He sensed someone coming and cleared his throat.
“That’s incredible,” Rome said, joining him.
“I know we weren’t supposed to look at it but I couldn’t resist. I needed to feel close to her somehow.”
“We’ll find her. We have to. It can’t end like this and we can’t give up.”
“I’m not giving up, but it’s looking pretty fucking grim, Rome. I fucked up. I didn’t protect her when I promised her I would.”
“We all fucked up. We never had a woman that we shared, that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with and love. We’ve been stubborn and hard, and she makes us feel vulnerable and human. We got caught up in the happiness, in that love spell she says we put on her when really she put it on us. We love her and she loves us.”
“What if she’s dead because we didn’t put her first?”
“She isn’t dead. She can’t be dead and you can’t think like that. None of us can.”
“Rome.”
“No. I survived and got to live so I could meet her and fall in love with her. We all did. It’s our time for happiness and to give and provide and care for our woman. She is alive and we’re going to find her.” He raised his voice and Mercury stared at the painting.
* * * *
Rose felt her body aching as Cuppa untied her hands and legs and then removed the tape from her mouth.
“Don’t give me a hard time. You’re a little late and you need to change. Put this on.” He threw a dress at her. Something slinky and silky in red. She stretched her hands and fingers.
“What is this?”
“Just do it,” he said to her and he stared at her like she would change in front of him.
“No.”
He stomped toward her and grabbed her by her sweater.
“You’re going to be sold to the highest bidder in ten minutes. Get the fucking dress on. It took extra time to get here. Molokai wants his money.”
Her eyes widened and she felt like crying. Was he serious? Auctioned off, like human trafficking auctioned off. No way. She was not going to let this happen.
“No. I’m not putting it on and I’m not going out there.”
He struck her across the mouth and she countered and hit him in the nose. She stunned him a moment and she kicked him in the balls and then slugged him in the jaw. He went to grab her and she was so scared of him but more scared about being sold for her body to God knew who and she used the moves her men had taught her and then grabbed for the gun at his waist. She pulled back, fell to the ground, and as he smirked and went toward her she pulled the trigger. He paused but grabbed her and she shot two more times and it scared the hell out of her. He fell to the floor and she stood up and went to run when the door burst open and two other men came running toward her. She shot again and again and then there were no more bullets. She was shaking so hard and turned around, wondering what to do and ran toward the two men who had been armed and bent down to take the gun when she felt the strike to the back of her head. She grabbed her neck and head and her eyes widened in shock. Hagan. Taavi Walderman’s guard.
* * * *
Mercury’s cell phone rang and he saw it was Mulgoff. He answered it on speaker.
“Mulgoff.”
“I found her.”
Mercury stood up. “Where? Where the fuck is she?”
“You have to hurry. She’ll be auctioned off in less than an hour.”
“Auctioned off?” Rome asked, teeth clenched and his fists by his sides.
“I’ll give you the address. It’s heavily guarded. You’ll need a password to get into the back door. It’s Clover. When I say heavily guarded I mean heavily guarded.”
“Explain,” he said as they hurried out of the cottage and up to the house. Rome told everyone to listen up. As Mulgoff explained about the procedure and location Rome could see his brothers and their friends all had the same reaction.
“Whoever gets her will have her in their possession and under heavy guards. It will be very difficult to get to her. You need to be smart about this.” Mulgoff gave them as many details as he could and then Mercury disconnected the call.
“What’s the plan?” Graham asked him.