Haunting-Adeline

While Jay kept tabs, I allowed myself five hours of sleep before I came
here, enough me to keep my mind sharp. I have to be at my absolute best
if I’m going to get them out alive.
“I’m here to get you girls home,” I respond, tucking my gun back in my
boot.
She looks at me warily, as do some of the other girls.
None of them are going to trust me.
I get it.
I’m scarred from head to toe, have two different colored eyes—both on
the drama c spectrum—and I’m not a small guy. Not to men on, I just
murdered a bunch of men in front of their faces.
“Backup is coming in,” Jay informs, right before I hear the back door
open and several people rush in.
“Young man, it’s a bloodbath in here. These poor girls! Shame on you, Z.”
I wince at the sound of Ruby's voice. Can’t make me flinch from firing off a
bullet two inches from my head but Ruby… God help me.
“It couldn’t be avoided, Ruby. I—"
“Not another word from you. If your mother were here, she’d have your
ass.”
I grunt but don’t respond, le ng her hem and haw over the survivors
while s ll mu ering reprimands under her breath. Ruby was a good friend
of my mom’s and likes to remind me—and the rest of the crew—that she
used to wipe my ass when I was a baby.
If I could’ve killed the traffickers in private, I would’ve, and I hate that I
added to their trauma. But when you have a warehouse full of armed men,
there’s no calling them back to your office one at a me like they’re being
fired from their job. They need to be taken down swi ly where they stand.
Otherwise, there’s room for error, poten ally resul ng in one of the
survivors ge ng hurt or killed.
Necessary means to get the girls out.
The other two that came in with Ruby, Michael and Steve, take care of
the bodies. Michael is dragging a struggling Fernando out, tossing me the
keys to the girls' chains as he passes by. Ruby already found another set on
one of the dead bodies and is currently unchaining the others.
I approach the mother hen of the group and unchain her collar, my hand
nearly shaking from the fury of having to unhook a fucking collar from a