Page 46 of Hard Game

He has a nerve asking me that at a fucking crime scene?—

“So that’s the path you chose, right? You want to put the bastards away because you think traffickers took your sister?—”

My arms tremble as I step forward, my eyes boring into his as they sting with tears. He doesn’t know, but he needs to know— “I know she was trafficked, Elijah!” My tongue ties up after that, the fear of my words making me nauseous.

Sara was trafficked.

Elijah holds his hands up and speaks to me in what I know is his ‘soothing’ voice, and rage blurs my vision. He thinks he has me all worked out, that I’m losing the plot over my sister, that I think someone took her, but I have no proof. My tongue loosens, and I let him have it.

“Sara was trafficked, and I know because Moreno told me, and he has proof.”

Elijah’s eyes flutter at my words, a frown creeping onto his face before he shakes his head in disbelief. “What?” His shoulders sag, and he pales, and I know he believes me now.

“Lauren…” my name is but a whisper on his lips, and I clench my jaw, shaking my head.

It’s all I can do, but I need to tell him everything. So I do, and he says nothing. The entire time, we stand in the cold, our cheeks blistering from the temperature, our eyes locked on one another as I tell him what Maddox told me.

Snatched.

Trafficked.

Snuff movie.

My chest aches and threatens to crack, spilling my pain over the ground like a work of art. I’m sure it would be, except it would be blood red, with swirls of darkness. My pain wouldn’t paint a pretty picture.

“You believe him?” Elijah asks after a long silence, and I shrug, knowing I do.

“Yes. He has proof…if I want to see it. I don’t—not yet. Plus, he knows about the Lockwood Ring…” I blow on my hands, and Elijah blinks, glancing around us to see no one left. How long have we been standing out here? “He knew about Taron.” They were at the mall, Maddox and Tassa. I have no doubt they were looking for the members of the ring. Now, Tassa is suffering. Zia is dead. Was Zia providing information to them both? To Maddox and Tassa?

“Shit, I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry.” Elijah puts his arm out, and I curl into it, resting my forehead against his chest. Right now, I need all the support I can get because I feel like I’m drowning, clawing at the surface that seems so far out of reach. I may as well just inhale the murky water and be done with it.

“Let’s go and warm up and talk some more, okay?” Elijah guides me towards the cars, but we barely get a second before we both get text messages from Carmen,

CARMEN: TARON IS OFFICIALLY MISSING. HIS WIFE CALLED IT IN, MY OFFICE ASAP.

I lift my gaze to Elijah, who exhales through his nose, his nostrils flaring. I feel nauseous, but part of me wants them to find his body so I can confess to it all. I’m not a bad person; I didn’t want Taron to die. But he did, in my apartment, and fuck; there’s no way Maddox will get away with murder.

No way.

“Hey, Diess,” Elijah says, tipping my chin so I look at him squarely. He looks determined, and his voice is dripping with passion and belief. “We know nothing because nothing happened. Got it?”

I choke on the emotion welling up in my throat, my eyes streaming as he pulls me in close.

“Nothing, Diess. Nothing at all.”

24

MADDOX

The woods aren’t far from the building, and my stomach churns as the truck blindly makes its way down the lane leading to the parking lot. I can’t switch my headlights on, or they’ll know I’m coming, so I pull the truck over and cut the engine. I can’t dally—that girl was five minutes or so ahead of me, and the fat fucker chasing her can’t run.

But I can.

It doesn’t take me long to reach them, the sounds of her cries filling the silence, leading me directly there. The ground is rough beneath my feet, but I avoid fallen branches and twigs, stepping around them gracefully.

“Please!” the girl wheezes, and I stop, watching as the scrawny guy grips her chin. She’s on her knees, her face streaked with tears. I can see the desperation in her eyes and hear her whispered prayers. “Just kill me.”

This breaks me.

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