I could barely breathe because my heart was pounding so hard in my chest. I still couldn’t process that Brian was lying tied up in a room with Vaughn’s sock in his mouth and the evidence of Vaughn’s fists on his face.

I wanted to laugh because the whole thing was just so unbelievable.

But it wouldn’t have been a real laugh… it would have been one of those loud, inappropriate laughs like when someone saw something truly horrible and their brain couldn’t believe it and the signals got all jumbled in their mind and the only sound that came out was a weird, all-wrong laugh.

I’d somehow managed to keep it together up until that point, even when Luca had touched me and that disgusting Mr. Oak had started saying terrible things about the boy he owned like the boy wasn’t there and couldn’t hear every word. The old me would have tuned the man out, but the new me had actually had to keep from getting up and slapping the man across his fat face. The fact that Mr. Oak had wanted me hadn’t even really registered because I’d known I was perfectly safe. Between Vaughn and Luca, I might as well have been wrapped in a protective bubble.

Yes, I’d been scared when we’d entered the party.

I would have been a fool not to have been.

But I’d been more scared for Luca and Vaughn and what would happen if we were all discovered. I hadn’t been worried that someone would somehow manage to steal me away from them.

Brian’s presence had changed things, though.

Because I hadn’t even considered the possibility that I’d ever see him again.

All the growth I’d experienced over the past two weeks had pretty much been obliterated when Brian had spoken those words to me… the ones that still haunted me in the worst of my nightmares.

What did I always tell you about being good, Aleks?

I felt a chill run up my spine as I heard his voice all over again, but I managed to keep it together as I followed Luca toward the back rooms.

Where Brian presumably was still out cold.

I’d been so out of it when Brian had said that phrase to me that it had taken me several long seconds to process what the sound I’d been hearing in my head had been.

The sound that hadn’t been in my head.

It’d been coming from right in front of me and Vaughn had been the one making it… every time his fists had connected with Brian’s face.

It’d been a gruesome sight, but a small part of me hadn’t wanted to stop Vaughn. But the risk of discovery had been too great so I’d managed to snap out of my stupor long enough to make Vaughn stop. Everything had happened so fast after that.

I’d wanted to tell Vaughn I could see this whole thing through before we’d left that room to return to Luca to tell him we were getting out, but I’d also known that if someone found Brian, we’d all be at risk.

And I honestly couldn’t have guaranteed that I could have continued to play my role.

But it looked like I was going to need to do just that, because we finally had our shot at Stylianos. I just hoped that King and Con would be able to get to us in time if things went wrong. I’d heard how concerned all of the men had been that communication would be so limited. Vaughn and Luca also hadn’t been able to bring guns in, so neither of them was armed. The only ones who had guns were all the guards standing by the doors. I’d heard enough to know that King and Con’s first job when they’d arrived at the same time as us had been to figure out where all the doors were and find ways in when the sixty minutes were up or if Luca or Vaughn said the code word.

The man we were following was about Vaughn’s size with black hair. He had on an expensive-looking suit, but I’d heard enough to know he was a bodyguard.

And I’d heard who he worked for.

I’d also known what Luca had done by hesitating to respond to the man and agree to the meeting right away and I’d wanted to hug him for that.

In the end, it had been Vaughn who’d decided we’d take the risk.

And I was glad for that.

If seeing all the kids who the men had been parading around like they were nothing but accessories hadn’t been enough, seeing that little boy coming out of the room with Brian and the other man, tears streaking down his face, would have been. The boy had been about my age when Brian had bought me, and he’d had light hair like Gio.

If Vaughn and Luca were able to get any kids out tonight, I’d make sure that that little boy was among them.

Even if I had to go back for him myself.

Because every single fucking man in that room was going to pay for all the kids they’d hurt and I didn’t care how I’d make it happen, but they wouldn’t get to hurt anymore if I had my way.

I straightened my spine and sent a silent apology to Vaughn and Luca’s mother for swearing. I hadn’t told Vaughn, but I’d started talking to his mother in my head and telling her how amazing both her boys were and how much I wished I could have met her. I’d also promised we’d find her grandson and had asked her and Gio’s mom to watch over him just a bit longer until we could get to him. I knew it was probably pretty silly to talk to a dead woman I hadn’t actually ever met, but I’d used to talk to my real father all the time after I’d first been taken. My mother had always been big on prayer so every night when I’d been little, I’d prayed at bedtime. I’d continued the habit after I’d been taken, but I hadn’t waited until bedtime to do it.

I’d pretty much done it all the time.

I couldn’t remember when I’d stopped exactly, but it had been around the same time as when I’d started to accept that Dante might never find me.

Even if prayer didn’t really work and there was no heaven, it made me feel better to talk to Vaughn’s mother, even if it was all just silently and in my head. I doubted Vaughn would mind, and maybe I’d even start talking to my father again.

I forced myself to focus when we walked past the man who was handing out the codes to the men who wanted to use the private rooms. I held my breath when we walked past the room Brian was in. There was a small spot of blood near the baseboards, but the walls were dark enough that no one else probably even noticed besides me.

It seemed like we walked forever, but I knew it had only been a minute or so. The room we entered wasn’t near the other private rooms as far as I could tell. It seemed like we’d ended up on the other side of the building, closer to where the stage was. I hadn’t seen any guards besides the ones by the exit, so I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

Stylianos’s bodyguard opened the door and entered first. He held it open for us. Luca stopped and waited until the man stepped back into the room, and I realized it was so the man wouldn’t be at our backs. Luca entered the room, which was considerably larger than the one we’d left Brian in. I bit back a sigh of relief when I saw there wasn’t a bed in it. Hopefully, that meant that Stylianos and his bodyguard wouldn’t try anything.

And if they did, I was sure Luca and Vaughn could take them on. I’d seen proof enough that both men could fight, even without weapons. And since each guest was only allowed to bring one bodyguard, it meant it would just be Stylianos and his man.

Not like the five he’d sent after me in Seattle.

My confidence lasted for about three seconds because when my eyes settled on Stylianos, I felt my heart stop.

He was huge and built.

I’d had this picture of a meek, older man, but this guy was young, and even in his suit, I could tell he was pretty much one big muscle. His dirty-blond hair was long and tied back in a ponytail, and I could see a little bit of a tattoo on his upper body where his dress shirt had been left open.

Luca must have sensed something was off because he stopped abruptly and I nearly slammed into him.

He put out his hand to push me back a little so I was closer to Vaughn just as Vaughn reached for my arm. I instinctively turned to Vaughn because I knew we needed to get out of there. There was just something about the way Stylianos and his man were looking at us that spoke volumes.

It was a trap.

My heart was in my throat as Vaughn disregarded the “rules” and grabbed my hand in his, then pulled me toward him as he turned to head for the door. But it slammed shut from the inside before we could reach it. I couldn’t see the figure in the shadows, but there was no mistaking the gun that emerged from the darkness. I felt Luca at my back, but I knew I was no longer safe.

None of us were.

Between Luca and Vaughn, I couldn’t make out much, but it didn’t matter because everything changed the second the deadly voice from the shadows spoke.

“Get your fucking hands off my brother.”

Dante.