On some level, it should likely trouble me that we could make people disappear like this. Not only could we, we had been. One by one, we scratched off from the list of who had wronged us.
Harper.
Karagiani.
Wallace.
King.
Katerina.
There were more. There would be more. As unsettled as I was following the interaction, I wouldn’t hesitate to line the streets with bodies if we had to. I wasn’t leaving without Andrea.
Bodhi’s phone vibrated, as did Milo’s. Mine was on the table, so maybe it did as well. Less than a minute later, the front door to our rental opened. Adam was the first one through.
Pivoting, I went straight to him. He opened his arms and wrapped me up tight. “Lainey,” he murmured, the name a hug and chastisement in one. The trembling increased, even as I fisted the back of his jacket. He squeezed me to him, lifting me right off the floor as he moved us back into the apartment.
Ezra closed the door and followed. Half of me was aware of him. The worry rolled off him in waves. It rippled through the room, colliding with the concern coming off Milo and Bodhi.
“I’ve got you,” Adam said, his arm around my middle a steel band. I squeezed him tighter. Tucking my face against his neck, I let him do the carrying right now. “Where’s the photo?”
“Table,” I murmured even as Pretty Boy echoed the same word in a much clearer tone. Not letting me go, Adam moved toward the table. When he sat down and settled me in his lap, I finally lifted my head.
The shaking was worse. But Bodhi was already holding the photo out so Adam could see it. His harsh exhale echoed the one that ripped through me at the shop.
It felt like centuries since the last time we’d seen her. I drank in the image, studying the way her hair was styled, the light cosmetics on her face, and the absolutely wrong shade of lipstick she loved to wear.
I’d told her once that shade of pink was too much. She’d laughed and said she wore it because she liked it. My heart crushed as if someone were balling it up like paper to discard.
The pink was just a little too bright. A little too pastel. A little too… pink. Yet, Andrea liked it. I wanted to trace over the lines with my fingers, but I couldn’t look away from it.
“She looks older,” Adam said, the hushed observation adding to the unsettled feelings in my soul. “Am I imagining that?”
“No,” I said with a sigh, forcing my gaze up and off of her. “You’re not. It feels like forever since we saw her. Too long.”
Since we saw her.
Since we spoke to her.
Since I’d hugged her.
Adam pressed his lips to my temple. The firm grip of his hands coupled with the way he balanced me on his lap and didn’t press me to do more or think anything else—helped.
It helped tremendously. I could pass this burden off to any of them. Adam had been trying to shoulder it for me, for years. Ezra always wanted to make things easier. Pretty Boy and Bodhi? All I had to do was ask.
Neither would just take it from me. It had taken Adam and Ezra time to learn that I needed to handle things my way. Right now? I wanted to be reckless and out of control. I wanted to storm the dance school, interrogate every single person there, and find our sister.
Could we do that? Could we do it safely? If we tipped our hand too early, they could disappear with her. Our leads could dry up. Anything could go wrong really.
Anything.
Ezra sat on the sofa next to us, settling one hand on my knee as if to remind me he was there. I summoned a smile for him. Bit by bit, it wasn’t so impossible right now. Everyone was here.
“Brief us,” Bodhi said gently. “From the top.”
I’d told Pretty Boy and Bodhi a good chunk already while I texted Fletcher with the name. He promised to get back to me as soon as possible.
“She’s a Czech citizen, the print shop is a family business. It’s struggling.” That had been sprinkled throughout her babbled explanations. She kept changing her story, repeatedly. “She took on too many projects over the past few years, failed to meet her deadlines and then had to refund deposits and more.”
Hemorrhaging money.
Licking my lips, I shifted against Adam and he lifted me to resettle me in his lap with my back to his chest. Ezra put his hand back on my knee and I leaned my head to Adam’s shoulder. Lifting my gaze, I glanced from Bodhi to Pretty Boy and then back.
“The financial loss apparently crippled her.” Not that I gave a damn. “So, she went back to work she’s done on and off over the years…”
I touched my tongue to my teeth. I was so angry. She discussed going to other countries, like Germany, and picking up girls of all ages, and nationalities. Her licenses and business let her bypass a lot of border checks.
The girls never protested. They never complained. That was the argument she tried to make, justifying her participation. Her excuse.
Bitch.
I cleared my throat and Bodhi shifted, he crossed back to the bar and returned with water. I still hadn’t knocked back the whiskey, but it was waiting for me. If I couldn’t get the trembling under control, I’d do it.
Everything being equal, however, I didn’t want anything to compromise my judgment or my reactions. I took a long drink of water. It helped.
It helped a lot.
“Anyway, she picked up Andrea and this other girl. She didn’t have a name for either of them. So either she didn’t want to know, or she was lying. Her job is to pick them up, bring them into Prague, then deliver them to a school.”
