He puts his fuckin’ hand on her one more time, I’m goin’ to lose my mind. I don’t like that big fuckin’ giant putting his fingers all over her. Grabbing her like he’s going to rip her head off. Whatever this girl means to him, it’s enough for his eyes to have glazed over. Probably with desperation. I step up close, growling, “Let her go, or so help me, I’ll fuckin’ shoot you.”

Slater looks to me, and his eyes clear up a little. He looks back to Charlie, and then makes a growling sound, but lets her go.

She steps back, rubbing her upper arms, but the look on her face is pure devastation. She knows Ellie, whoever she is. And he didn’t know that. Hell, I don’t think even Charlie connected the dots.

“Talk to him, Charlie,” Malakai says. “Tell him what he needs to know, because we need him, it’s the only chance we got left.”

Charlie nods, and looks to Slater. “For what it’s worth, Slater. I didn’t know she had anything to do with you. If I did, god, I would have called ... I would have ...”

“Where is she?” Slater grinds out.

“I don’t know, that’s the honest truth, but you’re right my father does know about it. I was scoping out a house for him, as you do. My boyfriend at the time, Carl, it was his uncle’s house.”

“Shaun?” Slater grinds out. “Shaun Mercury?”

She nods. “I didn’t know his name until now, he was always just Carl’s uncle. Anyway, I was at his house. My father was certain Shaun was double crossing him, so he wanted me to find information, the normal. I was searching through his room when I found a door, it led down to a basement and I found a girl in there. She was ... chained up.”

Slater’s eyes flare and his fists clench. This girl, she obviously meant a fuck of a lot to him, by the way he’s panting with built-up emotion right now.

“I’m so sorry, Slater. Again, I didn’t know it was any relation to you.”

“What was happening to her?” Slater demands through clenched teeth.

“I don’t know, she was chained up, in a pretty bad way. She told me she’d been taken while on a vacation ...”

Slater closes his eyes, his panting so deep his chest is rising and falling rapidly and his body is shaking. “Yeah,” he grinds out. “We were on vacation. She went missing.”

Charlie looks to him. “You didn’t know she was so close?”

“If I had known,” Slater bellows, “I’d have fuckin’ saved her!”

Charlie flinches and steps back, that steely look coming across her face. She’ll take so much out of pity, but she won’t allow herself to be spoken to like trash. “Slater, I understand you’re angry and frustrated, and probably feeling a pain nobody could even begin to understand, but if you want me to continue, then do not yell at me any further. I don’t appreciate it.”

Slater opens his eyes and glances at her, their eyes holding for a few moments, and then he takes a deep, angry sounding breath and nods.

“Thank you,” Charlie continues. “Anyway, she told me she had been there for a year.”

“Fuck,” Slater grinds out, and I can hear the pain in his voice.

Poor bastard.

Fuck.

It would suck to find out she was so close all that time and he didn’t know. He had no idea. Hell, he’d probably been in that house.

“I couldn’t get her out,” Charlie says, and I don’t miss the flash of guilt that crosses her face. Like she blames herself for that. “If I tried, we would have both been killed. I knew that. So, I got her name, and I got out of there. I mentioned it to my father, because at that point, I didn’t know who else might have the information. I thought ... I thought if I mentioned what I’d found, he’d give something away ... he didn’t. He flipped out, beat me to a bloody pulp and told me I’d never seen a girl. That was the first night he nearly took my life.”

Fucking wild anger, unlike anything I’ve ever felt, bubbles in my chest and I find myself panting just to keep it inside. If I ever get my hands on that filthy motherfucker, I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him and make it the most painful fucking thing he’s ever felt in his pathetic life.

“He knew about it, and whatever reason they had her, I figured at the time, was part of whatever operation they were running. For the first time, I thought maybe they might have been buying and selling girls. Anyway, I had no other option. That was the night I went to Oliver. I got his protection. I told him everything I knew. When we went to look for Ellie, she was gone. No trace of her. It was as if she didn’t exist. But I did try, Slater. I swear to you I tried.”

I glance at Slater, who is staring at Charlie. I figured he’d lose his mind and go off at her for not taking Ellie out the day he found her. That would be anyone’s automatic reaction. I know it would probably be mine. But logic says that Charlie was right. There is no way she would have been able to get her out alive. They’d have both been killed.

“That’s the first bit of information I’ve had in ten fuckin’ years,” Slater murmurs. “I finally know where to look, so for that, I am thankful, Charlene. And I’ll help you, for the conditions we discussed. Local members of the Mafia have a big fuckin’ deal goin’ down in about a week. Shanks ain’t stupid enough to mess with it, but he knows the ins and outs of it. He knows what’s bein’ dealt with, and he’s watchin’, waitin’ plannin’. He wants to be the biggest, the deadliest, and he’s takin’ down anyone in his path to do that. But he’s smart about it. I mess with this deal, it’ll bring the entire Mafia down on him. He ain’t big enough yet for that.”

Malakai steps forward, extending his hand. “You do that for us, we’ll patch you in and help you find Ellie.”

Slater nods, stepping forward and putting his hand in Malakai’s, shaking it. “You have a deal. I’ll get the information needed. You can assure me I have your protection?”

Malakai nods. “Yes. You have our protection. Be smart. Be careful. Do what you have to do and get out. We’ll have you protected from there.”

Slater nods, stepping back. Then he looks to Charlie. “Thank you.”

Charlie nods. “I hope you find her, Slater. I really do.”

His face remains stony, no emotion, but the flash in his eyes says that he hopes so, too.

He wants to find her.

He has some small slither of hope.

Can’t say I blame him.

~*~*~*~