Page 69 of Fractured Souls

“Well dear, if we think we can trust you, then yes. But we need you to do a few things for us first. Why don't you come in?”

The door closes, and then you hear footsteps. “Come into the office, dear,” Tammy says. You can hear movement, then nothing because they have moved too far away.

I frown. “So she didn't lie to us like we thought, but Tammy lied. Unless Tammy does know where she is and is keeping her somewhere else now.”

The tension in the room rises as everyone spouts off different theories, but before we can dive into discussing it, Nerds turns around and jumps out of his chair. “Everyone, out! Everyone! Gray, too. I need the room. Take this somewhere else! GET OUT!” he yells.

Wow. I don’t think I've ever seen him so unraveled before. Rage looks just as stunned but moves everyone out of the room, and Nerds slams the door on us as soon as we are all out in the hall.

“What the fucking hell was that?” Rage demands. Ain't that the question of the year?

ChapterTwenty-Five

Nerds

Thank god it’s silent now. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind having them in here, and I love Gray's help and teaching him what I know, but right now I have something I need to focus on.

I have spent months looking into the Wilsons and all the shit they have done. It hasn't been an easy process, but I am slowly putting all the pieces together of just how deep this shit goes. Rage’s dad, Killer, seems to have started all of this about thirty years ago with the other guys who started the club with him. They are considered the OG Members: Killer, the founder and then Hawk who was Sugar’s dad, Chains, who was Axe’s dad, and Buzz who was Tammy’s dad; they are all dead except for Buzz, but he took off six years ago or so, so talking to any of them about everything is off the table.

It looks like they were a part of starting this thing up, and they ran it by themselves. They'd find girls through what looks like ads for different jobs that you'd more than likely see women take who are in desperate need of money. I found two warehouses where it looks like they are keeping them right now, more than likely to hold them until they get them trained and find a buyer. A shiver runs down my spine at that thought. I don’t get how people could do this shit.

Then they create meeting spots for buyers to meet someone unimportant to do a drop once the money shows up in the account. It doesn't look like Tammy or Richard show their faces, which is smart on their end, so it doesn't appear from an outside perspective that they are involved.

But I have been able to hack into things from my side and see how everything operates. The only problem is, we already know Rage's name is on the main offshore account that funds the warehouse and everything they seem to need, but also Axe’s dad, Chains, had everything transferred to Axe after he died. So now it also looks like Axe is involved. Along with Sugar. They all have their legal names on warehouses, vans, offshore accounts, and some of the job ads say they are for the club.

So we can't do shit to try and shut them down until I can clear everyone's name. But if I miss something, I screw us all over. So this isn't some easy process.

It's eating me alive to have to take my time doing this, which is why I’ve barely slept and feel like I want to rip everyone's head off. I don't want any more girls to suffer, but I can't do anything yet. It's killing me more than I am letting on.

I rub my temples; I could really use a joint right now.No. No, don’t go there.

So with all of this shit piling up, I decided to set up a new program. It will keep an ongoing trace for anyone who searches any of the club members. Legal names and road names. Or if someone is looking into the club, it'll tag it so I can look into where they are searching from and find out who is searching if I need to.

It's something we should have done years ago. If we had, then some of this shit wouldn't be happening.Shake off the guilt; it's not your fault.

I shake out my arms and stretch before popping a handful of nerds in my mouth. The new system alerted me the other day to someone looking up the club, but nothing seemed suspicious. But now, the same place is still looking up information on the club and searching any names they seem to find. So I am tracking where it's coming from. They have a pretty solid firewall up, so it's taking some time, which is why I kicked everyone out.

I am already stressed out and trying to get past this firewall is frustrating my already tired brain, so I needed some peace and quiet. I know that whoever is searching is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, but that's all I have so far. I got the location down to a small area by the beach. When I searched that area, it looked like it had some beach houses, so I am not sure who would be living on the beach over there looking into us.

The firewall finally cracks, and I can get in to see their information. Brielle Ann West. I don't recognize the name, so I start looking into her. It looks like she's from here but left when she was fifteen after her mom died. She went to the same school as Tammy and Rage. That can't be a coincidence.

I dive into searching this more, discovering some old yearbook photos from their school, and it looks like Brielle was friends with Tammy's younger sister, Lilian. I search for Lilian but can't seem to find anything on her.

My only thought is it would be Lilian searching for us maybe, although I couldn't tell you why.

* * *

This is pissing me off! It's been hours. Fucking hours! I can't seem to figure out why or even exactly who is looking into us, but they still are as I am looking! They are literally searching for everyone they can. I stand up and throw anything I can off my desk and into the wall. A few minutes go by before the door bursts open to Rage and Sugar.

They stare at me with wide eyes. “Don't look at me like that! I can’t fucking crack shit! I am fucking failing at all of this! There are girls being hurt right under our noses, and we can’t even fucking stop them!”

During my yelling, Stone also showed up. He pushes Rage and Sugar aside and tilts his head for me to follow him. I do, because I don't ever get like this, and if he thinks he can help, I'll fucking take it. I need to calm the fuck down.

We head downstairs to the gym. When we get there, he throws hand wraps at me. After I wrap my hands, we go to the mats, and he spars with me. Not taking it easy at all. I am not weak, I workout and have trained a lot, but I am no match for Stone, and I know that. The only sound in the gym is the music playing through the speakers, our fists hitting each other, and the sound of our breathing and grunts.

We don’t talk, which I am grateful for. By the time we are done, it's been three hours. I am sweating, bleeding, and bruised, but I can relax my shoulders a bit.

Stone nods at me. “It's not all on you, brother. Take a breather when you need to. I know we all put a ton of pressure on you, but the rest of us know this isn't easy. Hell, almost none of us could do what you are doing. Don't overdo it. We are all doing the best we can. We can only truly save those girls if we are all at our best or else we risk them getting hurt even more or even getting ourselves into trouble. Got it?”

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