Page 40 of Sold to My Ex's Brother
I catch Kyra’s eye, and gesture for her to come over to me, trying to put on the same suggestive smile that it feels like everyone inthis place has when they talk to these girls. She is still staring after Iris, no doubt worried about what her friend has gotten herself into, but she seems to brush that off at once as she spots me looking at her, softening her eyes and giving me a bedroom stare as she approaches.
“How’s your night going, handsome?” she coos to me, fluttering her lashes at me. I lean in closer, hoping to avoid being overheard.
“That’s your friend who just went out there, right?” I ask her, and she nods, looking surprised.
“Yeah, but I?—”
“You need to stop her,” I tell her urgently. “The man she’s with, he works for a sex trafficking ring, and he’s targeted her. I?—”
“What?” she exclaims, straightening up. A few men look over at me, no doubt pissed at whatever request they think I have put in for spooking one of the girls.
Shit. I think my cover is blown. I look around, searching for Leon, and catch his eye, jerking my head towards the door that Iris was just led through. We need to move, and now. Time is running out.
“Go get security,” I order Kyra. “Fast. We don’t have much time...”
She’s already rushing for the door ahead of me, though, her concern for her friend overtaking anything else that might be going through her head. I grimace, and press my hand against my gun, making sure it is there and ready to go should I need it.
Leon is already moving through the tables, ignoring the stares we are getting from some of the customers. They can judge all we want. This is bigger than any of them.
Kyra reaches the door first, and throws it open, screaming out into the quiet night beyond as she stumbles into the alleyway. “Iris! Iris, where are you...?”
But before she can finish what she is saying, Leon and I catch up with her, and I’m faced with a horrifying scene.
Iris is slumped into the man’s arms, her mouth slack, her eyes unfocused, what looks to be a cigarette dangling from between her fingers, though I would bet that there is a whole lot more than tobacco in that thing.
Stefan has his hands under her armpits and is dragging her towards a car sitting at the end of the alleyway, a driver visible through the open door.
“Let go of her!” I order, as I whip my gun out, levelling it at him.
He stops dead, staring at me, at Leon, at Kyra, calculating his next move. But before he can say a word, the telltale sound of a silenced gun catches my attention—and I spring to the side just in time to send the bullet aimed at me into the concrete wall beyond, exploding it into a handful of dust.
“Fuck!” Leon yells, and I pull back inside the doorway, catching the stunned Kyra by the arm and dragging her with me.
She stumbles in her heels, tripping over as another shot rings out. The driver is shooting at us, clearly refusing to let us get away with interrupting their kidnapping.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kyra cries out, her voice tinged with terror and tears as Leon fires a few shots towards the driver. Thefirst few ping off the top of the car, denting the metal with a loud crack, but the third finds its target, slamming into the driver’s chest and throwing him back into the vehicle with a cry of pain that soon fades to nothing.
I turn my attention to Kristof, who is still holding on to Iris, her entire body limp in his arms. The cigarette falls from between her fingers, her eyes unfocused, and I know I need to get her some kind of treatment before she is entirely snatched away.
“Let her go, and you can walk,” I tell him. A lie, of course, but I’m willing to do or say anything it takes to make sure that he leaves that girl alone.
“I have a delivery to make,” he replies, and I see his hand inching for something, just out of sight. At first, I think it’s a gun, but then he returns his grip to her shoulder, making sure she can’t go anywhere.
“I’ll deal with my brother, if that’s what you’re scared of,” I assure him, taking another step forward, my gun and Leon’s still trained on the man before us. The whisper of a smile crosses his face, as though he finds the mere suggestion of it amusing.
“You think I’m scared of anyone?” he replies. Beside me, I can hear Iris breathing hard, frozen to the spot. I want to tell her to run, but I doubt it would do any good. In those heels, she wouldn’t get anywhere.
And before I can say another word, an engine roars behind me.
I turn just in time to see a car screeching down the other end of the alleyway, fast enough that it knocks Leon off his feet, sending him sprawling into the wall. Blood smears on the spot that he just hit, his gun clattering from his hands, and the car comes to a sharp halt and three men leap out.
I back away, trying my best to shield Kyra, who is still frozen and unmoving.
“Don’t come any closer,” I warn them.
But, before I can make my point any more clearly, two of them run for me, and I fire off two shots, taking one out and sending the other ducking to avoid the hit. I spin around to face the man once more, aiming the gun at him again. The blood is pulsing in my veins, and I will Leon to get to his feet, to join me, to help me in this battle because it feels like I might be on the brink of losing everything...
“Take the other girl!” Stefan roars, and he suddenly pushes Iris towards me, forcing me to catch her before she hits the ground; in the split-second of distraction, the third man grabs Kyra, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her towards the car as Stefan follows close behind. Kyra screams out, but one of them stuffs something in her mouth, silencing her, and her body goes limp as she slumps against them.
