I’d only ever been to the compound once before.

It was early on in my career. I was shocked by its size and even more shocked by the way they displayed their wealth. Years later, walking in through the back door with Louisa and Emma, I was equally shocked.

The Barone compound was really a large mansion surrounded by several acres of land. There were horse stables, hiking trails, a beautiful, large pool, and more. The house itself was basically a large hotel, with hundreds of different rooms, a full-time staff, cleaning crews, an enormous kitchen, and much more. The main bosses all lived in the mansion, and other important people came and went.

I looked around in awe as we moved through the lavish halls. I was exhausted, running on barely any sleep. The sun was coming up and the house was slowly waking, but most people ignored us as we walked down the carpeted halls.

There was expensive art on the walls, beautiful plants, and statues everywhere. It looked like a five-star hotel had bought a museum and fused the two together. It was incredible, and I guessed that the hallway we walked down contained a million dollars’ worth of art alone.

“You two will stay near my room,” Louisa said. “I promise not to spy.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Your family is likely watching everything we say and do anyway.”

“Actually, they are,” she said. “But I’ll keep your room protected.”

“You can do that?” Emma asked.

Louisa smiled. “I’m daddy’s baby daughter. He lets me do whatever I want.”

“Like attack his people and steal his women?”

“Not exactly that.” Louisa stopped outside a door. “Here we are. Normally you’re supposed to check in and get cleared with security, but we’re bypassing all that.” She swiped a card through the door’s magnetic lock, and it swung open.

We stepped inside. It was massive and gorgeous, bigger than my apartment. We entered into a living room area, complete with couches and chairs. Off to one side was a small kitchen area with a table, plus another room in the back.

“Bedroom, bathroom, everything you need,” Louisa said. “Call and order food if you want. Brooks, you need to be awake at four this afternoon for your meeting.”

“What do we do in the meantime?” Emma asked.

“Relax. Explore. Doesn’t matter.” Lou smiled. “Come visit me if you want. I’m directly above you.”

“Okay,” Emma said. “Thanks.”

“See you soon.” She put two cards down on the coffee table. Then she left the room. The door clicked shut behind her.

“Holy shit,” Emma said, collapsing onto the couch. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“I’ve been here before,” I said, “but no. I’ve never seen these rooms.”

“This is like an incredibly nice hotel, like something you’d see on TV.”

“Except this place is incredibly dangerous.” I collapsed into the chair across from Emma. “Are you sure about this? We can still get the fuck out of here.”

“Stop, Brooks,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I trust her. You should trust me.”

“Trusting you isn’t a part of this.” I stood up, annoyed that she wasn’t listening.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Looking around. I want to get a feel for this place before we commit ourselves further.”

“Fine. Do what you want. I’m sleeping.” She stretched out on the couch.

I stared at her for a second before grabbing a key card and heading toward the door.

I shouldn’t have been angry at her. I knew it was stupid for something to come down between us, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt like we were slowly getting further and further away from where we needed to be, which was as far from the Barone family as possible.

And yet I was wandering around the mansion’s hallways, ignored by everyone around me as if I belonged. As I moved, I made a note of the layout of the mansion, and slowly I realized that the place wasn’t built in any sort of logical sequence.

In fact, it seemed like it had been purposefully designed to be as confusing as possible. I was willing to bet that was a defensive function, meant to confuse anybody who was an outsider. That was going to make navigating the place much more difficult, but not impossible.

As I moved through the hallways, I took note of the cameras and the staff. They looked like normal hotel staff, but some of the men were definitely carrying weapons. I guessed they were guards, meant to look like they were just normal cleaning staff.

This place was much more than it seemed. On the outside, to the casual, untrained eye, the Barone mansion was a lavish hotel meant to show their wealth. And in truth, it was that. But it was also the home of a very dangerous and powerful gangster, a man with many enemies. Ever since the mafia and the Russian mob went to war, I was willing to bet the compound had been on high alert.

Which meant that there were more eyes around. Louisa may have been powerful in her own way, but maybe she was a little blind to her own family. She was so used to living invisibly inside their walls, so used to moving around the way she wanted to, that she forgot how it could be for a stranger coming into the compound. I was sure that multiple people were watching me every single step I took, whether they were watching through cameras or watching from the shadows.

It was an eerie feeling, and it only made me feel surer that we were making a mistake. But it was too late. We had committed to this plan. I’d been seen, so I was sure Gian knew I had come for the meeting. I couldn’t back down anymore.

As I kept moving through the mansion, I came to a more populated area. I saw more and more guys I recognized, other thugs and goons from the mafia. I guessed that these were the guest quarters, meant for thugs within the organization. There wasn’t as much gilt and as many expensive paintings all over the place, which suggested that the Barones were less interested in impressing their own workers.

As I turned a corner, I heard a familiar voice and stopped short. “Brooks!”

I turned around and saw Rice standing there, smirking at me. “Rice,” I said, nodding.

He walked over to me and we shook hands. He was a few inches shorter than me, though incredibly stocky. Rice was another hit man in the mob, a man I’d worked with numerous times over the years. He was brutal but efficient, and he was one of the better hit men. He was also much older than I was and had been doing this job for many years.

“I heard about the girls,” Rice said. “I heard you did some serious shit that night.”

“Just moved a few cars,” I answered.

“Still, you did well. Everyone is talking about you.”

I frowned. I definitely didn’t want to be talked about, not right now.

“What are they saying?”

“They’re impressed. Not a lot of guys can think fast under pressure like that.”

“Just reacted. Wasn’t thinking.”

He slapped me on the shoulder, laughing. “I’ve been saying for years that you have good instincts, kid. Shame about all those girls, though.”

“Yeah, real shame.”

“Those sluts would have brought in a lot of money for the group. Not that we really fucking need it, mind, but still. Shame so many got maimed.”

“What do you mean, maimed?”

He laughed. “You didn’t hear? One of the cars with the girls in it exploded. Most of the girls survived, but they were all burned up, disfigured, disgusting.”

“Shit,” I said softly. “I don’t remember that happening.”

“Not surprising, considering. Anyway, shame about them.”

“What happened?”

“Well, they had to be put down. Fuck, we couldn’t pay for their medical needs. Just too many of them.”

I blinked, shocked. “They were killed?”

“Sure. They didn’t matter anymore.” He turned and looked down the hall. “Shit. Gotta go. Catch up later?”

“Yeah,” I grunted.

He stalked off, and I stared after him.

I couldn’t believe that. I knew the mafia was brutal and did some fucked-up shit, but I never could picture them slaughtering a bunch of injured girls. Then again, maybe that was exactly what they would do. The girls were an investment, and if they got hurt or injured, they couldn’t work.

They weren’t going to pay for them and they couldn’t just let them go, so in their minds, they were probably doing the humane thing. Put them down, end their suffering. Make sure the mafia didn’t lose any more money on them.

Fucking scumbags. I felt so angry and disgusted at my own people in that moment. I’d heard of some sick shit, but that was by far the worst thing I could imagine. Those poor girls, sold into slavery, used their whole lives, only to die in the end, betrayed by the people who had promised to try to take care of them.

I slowly walked back toward the apartment, brooding and pissed. I wished I hadn’t run into Rice, but there was nothing I could do about that. I wished I had never heard about these girls, but I couldn’t keep hiding from the truth. In the past few days I’d seen too much suffering and evil coming straight from the mafia. I couldn’t turn my back on it anymore.

Not everyone in the mob was bad, and not everyone worked in human trafficking. In fact, as far as I could tell, only a few bosses had a hand in it. Gian definitely did, and maybe Alfonse as well. The others kept their distance.

But they didn’t stop it. They didn’t participate, but they didn’t make the others quit buying and selling girls like cattle. They didn’t stop them even when they slaughtered a bunch of poor girls for getting injured and disfigured, injuries caused by their own fucking practices.

I shook my head, unsure what the fuck I was going to do. I felt disgusted and drained. I knew I had to meet with Gian later, but the last thing I wanted to do was see his face.

Because he had ordered those women killed. That sort of thing came from the top, and nobody else had the authority to make it happen. Gian chose to end those girls, probably as casually as choosing which shirt to wear in the morning.

I came back to the apartment door and swiped my card. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, relieved to be away from people.

Emma wasn’t on the couch. I walked through the room, feeling exhausted beyond belief. I found her under the covers, curled up into a ball, sleeping soundly.

I couldn’t wake her up. I just collapsed onto the bed next to her, not bothering to undress.

Rice’s words kept ringing through my mind. They were so callous, so uncaring. He thought of those women as fucking cattle to be bought and sold and then discarded when they weren’t useful anymore.

I was so damn tired. The adrenaline had kept me going way past exhaustion, but it was hitting me like a damn lead weight to the chest. I pressed my face against the pillow, grunting to myself, and sleep took me.