Page 52 of Lake's Legacy

“Yes. My name is Lake. You have an appointment with my brother, Toff, tomorrow morning.”

Rey lowers her defenses enough to let us help the other two women out of the pit. They introduce themselves as Letitia and Jasmine. Rey scrambles out of the pit once the other two women are topside. She helps them get comfortable while we wait for Levi to bring Annette and Olivia.

Rey paces while Annette and Olivia comfort the other two women. Hex sends Levi out to the SUV to grab them some nourishment. Abra stands guard over the three prisoners, but his eyes flash often to Rey. Her agitation is on full display.

“Excuse me,” Rey says. “Why haven’t the police and ambulance arrived yet? They should be here by now.”

“They aren’t coming,” Hex tells her.

“Why not? You need to call them immediately.”

“No cops,” Hex says, causing her head to snap in his direction.

“What? Why not? They can’t get away with this.”

“They won’t,” Hex says.

A shout from Jack has us rushing through the waiting room and into what used to be an office. Inside, lying on a dirty mattress is a naked woman. Blood and bruises cover her body. The sight of the broken woman has Hex rushing back to our captives. Grabbing a fistful of hair, he yanks the first one up and knees him hard in his junk. The man screams out in pain before dropping to the floor. Hex kicks him several more times in the same spot before he passes out from the pain. Without breaking a sweat, he repeats the treatment on the other two men.

“What did you find?” Abra asks. We’re all standing around the pieces of shit passed out on the floor.

“A woman. They brutalized her,” Hex snaps out.

“Can we call the cops now?” Rey asks.

“Fuck the cops,” Hex sneers. “Do you think the fucking cops are going to do anything about these mother-fuckers? They have the cops in their pockets, sweetheart.”

“Not all of them. Not my brothers,” Rey says, glaring at Hex. “My brothers will make sure they get what they deserve.”

“You’re brothers are cops?” I ask.

“Yes. I have three brothers, and they’re all in the force. They’re all good cops. One is in Boston, but the other two are here.”

Hex studies her before responding.

“How about we compromise?” Hex says. “Levi and Jack will take all of you to the hospital. You can call your brothers from there and tell them what happened. Give them this address. Olivia and Annette can go with you. They can tell the cops how we found you.”

“How can they explain?” Rey asks.

“Olivia and Annette saw you at the hospital just before spotting them,” I tell her, nodding at the men. “We had a run-in with them before, so Jack followed them. They saw the men kidnap you, so they called us once they arrived here. These assholes tried to kidnap Olivia a few nights ago. She can tell her story to your brother.”

“What about them?” Rey asks, nodding at the men.

“We want to talk to them. We’ll hand them over to your brothers when they show up. Will that work?”

“You aren’t going to kill them?”

“No. We may rough them up a bit, but we won’t kill them. You have my word.”

She glances at me. “Can I trust you to keep your word?”

I nod.

“Okay, I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you.”

Levi backs the SUV into the garage so Jack can place the unconscious and broken woman into the back. He’s lined the floor with blankets and covers her with another. I doubt she notices, but it’s a nice gesture. Once everyone is loaded in, Hex stops Jack and Levi.

---