magnus said calmly. Unlike me, he was in complete control and for the briefest of moments, I hated him for that.

Except I really didn’t.

Far from it.

“I can’t do this now,” I muttered.

He seemed to know what I was talking about because his hold on me eased and he lifted his hand to cup the back of my neck. “I know,” he murmured. “So here is how this is going to go.” He released me and led me to the bed and pushed me down into a sitting position. He grabbed his tablet off the nightstand and handed it to me. “You’re going to find the next flight to Chicago while I pack our shit. Check both the Austin airport and San Antonio. You can explain all this to me once we’re in the car.”

“Magnus, you don’t have to come with me-” I began, but he grabbed my neck again and tilted my head back for a searing kiss.

“Shut up and find us a flight,” he said softly against my lips. His thumb caressed the spot just beneath my ear and I shivered.

I managed a nod and did what he told me. It felt good to have a single task to focus on.

Aleks is alive.

Tears stung my eyes, but I forced them away. I needed to temper my hopes because there was a possibility Remy was wrong and it wasn’t Aleks.

But if it was…

A host of thoughts went through my mind as I tried to imagine my little brother. He’d be eighteen now. A young man.

A young man who’d been brutalized for the last ten years.

I’d spent years torturing myself with thoughts of what had happened to Aleks in the days after he’d been taken. I’d learned enough about the sex trafficking industry to know how valuable my brother would have been to his abductors. He likely would have been sold off to the highest bidder. After that, he could have ended up in the hands of countless men as a prostitute or he could have become some toy for more discerning clientele. There was really only one certainty.

My brother had suffered every single fucking day for the past ten years.

While I’d been having sex with random strangers, he’d been repeatedly violated.

While I’d been taking my pleasure wherever I could find it, he’d been waiting for me, for our parents, for someone…anyone to help him.

The image on the tablet in front of me blurred before going dark. I felt it gently worked free of the death grip I had on it. Warm hands rubbed over my forearms.