Reckoning (Wolfes of Manhattan 5)

Reid went rigid next to me, but thankfully he didn’t say anything. Diamond was right. He couldn’t possibly understand what the women had been through.

We entered the building. Diamond punched security codes into not one but three different panels. These women were definitely kept prisoners.

Once inside, we stopped at a reception desk, which was unmanned. Diamond punched in one more code, and the clear door clicked. Beyond the door, a few women sat in a large area. A television was on, playing what looked like an old black-and-white sitcom.

“What are they watching?” I asked.

“I Love Lucy. It’s from the fifties. That’s all that streams in here. Old movies and shows. No news. Nothing contemporary.”

“Nothing that would show them what they’re missing,” I said quietly.

“Exactly. It took years for me to get Derek to allow this one television, and he allowed it only on the condition that it stream nothing to get them thinking.”

“So you did have some pull with him,” Reid said.

Diamond scoffed. “Very little. But he listened to me when it came to the girls. He wanted them healthy and pliable. I kept them that way, so he took what I said seriously.”

“God, this is sick,” Rock muttered.

“Can we…?” I lifted my eyebrows toward the girls in the room.

“Go ahead. If they wanted to leave, they would have when they saw us. The more frightened ones won’t come out of their rooms.”

“How many women live here?” Reid asked.

“Right now we have twenty-three. At times we had over thirty, but in the last year no one new has come in.”

“Because Derek was busy plotting his own fake demise,” Rock said.

“Most likely.” Diamond nodded as we all walked toward the women. “Girls, I’ve brought some people to meet you. They’re nice people and they won’t harm you.”

“We want to help,” I said.

One of the women looked at me, cocking her blond head. “Have we met?”

I shook my head. “No. I’ve never been here before.”

“But you… You look familiar to me. Like I saw you in a dream once, or something.”

I walked toward her, her voice spawning a decade-old memory.

I dropped my mouth open. I’d last seen this young woman lying on the floor with both shoulders dislocated, her head shaved.

“Kill me,” she’d said. “Please.

I’d refused, of course.

But I knew her.

“Katelyn?” I said hesitantly.

“Was that my name?” She squinted slightly. “Yes, I think it was.”

“Oh my God! I thought you were—” I stopped myself from continuing. I also had to stop myself from running toward her and grabbing her into a hug.

She was alive! Katelyn was alive!

“My name is Moonstone,” she said. “That’s what I’m called here.”

“You’re Katelyn.” I turned to Diamond. “Moonstone. Diamond. Why?”

“Derek gave them all names of gemstones. It was part of the lure of this place. He called it a Treasure Island. It was a treasure hunt.”

An unwanted thought speared into my head. What might my gemstone name have been? Sapphire, for my eyes? Or something else?

“Why do you have a gem name?” Reid asked.

“Because I was their mother. Diamond. The mother of all the gems.”

“You were never…” Rock cleared his throat.

“No. I was never hunted, though there were times I wished I were. I wanted to take the pain and humiliation away from these women. They became like daughters to me.” She gestured to the other two women. “You’ve met Moonstone. This is Garnet and Onyx.”

Onyx had black hair and dark skin. Garnet… I couldn’t see the connection.

“We’re going to help all of you ladies,” Reid said. “You’ll have the finest healthcare and emotional support. Your life here on the island is over. No one will ever harm any of you again.”

Diamond was right. Not one of them leaped up in joy.

They’d been brainwashed. Katelyn had even forgotten her real name.

“We could bring the help here. To them,” I said. “They don’t have to leave.”

Rock shook his head. “We could, but they’ll be better off at home.” He turned to Diamond. “Do any of them remember their former lives? Their former names?”

“I do,” came a meek voice. The woman named Garnet stood.

“What can you tell us?” I asked.

“My name is Aspen Davis. I’m from Colorado.”

“I’ll have Buck check it out,” Rock said.

“And you,” I asked Onyx. “Do you remember how you came to be here? What your name was?”

“I’ve always been here,” she said.

I glanced at Diamond. She shook her head slightly at me.

Some would require more help than others.

I feared some might be beyond help.

But at least they were free now.

And we’d see that they got whatever they needed.

51

Lacey

Was he calling my bluff?

I couldn’t read his body language. So much for that class now. He was eerily calm for a man with a gun at his temple. Almost too calm.

I cocked the trigger. “Have it your way, then.”

He went rigid. “Please,” he said softly.

Yup, this gun was definitely loaded. If I’d been unsure before, no longer.