Page 63 of Tristano

I wince as I see Nikolai and Haruaki narrow their eyes. Callum is stoic as always. I assume Declan filled him in though. He knows who Serena is to me.

“She is also one of the women saved, wasn’t she?” Haruaki cuts in.

Bash looks angry at the interruption but nods. “That is correct. She was taken while working undercover and recovered with the women in Chicago.”

“I’d like to hear from her. Why do you believe we should trust you?” Nikolai asks.

I want to jump in and do this for her. Especially feeling her shake next to me, but I can’t. Only she can make these leaders trust her.

“I went into law enforcement because I thought I could make a difference. I thought I would be on the streets getting the men who hurt children and women off of them.” I scoff as I shake my head. “I found out what a pipe dream that was. Every time I turned around there would be red tape needing to be cut. Some reason why we couldn’t go after this person or that person. I can’t be a part of an organization that allows a person to get away with some of the horrific things that I’ve had done to me. It’s not acceptable. I thought I was firmly on the good side, but my moral compass has grown a bit darker in the past couple weeks. I now see that the only way to rid evil from this world is to rip it from its root. In order to do that, you can’t be on the right side of the law. I acknowledge and accept that.” She lets out a breath, her eyes filling with tears.

I so badly want to pull her into my arms, but I know if I do, it’ll make her look weak.

Nikolai is quiet a moment before asking, “What do you think will happen to these men when we find them?”

Serena doesn’t look away from the screen, staring right at the man.

“They will be eliminated and will never hurt another woman again.”

He gives a slight nod. “You know this is only one ring of many, right?”

“Then I’ll keep looking for them until the day I stop breathing,” she answers quickly.

“I vote her in,” Nikolai responds just as quickly.

“Me too,” Callum adds.

“Let’s see what the girl’s got in her.” Haruaki smirks, making me want to shield her from him.

He’s not known for being right in the head. He is known as the dark prince for a reason. This is a man who is known to take knives to a gunfight.

“Alright, the next order of business. Do we have any updates?” Bash asks.

Serena raises her hand, making me chuckle.

“What?” she hisses at me.

“This isn’t school,anima gemella.You don’t have to raise your hand.”

“Right.” She looks back to the room. “The night I was taken, the girl I was with was picked up by a man. She believes he was in on my abduction. Tris and I have been trying to track him down, but we are having issues.”

“What do you know?” Killian asks.

I listen as Serena tells them about his description, including the tattoo.

“He’s been to a Russian prison. The manacle on the wrist indicates time served,” Nikolai helpfully adds.

“That’s why I wasn’t able to find it. I kept calling it a bracelet,” I muse to myself, pulling up photo after photo of the tattoo now that I have the right word. “We will show these to the girl and get confirmation, but it does seem to be Russian.”

“I know that at least the ones here were Russian. When we were being held in the container here and on the train, I recognized a few of the words. The ones in Chicago weren’t Russian though. They spoke a different language.”

“Put together a file with common phrases in each language and have her listen. Maybe she will recognize which one. You mentioned that they spoke of the dark web in your interview with Kenji,” Haruaki says.

“Yes. It seemed like they were putting our pictures on there and then selling us. They weren’t touching us directly though. Gave us enough food and water to keep us alive. These men, while terrible, weren’t even interested in us,” Serena adds.

“That is interesting,” Callum muses.

“It could be a faction of men not related to any one group. Maybe that’s why we are having trouble finding them,” Killian adds.

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