Savage Queen (The Dark Elite 3)

Hale pulls me a little closer, tucking my head under his chin. His voice rumbles against my ear. “My team and I got wind of a possible Rook exchange, a handoff with a buyer. We crashed the party and took their men out, along with the buyers. Unfortunately, the merchandise we seized wasn’t the usual illegal weapons or drugs. Instead, we found three women.”

I blink into the darkness, breathing in his scent. “Women? My mother is trafficking… women?”

“Yeah.” His tone is clipped and full of anger. “I wondered why the hell she mentioned human trafficking to you, why she tried to convince you the Novaks were dealing in that shit. It’s what she’s been doing.”

I swallow, trying to keep my tone even. “What did you do with the women? The ones you found?”

He shakes his head. I can’t see it, but I feel the movement. “We’ve got them in a safe house, full security on them. We couldn’t just leave them there or put them back on the streets. Camilla’s a goddamn piece of work. I’m fucking positive these aren’t the only three girls she’s captured. Human trafficking isn’t the kind of thing you dabble in.”

Shit.

My mind is running a mile a minute. I pull back again and stare at Hale, pieces of the full picture falling together in my head.

Agent Brady is wrong.

Camilla is the one running a human trafficking ring.

But she’s diverting attention from herself by making it look like the Novak Syndicate is the one responsible. Whatever she’s done to point guilt toward the Novaks, it’s enough to warrant an FBI investigation of Hale’s syndicate.

My mother is as fucking clever as she is ruthless, and I hate her for it. This kills two birds with one stone—she’s building up her organization by doing one of the worst things I can imagine, and if her plan works, the Novaks will be the ones to take the fall for it.

The FBI’s investigation of Brian led them to Leland. From Leland, they made a connection to the Novaks… a connection that led them to believe that Leland was still loyal to us, and that the human trafficking ring was ours instead of the Rooks’.

The FBI is going to pin this on us, but they’re wrong. They’re preparing for a war with the Novaks, and meanwhile, the real enemy isn’t even on their radar.

Fuck. I’ve got to tell Brady.

“I want you to come to the safe house with me tomorrow,” Hale murmurs, tilting my chin up a little. “These women are in rough shape. Ciro’s been through something similar enough that he at least knew how to deal with them, but they’re never going to truly trust any of us. They might trust you. They might feel better having another woman around.”

“Okay,” I agree quietly. My body has gone tense in his arms, and I force myself to relax, not wanting to betray any of my thoughts.

I can’t tell Hale about Brady. Not now. I know it would only cause a blowup, endangering my men and all of the Novaks. But a plan is forming in my mind, the only way out of this that I can see.

“Thank you, Grace.”

Hale pulls me closer and kisses me, breathing me in the same way I did to him, as if he’s drawing strength from my proximity. Then he rolls onto his back, resting my head on his chest. We stay like that for a long time, and slowly, his breathing evens out. His hold on me relaxes a little as he sinks into sleep.

I keep my body soft against his, pretending to fall asleep alongside him. But my eyes blink open every once in a while to steal a glance at his face.

Once I’m sure he’s asleep, I slowly draw away from him, slipping out of his embrace. He shifts slightly, his head settling against the pillow, and I release a slow exhale as I slide off the bed.

I wait another long minute

to make sure he’s still in a deep sleep before I tiptoe into the bathroom and pull out the burner phone Agent Brady gave me. I quickly flip it open, thankful that the battery still has some power.

My hands shake as I find the only number saved in the contacts, an innocent set of digits that I know will connect me to Agent Brady.

He picks up after only one ring.

“Grace.” His voice is rough with sleep, but his tone is alert and professional, as if he snapped from asleep to fully awake in the space of that single ring. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”

Everything feels wrong right now. So fucked up. The last time I had a phone in my hand, heard another human voice over a phone was the last time I talked to Brian. Right before I escaped.

This isn’t the same, I tell myself, trying to squash down the unpleasant twisting of my stomach. You’re not trying to run from these men. You’re helping them. Not betraying them.

“I’ll help you.” My voice is firm. “But you’re going to help me too.”

There’s a pause on the other end before Brady says, “All right.”