As soon as I leave the room, I pause outside of the door and wait. I’m not sure what I’m waiting for, but I have a feeling I’ll find out soon.

Sure enough, I hear it. Almost as soon as I’m outside, my ear pressed against the door. It’s soft at first, just light panting, but quickly it turns into moans.

She’s getting herself off.

I knew she would. I can’t say how I knew, but there was something in her look that made me think she wouldn’t be able to help it. She turned around and instantly started touching herself, all because of me.

I stand there and listen, cock hard as fuck, but I don’t go in. I can’t barge in, not yet. I need to let this play out. If I break the spell I might risk losing her completely.

I’m so fucking hard it’s almost tough to stand. I want to break in there, take her, and get her away from this place. I hate that Riley has to go through this nightmare, but it’s for the greater good. I need to keep reminding myself.

As I stand there, I can hear her reaching her peak.

And she’s moaning my name.

I groan and have to restrain myself. I can’t listen anymore without kicking in that fucking door and ravishing her. I quickly walk away, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

I’m making serious progress. I suspect I’ll be able to open up to her some more in the next few days. I wish I could tell her everything, since that would make this whole thing so much easier on her, but I can’t. She’ll somehow give this up, and we’ll both get killed. In the end, this is the right thing to do for everyone.

As I head down the hallway, I hear someone call my name coming from behind me.

“Logan!” he says. I turn and spot Anton coming toward me, a big smile on his face. “Where are you going?” he asks.

“Breakfast,” I say.

“Come, eat with me.” He jerks his thumb in the other direction. “Come have drinks with me and my men.”

I pause, not wanting to, but I know I can’t turn this down. Right now, Anton is the boss, and I have to keep playing his little games.

“Sounds good,” I say, pretending to give a shit. I follow him back down the hall and around a corner until we end up in what looks like the nicest room in the whole place.

It’s fairly large, with comfortable couches and big televisions playing American sports. The men sitting around are all the upper ranked guys, some of the worst of the worst. I actually know a few of them from my briefings, and they’re all sick bastards. There’s a table with food piled on it and a bartender stands behind a small makeshift bar, making drinks for the guys. Everyone looks like they’re drinking and eating, mostly sitting around. There are a few girls lurking around the corners, sitting in guys’ laps, and mostly just hanging around. I know what they are, and so I avoid looking at them.

“Come on, get a drink,” Anton says. He leads me to the bar and orders himself a vodka.

“I’ll stick with coffee,” I say.

“Suit yourself.” He grins and leads me over to the food. We fill plates and sit down at a large bench facing the television. Anton introduces me to a few of the guys as we start eating.

“Are you enjoying yourself here?” he asks me.

“It’s going pretty good so far,” I say.

“I’m sure, but are you having fun?” He eyes me and I sense something behind his question.

I nod. “A bitch like that? Who wouldn’t have fun?”

He smiles at that. “Of course. There are some rumors though. About your methods.”

“What are they?”

“You’re soft on her. She has blankets, comforts. You brought her books.” He cocks his head at me. “We don’t treat our girls like that here.”

“How do you treat them?”

Anton grins at me then looks over at a girl standing next to a wall. “Cindy!” he shouts. She immediately walks over to him.

Cindy is short, about five foot three at most, with pale skin and blue eyes. Her long auburn hair falls around her shoulders in soft curls and she’s wearing a tiny tank top and short jean shorts.

“Kneel,” Anton says to her.

She kneels down in front of him, her eyes on the floor.

Anton grins at me. “See? We don’t give them comforts. That’s not what they are.” Anton looks back at Cindy. “What are you, girl?”

“I’m yours,” she says instantly.

“Of course you are. Bow down to me now and kiss my feet.” Anton winks at me, grinning the whole time.

She drops down instantly and kisses his feet. She stays down there next to his dirty shoes, not moving, eyes locked on the floor.

I want to hurt him. I want to save this poor fucking girl so badly, but I know this isn’t the time. It disgusts me, but I know it could be much worse for her. He could make her do absolutely anything, and she’d likely obey.

“Impressive,” I say.

“She does much more than bow and kiss feet,” Anton says, grinning. “I keep this one for myself. She sucks cock like a fucking queen. Really chokes on it. Isn’t that right, Cindy?”

“Yes, Anton,” she says, still not moving.

“You love sucking my cock, don’t you girl?”

“Yes, Anton,” she replies.

“Good. Go away now.” She instantly rises, stands, and walks back to her position against the wall.

I cover my disgust by taking a big sip of my coffee.

“Does your girl do that?” Anton asks me.

“She will,” I promise.

“Good. That’s what you’re here for.” He puts an arm over the back of his chair, clearly trying to look casual. “The thing is, there are some problems around here lately.”

“Problems?” I ask, trying not to sound too curious.

“One of the guards went missing. Washed up dead on the beach about a half hour ago. You know anything about that?”

I give him a look. “Of course not.”

“Sure,” he says, shrugging. “It was probably the local cartels. Bastards hate me because I refuse to pay them tribute.”

His explanation comes out too quickly, too rehearsed, and I can feel the danger in the air. I keep myself from looking around but I suspect most people are staring at us right now, and a lot of hands are on a lot of guns at this very moment. I can feel the tension in the air, and although the televisions are still playing loudly, the conversations have mostly died down to a low murmur.

“I’m just here for the girl,” I say. “I don’t know anything about your business with the cartels.”

“Of course not.” Anton sighs. “Just be careful, Logan. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

I nod. “I appreciate the concern.”

“One last thing.” He leans toward me. “The Russians want a new shipment in two weeks, and I want your girl to be a part of that. I want them to see your good work.”

“I understand,” I say. “She’ll be ready.”

“Good, good. Completely trained. I can’t send them some fucking problem. Understand?”

I nod and stand. “Understood.”

“Good. Stay a while, enjoy yourself. Have a girl if you want. Hell, get Cindy to show you what she can do.” Anton grins at me.

“Thanks. But I have some work to do.”

“Okay then. Go get to work. Two weeks!”

I turn and leave, dumping my plate into the trash. I hold onto my coffee and glance at Cindy on the way out.

Her eyes are flat and dead. She looks like she’s an empty vessel just staring at the ground and waiting for it all to go away.

I quickly walk away from that place. I can only imagine the sort of shit those men do in there, and I don’t want to be a part of it. Maybe it looks strange to them, but it doesn’t matter.

Anton wants me to have Riley trained in two weeks, but that’s plenty of time. I’m close now, I can feel it. She’ll be doing what I need her to do soon enough, and we won’t have to worry about that shipment.

Because before two weeks is up, I’ll burn this compound to the ground. I’ll save Cindy and every one of those girls. I’ll make sure Riley is safe and sound and can have a real life again.

But Anton is suspicious of me. I know he is, otherwise I don’t think he would have asked about the dead guard. He can’t prove that I killed that guy, but he can clearly see the connection between something strange happening and a stranger coming to their compound. Not to mention he doesn’t like the way I’m running my operation.

He’s probably looking for any excuse to get rid of me. I’ll have to be extra careful and make sure I’m putting on a good show with Riley. I can’t let Anton do something stupid before I have a chance to finalize our plans to take this place down.

I’ll just have to go see Riley again today.