Unease shivered through my senses.
Praying those pictures were as deep as the guy had gotten. That the trail had ended there. At that ridiculous mansion that was nothing less than a prison.
A slew of women kept in the upper rooms. A few men, too. Some who’d stumbled in unaware and were caught up in it before they knew what was happening. Others that had been ripped off the streets. Some lured from other countries, convinced by coming here, they’d have a better life.
Poison pumped into their veins. Their minds and their bodies no longer their own.
“Call me as soon as you get this.”
I ended the call and tossed my phone to the passenger seat, my body shaking in a riot of trepidation as I sped the rest of the way to my parents’ house.
Every molecule in my body pulsed and fired.
Screaming at me to turn the fuck around and go to her.
Ten minutes later, I pulled to a stop in front of my childhood home, heart ramming against my ribs, breaths so hard and shallow I was getting lightheaded.
Knew I’d lose her.
Should have known it all along.
But what I couldn’t stand was driving away.
Leaving them vulnerable.
Not when I could feel it.
Destruction on the horizon.
I dropped my head to the steering wheel in an attempt to get myself together before I went inside when my phone started ringing. I scrambled to get it when I saw Royce’s name lighting up the screen.
“Hey, man, sorry to wake you like this.” Didn’t get the apology out before he cut me off.
“Richard.” His voice was grim, straight terror in my name. “Where are you?”
“Just got to my parents’.”
“Turn around and go back to Violet’s. Right now,” he shouted.
Without asking for a reason, I threw the truck into reverse and gunned it, dust flying as I whipped around, shifting into drive before I’d made the half rotation. Tires skidding on the gravel, truck fishtailing, I pushed the pedal to the floor while I could feel Royce breathing his panic through the line.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” I said when I righted my truck and blew down the narrow lane.
“I just got off the phone with the prosecutor. Both Karl Fitzgerald and Cory Douglas were found dead in their cells this morning.”
Motherfuck.
Air rocketed from my lungs.
Entire being slamming forward with the impact of the news.
With what this meant.
Not that I was going to mourn the bastards.
But this was so much bigger than them.
“First the two witnesses. Now the two on trial. It’s clear they’re systematically silencing anyone who has an inside on this.” Royce’s words thinned on the end.
Knowing what that meant for him. For Emily. For his sister. For all of us.
“Where’s Emily?” I demanded.
“Right beside me. I’m going to your parents’ where Maggie is. No one is leaving until this is done.”
Just wasn’t sure how we were gonna end it.
No question, the rules of the game had just been changed.
“It’s time to bring in Detective Casile. I know they wanted to wait until they could testify, but that’s not gonna work when there is no one left to testify against,” Royce said.
“I know. Make the call. I’ll call Kade.”
“Done. Get back to Violet. Don’t give a shit if her father meets you on the front porch with a shotgun. You make them understand, and you don’t let them out of your sight.”
Sweat gathered at my nape and dripped down my back.
“I’m already on my way.”
“Stay safe, brother.”
Affection pulled tight across my chest. “You, too. Take care of my sister. Of Maggie.”
“Promised you I would.”
The second he hung up, I punched in another number.
Kade answered on the first ring. “Richard.”
I heaved out a strained breath. “We’re on high alert, man. Double down your efforts.”
“What happened?” he grated.
“Karl Fitzgerald and Cory Douglas are dead.”
“Shit,” he wheezed.
“Getting them to trial is no longer the focus. The detective is being contacted. Backup should be there soon. For now, stand guard and don’t stand down.”
Lily had made me promise the authorities wouldn’t be brought in.
She’d convinced me it was too dangerous.
Wasn’t like she was off base. Someone tried to leave? Expose what was going down in that house and those who visited it? Go to the police?
They ended up gone.
Permanently.
Just like the two women who had agreed to Royce and Detective Casile that they would testify. Even under police protection, they’d disappeared.
It was better the rest of them were thought dispersed into the streets before the raid than as a threat.
Clearly, we were passed that.
“Will let you know as soon as I hear anything,” I told him.
By the time I ended the call, I was coming up fast on the curve that brought the Marin house into view.
My spirit clanged. My guts in knots. They twisted a thousand times tighter when I saw Violet’s truck was no longer parked in the spot it’d been when I’d left.