Feeling like she was becoming a pro, she slapped her hand on the panel.
Her smile froze when she came face to face with Milly. The woman looked as if she was freaked out that she was in the elevator.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened?” Raine asked, getting a sick feeling in her stomach. “How are you alone …?”
“I knocked out Bjorn when he came to take me to eat!”
“Milly, you shouldn’t have done that. They’ll be angry—”
“I don’t give a fuck if they are!” she yelled. “I’m trying to find my way off this ship before they sell me like the other women your husband has been bringing on board.”
“He’s trying to help them, and the men—”
“They aren’t helping the men; they send them back once Reva looks them over. I guess none of the men are healthy enough to sell, but the women, they don’t care. They sell them anyway.”
“You have to be mistaken.”
“I’m not mistaken. I just saw it myself. When I left my room, I managed to get on another floor. I was able to hide before they saw me, and I saw it all. They just left. If I can find the right floor, I might be able to sneak onto the ship that is taking the men back to Earth. Help me! We have to get off this ship!”
“I’ll help you, but I can’t leave the others behind. I have to—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you do! Just get me off!”
Raine raised her hands helplessly. “I don’t know where to take you? I’ve never been in this area before, nor where to go … wait, I think I do.” Skars must have met up with Thorsen, and Milly was on the floor which connected Skars and Thorsen’s ship together. All she had to do was stay on Skars’ elevator and go from there.
Raine reached out to take Milly’s hand. Milly jerked her hand away before she could touch her and ran onto the elevator.
Raine remembered that when Skars had first brought her here, he had brought her in the elevator from the lowest level, so she slid the palm of her hand downward as far as it could go. The elevator door closed, and it began moving.
“It sickens me that I need your help,” Milly snarled. “I told the others they were too good to be true. I bet you knew all along and were just keeping us in the dark!”
Aghast, Raine stared at the woman who was making no pretense of the hatred she felt for her.
Once the door opened, Milly sprang out, leaving her behind before Raine could stop her. Trying to catch with up with her, Raine nearly tripped over her feet when she saw the view outside the window.
Sheer terror had her going to the floor.
On her knees, Raine searched for something to hold on to, as if she were on an adventure park ride. Hearing the stride of footsteps, she looked up to see Skars bearing toward her, with a grim Arne following behind holding a struggling Milly.
Reaching her, Skars bent down.
“Don’t touch me.” She was too terrified to even scream at him.
Going to her bottom, she circled her knees with her arms and started rocking herself.
“Let me carry you to our room,” Skars pleaded.
Raine lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Is what she told me the truth?”
“What did she tell you?” Skars went down to his knees beside her.
Raine crawled farther away from him before going back to her bottom.
“I told her what I just saw!” Milly screeched.
“Lower your voice. I won’t be yelled at,” Skars warned coldly.
Milly lowered her voice. “I told her that I heard you and Thor—”
“You are not allowed to say his name so familiarly,” Skars issued her another warning.
“I overheard the chieftain and you discussing selling off the women you just had on board and sending the men back to Earth.”
“Is that the truth?” Raine asked.
“Partially.”
Tears started sliding out of her eyes at his admission. “You’ve been lying to me the whole time I’ve been on board.”
“Já.”
“Where are the women now?”
“They just left.”
“Did you sell them?”
“Neinn.”
“Then where they did you send them?”
“They were given to King Jurzed.”
“Will they be set free?”
“Neinn.”
Her hand went to her mouth to stifle a broken sob.
“If you would just let me explain—”
“I don’t want to hear any more lies from you. What I do want is for you to get my friends and take us back to Earth,” she sobbed out, her heart breaking in two. “I’ll never be able to trust you again.”
“Very well. I will take you and Milly, but the rest of them will remain here. The women are in fragile health; they won’t survive on Earth. To take them would be to send them to their deaths.”
Swallowing back her sobs, Raine nodded.
“Go back to our room, and I will send for you once we are back on Earth,” he instructed her.