Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(70)

My teeth clacked hard as I remembered what she’d said. She f*cking talked to Brax. He lived in her mind, whispering to her, offering all sorts of comfort. Why didn’t she dream of me? I would give anything for her to think of me. To find solace in my memory.

You were never comforting. You were her master who played with her mind. How could she ever think of you fondly?

I couldn’t answer and it killed me all over again.

Coming to the fork in the corridor, I turned left, heading toward the large factory floor where we’d snuck inside.

We found the old fish-processing warehouse after a day of bribing the head of police. He’d had morals and refused for a time, but then we’d found out via other means that Smith paid off airport officials to transport his cargo.

I admit I went berserk at the thought of Tess flying away from me again. I grabbed the police chief by the throat and pulled out my trusty knife, all while Franco kept watch so we weren’t disturbed.

Faced with losing his life, the police bastard spilled his guts. He knew Smith. He knew enough to make me want to exterminate him, too. However, once he squealed, we walked. Someone else would kill him. I had other men I wanted to bleed.

My skin wouldn’t stop crawling as we entered the compound, moving in shadows and silence. When I found Tess, my heart spontaneously exploded into shards.

I’d never felt this way before. So weak. So afraid. So helpless.

The tightness around my throat squeezed harder as I looked at the unconscious woman in my arms. Blood oozed through the sheet around her finger, and I would never be able to erase the image of her bone sticking through her skin.

Her jaw was swollen and shadowed while other abuse marked her perfect skin. Every mark punctured a hole into my soul.

If only I never went to work. If only I was strong enough to be open and tell Tess I cared deeply for her. Be brave enough to share every secret and swear every promise.

If only I’d asked her for proof that she removed the f*cking tracker.

Because of me the Red Wolverine saw through my act and took revenge on Tess. He managed to cut my balls off and bury me alive by taking the one thing I couldn’t live without.

I did this by being selfish. I wanted her too much to let her go, but at the same time she lived in constant danger thanks to me. And it would only get worse. The word was out that I killed cocksuckers who traded women. Death threats were coming and I knew I had to kill them, before they killed me.

I cradled Tess closer, willing my heat to enter her freezing form. Franco appeared, striding toward me, carrying the other blonde girl who had blood smeared on the insides of her thighs. She was white as a corpse and her eyes held an expression I knew all too well: the expression of no return. An empty shell where a soul had flown free to escape reality.

So many slaves had come to me with that look. They were the hardest to fix. To coax back into their bodies and not let them whither into nothingness as they lost the will to live.

Franco set his jaw and didn’t say a word.

I hugged Tess ever harder and strode toward the back of the warehouse. The whole place was black with filth and stank. Unused for years, it’d found a new purpose: trafficking.

Normally, if I found a place like this, I would dispatch Franco and a few of his best men. I would let them infiltrate and get their hands dirty. My profile as CEO was too well known to risk becoming a vigilante.

But that was over now. I could indulge in a little ‘kill the f*cking rapist.’

This time I would tear every motherf*cker into pieces. I would dance in the cooling puddles of their blood as I burned the entire place to the ground. Q Mercer no longer existed. I didn’t care about my company or image.

Now all I cared about was smashing every single f*cker who hurt women. Who hurt my woman.

Gone was my act. This would be the first time I’d fully let myself go, and I didn’t want witnesses. I planned to savour the kill. Drag it out, taunt my prey until he begged. And then, when they could no longer speak from such agony, I’d dispatch them with no mercy.

“Frederick has taken Alpha team to round up the remaining *s while Beta squadron has found over twenty girls in numerous rooms.”

Tess coughed, wheezing loudly in my arms. My heart lurched at the sound. It wasn’t good. She was sick. Her pallor and fever scared me shitless.

Franco muttered, “She’ll be fine. We just need to get her home.”

Home.

A place where I used to be free, but not anymore.

The moment Tess walked into my life she owned me. I would never be free again. I never wanted to be free again. If Tess thought she’d leave me by killing herself, she’d hate me for eternity when I kept her alive.

Footsteps sounded behind us. Franco and I turned to face the crowd of people as they arrived from the corridor. The cavernous factory floor with old rusty machinery and decrepit conveyor belts welcomed both traffickers and slaves.

Frederick ushered in the malnourished and dirty women. They blinked when they came closer to me.

Franco murmured to the girl in his arms, “Can you stand on your own?”

The girl took a while to reply, and even then it was a vacant nod. Franco settled her on her feet, making sure the blanket covered her.

The girls all came to a stop, clutching each other’s hands, looking frantically around the room.

Now his arms were free, Franco strode toward his team who had guns trained on the ten or so traffickers who moved forward in a mixture of hatred and guilt.