Page 54 of If This is Love

We climbed a creaky staircase of tattered, half-rotted carpet that may have been red in another lifetime. Now it was a stained, dingy, brownish-orange. Matted with age and mold and decades of foot traffic. On the third floor, the shouting grew louder, and every nerve in my body stood on end.

I reached for Ruth’s and Skye’s arms by the elbows and pulled them close to me. “This is a bad idea,” I clipped in pure reflex.

“Gabe,” Skye said, turning to me. “It’s all okay. We’re fine. I promise. I know it’s unpleasant, but this is where these people live, and for some of them, we’re their only escape.”

Skye slipped her arm out of my grasp, and Ruth turned to face me, bracing her palms around my elbows.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

I tilted my face down to look at her. Her amber eyes were big, and her dark brows were lifted. She was really concerned about me. She looked like if I told her Iwasn’tokay in here because of my own weak-as-fuck reasons, she’d walk right back out with me. “I’m okay, Ruth.”

She squeezed my arms. “You’re sure?”

I nodded. “Promise.”

I didn’t add that the only reason I suddenly felt less rattled was because she was holding my arms and looking at me like that andcaringif I was okay or not.

Skye paused in front of a door and knocked, so I broke away from Ruth and jogged over to angle myself partially between Skye and the door, lest it open to something really ugly.

What opened it wasn’t ugly at all, rather it was a beautiful young woman who couldn’t have been more than twenty. Tall and gangly, despite being well-endowed with womanly curves, with deep, warm ochre skin and long, sleek, black hair that framed her oval face. Big, brown eyes and full lips, the bottom one extra full due to a still-fresh crack on one side. Her otherwise flawless skin was marred with dark purple bruising that flanked one of her eyes at the temple. Similar bruising in the obvious shape of fingerprints patterned her swan-like neck, and hot rage surged through my extremities.

“Olivia Parker?” Skye gently prompted. “Are you Olivia?”

The young woman’s brown eyes morphed into liquid pools of amber as she gave a subtle nod.

“I’m Isabel Riley,” Skye said. “Skye. We spoke on the phone.”

Olivia sucked in a sharp breath as tears welled deeper in her eyes. “Hi.”

“Are you alone, Olivia?” Ruth asked, equally gentle.

“Yeah.” A tear spilled out over her battered cheek. “They ain’t here,” she whispered, her voice thick with a South Louisiana accent.“I snuck out last night. This is my friend’s place. She’s out workin’.”

“Is it okay if we come in and talk to you for a little bit?” Skye whispered back.

Olivia nodded and stepped aside to let us in. I waited to let Chloe go in first, and then I followed. Olivia eyed me nervously before her gaze flitted to Gunner, and then a tiny smile tugged one corner of her cracked lip.

“That’s your dog?” she asked me.

“Sure is,” I replied in as tender and gentle a voice as I could muster.

“Can I pet him?” There was a sudden crack in her voice that slammed my chest with a pang.

I coughed into my fist to clear my throat. “Go for it.”

Olivia knelt on the floor as the rest of us stood in a half-circle around her, and Gunner sniffed her face before licking her cheek. She broke into childlike giggles that made her sound about twelve years old, and knowing exactly what kind of life she’d been subjected to for God only knew how long, my stomach turned with curdling nausea. All I could think of was all those young women who had been just as beautiful and just as battered and just as scared as Olivia was, but who I let die because I was a total fucking coward who couldn’t justdo somethingwhen I was the only person who equipped to.

The burn spread across my shoulders with a vengeance as Olivia continued to giggle while Gunner’s tail rapidly thumped the floor, but then her breath hitched, and she wrapped her arms around his thick, furry neck as a sob choked out of her.

Out of nowhere, she was wailing so ferociously that Skye shut and locked the door, and Ruth got on her knees next to Olivia. Chloe moved around us to stand across the room but still had her phone out, capturing everything. If I lost my shit right now, it would not only fuck up this whole rescue, but itwould also wind up on yet another segment of video just like when I lost my shit at the site visit. And I really,reallyhated the idea of that, but there was literally nothing I could do about any of it. Gunner rested his chin on Olivia’s shoulder, and Ruth rubbed her back in slow circles as she whispered what sounded like a prayer, and I caught Skye’s red-rimmed gaze.

A sharp frown tugged the corners of her mouth, and she said to me, “He isamazing.”

“Yep,” was all I could quietly return.

“We’re going to get you out of this, honey,” Ruth continued to murmur. “It’s over, Olivia. You’ll never have to live like this again.”

Olivia’s shoulders convulsed as she sobbed. “They’re gonna find me. They always do. They know I came here.”

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