Chapter 38

Danielle

“Janus?”

I stare in disbelief at the two men standing in front of the doorway. We had all heard the commotion just outside, and so I’d pushed the rest of the women and few children behind me. They’re all so terrified, but I knew I had to appear strong.

I’d always known that Janus wouldn’t leave me behind. I knew that, as soon as he found out about me being taken, he’d have a plan. Of course, I wasn’t certain if he’d ever hear about it, but with his friends all over, I was fairly confident.

And there he is, standing before me, the body of two guards lying unconscious at his feet. There’s a man standing behind him—who I assume is another one of his friends—and I hope we’ll be introduced later.

“Danielle.”

Janus breaths my name like it’s his last Hail Mary. Both of us stand, stunned for a minute, until the other stranger opens his mouth to speak.

“Come on, Jackal—time’s ticking away, remember?”

Janus seems to snap back into life, nodding his head. He begins to drag one of the guard’s bodies into the room with us. The other British stranger does the same until they’re both piled on top of each other.

“Gryphon’s right, Dani. The auction has just started, and they’ll be sending men down to collect you all at any minute now.”

Janus reaches out one hand to me, ready to pull me towards him, but I look to the other women in the room. They’re all terrified, and I can’t leave them.

“But these women have nowhere to go. We can’t just leave them, Janus.”

I look him in the eyes, and I can see in his face that Janus knows I’m right. There’s a soft spot in his heart. He turns to his friend—Gryphon—who nods subtly.

He pushes a finger to his ear and begins to speak. “Hey, Leviathan. Tell Mahdi to start exiting the building. As soon as we’re all clear, I need you to call the cops and blow the cover on this.”

I look at Janus in shock, but he just shrugs a shoulder.

“What about my story?”

“You’ll still have the exclusive, Dani, don’t worry. But we can’t just release these women into the streets of Istanbul. We need to make sure they’re taken care of by the authorities.”

I sigh, nod, and step towards him.

Janus turns to the rest of the women, and asks, “Does anyone here speak English?”

A younger girl in her late teens pushes her way forward and nods shakily. “I-I do. A little.”

“Look, we’ve got people coming—people who will take care of you and ensure you’re safe from here on out,” Janus instructs, trying his best to sound reassuring. “Even if they send men down to take you, I promise that no one will be sold off tonight. Just sit pretty and be patient. Do you understand?”

The young Greek girl nods and turns to the others to rely the message. Quickly, the chatter spreads throughout the room, being translated between the captives.

Janus takes my hand and begins to pull me from the room.

I watch Gryphon shut the door and try to make the scene look as natural as possible before we turn around the corner.

Janus leads me up through the hotel that we were being held in.

“Bring the car around the back, Manticore. I don’t think we can leave out the front door,” Gryphon says from behind us.

Janus hasn’t let go of my hand yet, and he’s hanging on to me desperately, as though he’s scared of letting go. Not that I can blame him. With our track record of walking out on each other, it’s not as though his fears are baseless.

“Who the hell do you have coming?”

“Friends. People that we trust and people who will make sure all these women are taken care of,” Gryphon answers with a calming smile.

Janus still hasn’t said a word to me, though, aside from whispering my name when he first saw me. But I can tell there’s so much he wants to say, but now isn’t the time to say it. I’m sure that as soon as we get back to the loft, we’ll be able to talk about everything.

We push through a fire escape, and I brace myself for the alarm to begin to ring. But it doesn’t, and the humid city air of Istanbul washes over me, filling my lungs and surrounding me, as Janus leads me into a side alley.

A black limousine with tinted windows drives into sight and blocks off the end of the alleyway. For a moment, I think we’ve been made, but then, the door is pushed open, and Mahdi sits inside, with a red-haired man on a laptop and a woman who looks a lot like Kalista von Knopf.

“Come on, quickly now!” Mahdi instructs.

Janus pushes me inside the limousine and follows quickly behind me. Gryphon slides in last and slams the door shut. The tires burn against the tarmac as the limousine begins to pull away from the curb and slips into the city traffic.

“You couldn’t have picked a less conspicuous car?” I ask no one in particular.

“It fit with Mahdi’s cover—and it carries all of us comfortably.”

“Have the cops been called?”

“Cops and our people,” the dark-haired woman says as she takes Gryphon’s hand in hers.

Janus nods his head and then goes to staring out of the tinted windows as the rest of his friends seem to chatter among themselves—he’s still on edge.

Mahdi is humming Princess Ida, and I watch Janus from the corner of my eye and place my hand on his thigh, trying to be comforting.

It looks as though we’re in the clear, but I can feel how tense he is.

We make it back to the loft in no time. Manticore—who I’m seeing for the first time since South Sudan—parks the limousine in front of the loft.

Although I want to, I don’t ask any questions. So we all walk in silence up to the loft. I walk straight through to the bedroom and sit down on the edge of the bed.

After the couple of days I’ve just had, I want nothing more than a shower. But Janus won’t let me off that easily. He follows me into the bedroom, and the heavy silence that has been hanging in the air between us fills the room.

“Let’s go and grab some beers from the corner shop,” I hear Mahdi announce in the next room. “I could use a drink!”

“Amen,” says the woman excitedly.

Five sets of footsteps head towards the door, and it slams shut. Janus and I are alone.

“Janus—”

“Dani, I’m sorry.” Janus cuts me off and steps forward. He sits on the bed beside me and takes my hands, clutching them tightly.

“I should never have left you like that. I should have stuck around. I should—”

“No, Janus, I should have been better,” I interrupt this time by lifting my finger to his lips and shushing his words. “I was shallow, and I forgot that you were a person. I was so focused on getting to the bottom of the story that I didn’t care who I hurt…but I did hurt you, and I hate myself for it.”

“I’m used to people using me for my resources, Dani. I just didn’t expect for you to do it, too.”

The phrase cuts through my chest to my heart. I take my hands and hold the side of Janus’ face. Our foreheads touch gently, and I sigh.

“You mean more to me than just your resources, Janus. Working with you on this story has been like nothing else. You push me to be the best I can be, and I trust you. I want you by my side for as long as I can.”

I look into his blue eyes as we sit in each other’s arms. He pulls me into his arms, and I bury my face into his neck, breathing in the scent of him. I feel tears begin to spring into my eyes, but I fight them off.

“You’re so special to me. I knew it when I first met you in South Sudan. You’re so strong, and I knew that I wanted to be around you. But I was scared and foolish back then. I didn’t want to admit it, but I know now. I want to be with you, Dani.”

I cling to him tighter as he speaks, and Janus lifts my face up to look at him as finishes speaking, so I can see it in his eyes. He means this.

“I love you, Dani.”

“I love you too, Janus. So much.”

I lift my head up and kiss him, gently at first, and then desperately. I whisper my confession like a prayer against his skin.

I don’t know why I was afraid to admit it until now. But I need to make sure Janus hears it.

I hold his face between both hands, and I kiss him again, trying to silently convey all my emotions as his tongue brushes against my lip.

“I love you so much.”

Then I kiss him again.