THE FACTORY IS blazing in the distance. The silence in the van is loud. I adjust the rearview mirror to make sure I did, in fact, place all six women in the back.
They’re there—all silent.
Fear is etched into their downcast faces. Igor’s number flashes up on the screen of my ringing phone as I fetch it from my pocket. Any other time, I would answer it straight away, but not right now.
He continues to ring. I keep stealing glances at the women in the back just to make sure they’re actually there. I had expected them to put up a fight, but they just obeyed what Nicolai and I told them. We led them to the van, and they filed in. My gut tightens. Their obedience makes me wonder what they had suffered.
I drive back to Nicolai’s and pull around the back. The women starts to shift, and I meet a pair of doe eyes in the mirror. The moment it happens, the woman looks away. She looks broken.
“Which one of you is Leah?” I ask. All heads snap up in unison at my question.
I see how they move their legs toward the woman with the doe eyes. It’s like they can’t help but be drawn to her.
“Me.” It’s a squeak.
Evie is right. She is fragile. More so than the rest.
Nicolai’s car pulls up behind the van, and he jumps out before approaching my rolled-down window. From here, I have no idea what I’m doing.
“The guest house out back is empty. I’ll have food and clothes brought out there if you want to get the girls settled.” Nicolai is ready to walk away.
“He keeps ringing.” I don’t say I mean Igor, as twelve pairs of ears are no doubt glued to our conversation.
“It couldn’t be the building. It’s too soon. So he figured out you broke into his office.”
I nod. My thoughts exactly. “I’ll ring him back soon.”
“What are you going to bargain with?” Nicolai asks as I push the door open and climb out.
“Nothing.”
I’m ready to open the back door when Nicolai grips my arm, stopping me. “He won’t stop coming for you. You know that.”
“I know.” We stare at each other for a few seconds, and the moment Nicolai releases me, I open the double doors of the van.
“Everybody out.” There is no panic or hesitation. The women climb out and huddle together as they look around.
“This way.” They follow me to the guest house. I keep waiting for one of them to break formation and take off in a sprint, but they follow me. I think now of my Evie. She wouldn’t have followed so easily. I don’t think so anyway.
The guest house is nearly as large as Nicolai’s home. Nothing was spared with the décor.
I leave the front door open, and two women arrive shortly after us, bringing clothing and blankets. They smile at the terrified women.
“Fresh clothes.” One of them holds up piles of clothing.
Four security men enter the house, and the women, who were still tense, freeze.
“You can all go outside,” I say.
None of them move.
I’m ready to repeat myself when Nicolai comes in and clicks his fingers. “Outside.”
They file out, and the women stare at Nicolai.
“No one is going to hurt you. You’re all safe here.” He’s smiling like the man you might bring home to your mother. “You have my word.”
I’d fucking laugh at him; only I was glad he was trying to make them relax.
“I’m going to get Evie,” I say to Nic.
The doe-eyed woman takes three steps toward me. She’s glancing at the other woman, who is ushering her back, but she takes another step toward me. “Did you say Evie?”
“She’s been worried about you,” I say.
She shakes her head like she doesn’t believe me. “She’s here?” Her hand goes to her heart like she’s trying to keep it in her chest.
“Yes.”
The other women are all staring at me like they aren’t sure if I’m telling the truth. “I’ll go get her.”
I leave the guest house and pass the four security men who stand close to the front door.
She’s lying on the bed. Her arm is thrown over her face, and for a brief moment, I think she’s asleep. A part of me wants to leave her sleeping. She needs her rest.
Her arm drops from her face, and she quickly sits up on the edge of the bed. “Where have you been? You just left. I didn’t know…”
Her cheeks redden, and they are the perfect shade against the rest of her creamy skin. I hold out my hand, and she stares at it in confusion before she takes it.
“I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” Her voice shakes slightly.
My body rings with an excitement I haven’t felt in a very long time.
We leave Nicolai’s home, and Evie slows down, pulling on my arm. “It’s okay, Evie.” I glance at her but don’t stop walking.
She doesn’t believe me, and I don’t blame her. She keeps walking, looking around the area. She’s hesitant, but she lets me drag her along until the security team comes into view, and then she stops walking altogether.
I release her hand, but she doesn’t run. Her hands hang at her side, and her pulse pounds in her neck.
“What’s happening?” Her voice is a whisper, a terrified whisper.
“I found the girls. They’re in the guest house.” I point to the front door.
She’s taking a step away from me. Her reaction isn’t what I expected. “You’re lying.”
I don’t answer, because deep down, she must know I’m not.
“They’re behind that door?” She’s pointing at the door now like it’s a fucking beacon of hope.
“Yes. Leah is there too.”
She bites her lip and frowns at me. Her eyes fill with tears, and she glances from the door of the guest house and back to me.
“If I walk through that door, I won’t be ambushed and taken by Igor?”
Her fear isn’t irrational, but it still irritates me. “I told you. You are staying with me.”
She stares at the door again. I don’t think she heard me as she starts toward it. Her steps grow faster until she reaches the door. She starts to turn the handle, but the door is pulled open.
A large pair of doe eyes take in Evie. No words are exchanged between the girls. They fall into each other’s arms and fall apart. The tears they spill and the sound of their sobs have the other girls arriving at the door. I’ve never been more uncomfortable watching seven wailing women. The security seems to move a bit away from the door.
All of them hug Evie, and it’s only now I see I did the right thing. Her happiness at this moment makes it all worthwhile.
I leave them and return to the house. Igor answers on the second ring.
“You killed my doctor. I really liked him.” His voice is tense.
“I didn’t. The same men that killed the security team broke into my home and killed two of my men and took Evie.”
There’s a silence that stretches out, and I allow it.
“Yet you got away.”
“I did.”
His heavy breathing into the phone shows his temper, which he’s trying to keep in check.
“You broke into my office?”
“You had me investigated,” I fire back.
He pauses, but it’s brief. “You answer to me, boy, not the other way around.”
I turn and look out the back window that spans across half of the kitchen wall. From here, I can see the guest house. The front door is closed. Evie and the women must have retreated inside.
“Who do you answer to, Igor?”
There’s silence, and I know my question throws him. “No one.” He’s nervous. His confidence is wavering.
“I got to the warehouse, but I was too late. I’m sorry. It was ablaze, and I saw several bodies inside.”
I change the phone to the other hand as I continue to look out the window at the guest house.
“You think you’re clever?”
His question pisses me off, and I move away from the window. “You’re a piece of shit, Igor. I know everything, and if you want to keep your balls in your pants and not have them relocated to your fucking throat, I’d just listen if I were you. You have the report for the fire already filled in, so file it.”
I wait a beat, and when he stays silent, I regret not doing this face-to-face. How I would love to see the strain on his face as he fights to contain his pride, which is now damaged. “It’s clear the men attacked my home and took Evie. I’m lucky I got away with my life. I think that will stand in your favor, that I’ve survived.”
Igor clears his throat before he speaks. “I’ll make a record of the fire and the attack. So the case is finally closed.”
“Yes. The case is closed. In a funny way, you got what you asked for.” He had, after all, set all of this up. It went exactly as he had planned; only the women didn’t end up in his hands but mine.
He hasn’t hung up, and I’m sure he wants to ask me where they are, what I intend to do with them, but he can’t bring himself to ask those questions.
“Goodbye, Igor,” I finally say.
I turn back to the guest house as Nicolai comes out the front door. He speaks to his men before walking back toward the house.
“You look like you need a drink,” he says the moment he steps into the kitchen.
I slip the phone into my pocket. “I think the drink is for you.”
Nicolai pours out two shots of vodka and walks to the window where I stand. I take the shot from him.
“I think I may be traumatized.” He downs the vodka. “They sound like a bag of cats.”
I grin as I drink my shot of vodka.
“I was afraid to move.” The fear is real in his eyes, and I grin again.
“Thank you for everything.”
Nicolai gives me a curt nod before going back and refilling his shot. He brings the bottle over to me, but I wave him off. I need to keep a clear head. Evie will be highly emotional, and I want to be there for her.
“What are you going to do with them?” Nicolai asks before drinking the shot of Vodka. He doesn’t look as traumatized anymore and places the glass and bottle on the table. He drags out a chair and sits down.
“Let them go home, wherever home is for them.” I glance at the house again.
“They’ll need passports, new IDs, and money,” Nicolai says, and I turn to him.
“Then that’s what I’ll do. But it will take time.”
Nicolai pours himself another shot. “How long do you need the guest house?”
“A few weeks?”
He nods and drinks the vodka down. “What about Evie?” The laughter is there in his eyes. He already knows.
“She’s staying with me.”
His laughter rings out. “Lucca, I never thought I’d see the day.”
Neither did I. I turn back to the house, wishing I could see through the walls. I want to see Evie interact with the women, but I also know she needs that time with them.
And I will give it to her.
“She wants to stay with you?”
I grin at Nicolai’s question as I continue to stare out the window. “That, I’m not sure of.” I glance at him now over my shoulder.
His laugh is short. “I need to shower and get the smell of gasoline off me.”
He stands and reaches for the bottle of vodka. He doesn’t pick it up but tilts it toward me. “I’ll leave it here for you.”
I wave him off. “You take it.”
Both his brows rise as he swipes the bottle off the table. “Who is this new Lucca?” His voice carries a teasing note as he leaves the room with the vodka.
I’m not sure about a new Lucca, but he isn’t half wrong either. Evie awakened something in me that I didn’t think existed anymore.
I want to protect her.
I want to keep her safe.
I want her to be mine.