Page 183 of The Contract

“Five of them.”

Jesus.

“She never even fucking knew. Just walked into that club one night, expecting the usual—a VIP dance—and suddenly, her whole world was gone.”

Lucian’s voice is calm. Too calm.

But beneath it, there’s something sharp. Something lethal.

“She told me Adrian found her bleeding on the bathroom floor of the club. Told her to clean up. She smelled like a whore.”

I flinch at this part.

My own voice—calling her the same fucking thing—slams into my chest, stealing the air from my lungs.

I have to brace myself against the counter.

“She went to the hospital. Filed a police report. But what did that matter? The men who took her had connections. She had nothing. No one. A stripper reporting a sex crime? Who the fuck would care? So she did the only thing she could.”

Lucian leans forward, bracing his hands on the counter—a mirror of my stance.

“She changed her name. Started over. Some old guy gave her a job at a bakery. She put herself through school.” His gaze flickers up, locking onto mine with something that burns. “Eventually, she joined The Ledger.”

A bitter taste crawls up the back of my throat.

Every breath feels too shallow. Too fucking insufficient.

Five.

Something tightens in my chest, and I rub my sternum, trying to stop the images my imagination is conjuring up.

Elena fighting for her life. Those men—taking her. Breaking her.

Her body—broken and bleeding on a floor. Makeup streaming down her face.

She probably couldn’t call out for help. Her voice too hoarse.

Then that fucking waste of life—Adrian. Finding her. Leaving her.

I grit my teeth so hard I think I’ll hear them crack.

“I’ll fucking kill them.”

I don’t even realize I said it out loud until Lucian’s lips curl into a slow, dark smile.

A predator’s smile.

The kind that means the killing’s already been done.

“You’re a few years too late for that, buddy.”

His voice is calm. Almost indifferent.

But the look in his eyes is anything but.

Lucian found them. All of them.

Tracked them down one by one. Stacked their bodies in the middle of that club where they took everything from her.

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