Savior

Some doors muffled groans and cries, turning my stomach as I tried to focus on the task at hand.

But I almost lost my lunch when we walked past a room with the door partially open. The girl had her hands tied to a pipe on the wall, stretched above, her naked body lying out on a mattress on the floor. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused and quickly looked away when they met mine.

Images of Sofia and Hanna handcuffed to a bed frame and drugged the same way flashed through my mind. I struggled to stay in the present as I was assaulted with memories from the night I rescued them. Hanna had barely been sober enough to remember me, and Sofia…Sofia had been cold with a blank stare.

“Here we are.” The man stood back with his arm out like he was welcoming me to his home.

It was the last door at the end of the hall and I prepared myself for what I would find. I slowly opened the door and searched for the bed. Leah was fully dressed—or barely dressed considering she wore a lacy bra-like shirt and tiny shorts—tied to the bed. The door clicked closed, my escort stepping in behind me.

“You came.” Leah smiled, not looking fearful at all.

“Hello, Mr. E.”

I jerked my head to the corner across from the bed. A short, stout man stepped from the shadows with a smile. I scanned him, making sure the team caught all of him, including the gun he gripped in his hand. This was the head honcho of the organization. He stood there with no fear and arrogance and ease only a leader could have, knowing everyone around him was loyal.

Something tickled at my memory telling me he was familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“Whoa, whoa.” I held up my hands and stumbled back, playing dumb. “I paid my money for an hour alone. I’m not into some sausage-fest.”

He gave me a patronizing smile before looking over to the bed. “Thank you, my dear, for bringing me Mr. E. You can collect your payment as you go.”

Oscar sneered at me as he untied Leah from the bed. She jumped in his arms and gave him a sloppy kiss. “Let’s get out of here, babe.”

“Asshole,” Oscar growled, walking past.

I wanted to trip him just so I could watch him smack into the wall, but I held back—barely.

Bossman focused back on me. “You’ve ruined quite a few operations for me, Mr. E. So, when a man came to me with such information, I gladly took my chance for some payback.”

I kept up my heavy-lidded stare, moving toward the wall to support myself. I wanted to appear too drunk to stand, but really I needed to get my escort from behind my back. “I don’t know who you are or who Mr. E is. I just wanted to get laid.”

“You’re very funny, Mr. E.” Bossman took a few more steps into the room. Maybe if he got close enough I could wrestle the gun from him. I didn’t know how long I’d have until MacCabe and his team came in. Or if I’d have time to avoid his bullets when they did get here. “I know who you are, Erik. Or should I call you Robin Hood?”

My heart dropped to the floor, my stomach rolled, nausea threatening to take over. I hadn’t been Robin Hood in years and not many people had figured it out before I burned it to the ground and created the persona Mr. E.

Only one man had known what I looked like and that I’d been called Robin Hood.

Marco DeVries.

“I thought I’d taken care of you that night. Sure my men had beaten you sufficiently that you wouldn’t make it through the night. Yet here you stand.”

Only because Jared had found me with enough time to get me to the hospital. I swallowed the bile threatening to rise up my throat. The past was the past. I’d been alone then and I wasn’t now. I was trained now. I had more to fight for now.

Thinking of Alexandra helped slow my heart and keep me focused.

“When Mr. E appeared, I assumed it was just another do-gooder I’d squash beneath my shoe.” DeVries stuffed one hand in his pocket and paced leisurely across from me. “I’ve thought of this moment since I knew I’d meet the man who cost me millions of dollars. I thought about torturing you. Making one of the whores suck your cock. I’ve found most men can’t hold back pleasure even when they want to. I thought about keeping you for a while so I could steal the girl’s sister and have you watch her get raped by every man I can get. Then I considered maybe just having you tied down as a woman got brutally raped next to you, so close, but unable to help. I’ve gotten more creative since we last met.”