Page 13 of Scarred Sacrifice
“I drove to the mall, went to my favourite clothes shop, and changed my outfit in the changing room to this before jumping in a taxi here,” she states.
Eden nods. “Smart move.”
“It’s smart for all of thirty minutes. Now it’s late, the mall is closed, and according to your dad’s security, you are still in that damn dressing room. So, what will you say when you go back?” I point out.
She looks awkwardly at each of us. “Well, I thought I’d stay with you. I don’t want to go back,” she says with a pleading look.
I turn my glare to Eden.
“Er, we didn’t discuss this. You asked for a meeting. Offering to help us with what we need, and in return we would help you,” Eden confirms.
“Right. I need somewhere to stay, and in return I will tell you everything you need to know to stop my father,” Isabella affirms.
I arch my brow at Eden. “I think maybe you should have been a little clearer on what our help would be,” I say through gritted teeth. Having Isabella stay with us opens us up to attacks. It means trusting her and effectively allowing a stranger into ourhome. I turn my attention back to Isabella. “Here’s the thing: we help women that need our help. We help relocate them to safety, generally from an abusive home.” I pause. “They come to us desperate. They need our services.” I pause. “Letting the likes of you into our sanctuary is dangerous, not only for us, but for everyone else we help.”
“The likes of me?” she retorts, raising her eyebrow.
“Yes, the likes of you. Someone with money, with power at her fingertips. Someone who is a fucking liability,” I snap.
“Hey, easy,” Eden cuts in before leaning closer to her. “Isabella, you did not state you were on the run to us, and for us to hide you, you can understand our concerns. We’ve known about your father for a long time now. He has heard of us and what we do, but he doesn’t know who we are or where we are based, and we want to keep it that way. You have given us no reason for us to trust what you are saying,” Eden states firmly.
“You give us something, anything to go on to prove to us that you mean what you say,” I add.
Isabella looks at each of us. “You want money? I can get you money,” she states frantically.
I snort out a laugh and shake my head. “We don’t want your dirty money.”
She opens and closes her mouth as if to argue before she nibbles on her bottom lip, clearing her throat. “There is a meeting later tonight. I don’t know what it’s for. I just saw it written in my father’s organiser. He had it left open on the kitchen island,” she states.
“We are going to need more than that. Your dad is a businessman. I’m sure he has many meetings every day. Why would this one be of interest to us?” Eden asks.
“Because this meeting is at midnight, and it’s down at the docks,” she points out.
I give Eden a side glance. We know why he would be having a meeting down at the docks. We’ve tried many times to catch him with one of his shipments down there, but every time he either isn’t there, or we have the wrong day or time.
Betsy taps away on her tablet. “There is a freight ship scheduled to depart at one am. Whatever your father’s meeting is, he’s shipping something out,” Betsy says, turning her tablet around for us to see.
I look down at my watch. “We only have three hours. That isn’t enough time to plan or prepare for anything,” I point out.
“So, let’s make it an observation mission, then?” Eden states. “We’ve got intel, and it also proves whether Isabella is telling the truth.”
I mull it over for a while before nodding in agreement. “Fine. We got a hood?” I ask.
“One in the van,” Betsy nods.
“A hood?” Isabella asks.
I nod. “We do this; it doesn’t mean I trust you. You are to wear a black hood so you can’t see where we are going. Only once we are inside will I remove it.”
“But,” Isabella tries to protest.
I hold up my palm, halting her. “You are to stay at the sanctuary until we decide when you can be trusted. You are not to leave, and if you do, you will be made to wear the hood. Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere you are not permitted,” I state, laying out the ground rules. “Understand? Because if you don’t, we will part ways right now.”
Isabella nods in agreement. “I will do whatever you need me to do. Just please don’t let me go back there. I can’t live that life after seeing what I saw,” she states, shaking her head back and forth.
Something tells me she’s holding something back. Her eyes are too haunted to have only seen an auction. Unless I’mwrong and she’s just lived in a privileged bubble her entire life. However, I find that hard to believe if she’s gone volunteering around the world in war-torn countries. Maybe she will tell us in time, because clearly it isn’t just me with trust issues.
CHAPTER FIVE
