Diamond didn’t breathe.
If the dog got too curious—if someone tapped the wrong crate, if one of the girls so much as sneezed behind those walls—it’d be over. They’d yank the trailer apart. The woman would be thrown back into hell, her kids into the system. And the Harlots? They’d be labeled traffickers instead of liberators.
“Step out of the cab.”
Diamond kept her movements smooth as silk, boots hitting pavement with quiet force. She didn’t say a word. The officer didn’t look at her again, not really. His partner cracked the reardoors and shined a flashlight over the visible cargo crates labeled as imported restaurant goods. Olive oil. Coffee. Flour.
Legit. Official. Perfect on paper. The light didn’t linger.
She forced herself to stand still. If she looked anxious, they’d smell it. If she looked too confident, they’d pull the whole trailer apart just to prove a point. She just watched—blank, professional—while the light danced across cardboard and shrink-wrap.
The radio at the officer’s shoulder crackled. “Everything checks out. Let them through.”
She didn’t exhale. Not yet. She climbed back into the cab. She didn’t say a word until they’d passed through the gates and hit the highway again. The border checkpoint shrinking in the rearview mirror like a bad dream fading.
Sayer looked at her. “Let’s find a place to get the family back up front. After that, we won’t stop until we get to our first stop. Not even for God.”
Diamond stared out at the empty road ahead. Nodded in response to his words. This was what freedom looked like sometimes—ugly, tense, and built on shadows, she thought. But they’d done it.
In the dark, hidden behind walls designed to look like nothing, a mother clutched her daughters, not knowing they’d just made it across the border.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When she pulledinto the rest area, the tires humming over concrete as she eased the truck into a dark corner of the lot. She parked away from the tight line of other semis, aiming for isolation. Luck was on their side—an empty spot near the exit, shrouded in shadow where a busted pole light had gone dark. No prying eyes. Just what she needed.
The door creaked as she climbed down from the cab, boots hitting the pavement with a soft thud. The air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of diesel and pine. Crickets buzzed in the grass beyond the pavement, filling the silence with a low hum.
Sayer was already at the trailer, his broad frame barely visible in the gloom. He helped her unfasten the doors, metal hinges groaning as they swung open. The cold interior air wafted out, dry and still.
Inside the trailer was a maze of shadows. Diamond weaved between crates and pallets, the scent of cardboard and wood heavy in her nose. Her fingers brushed the rough edges of a stack as she shifted it aside, revealing the hidden compartment door. The latch clicked as she opened it.
Carla blinked at her from within, eyes wide in the dim light. Her daughters were curled against her, fast asleep.
Diamond offered a soft smile and gestured them out. “Let’s get you up front.”
“Thank you.” Carla’s voice was a whisper, thick with exhaustion. She gently handed over one of the sleeping girls—warm and limp against Diamond’s chest—before lifting the other child into her arms.
“Can I stretch my legs for a minute?” she asked, her voice hesitant. “Just a quick walk?”
Diamond tensed. Cameras. Risk. Exposure.
“I’d rather you didn’t.” But Carla’s face fell, weary and pleading.
Diamond sighed. “One trip. Around the truck. That’s it.”
Carla nodded and tucked the girls into the sleeper with quiet, practiced movements. Then she slipped down to the pavement, rolling her shoulders as she walked slowly toward the back of the truck, her figure swallowed by the dark.
Diamond started to follow—but paused when she spotted Sayer already moving after her, his steps light, controlled. Good. Someone had her back.
She slid into the driver’s seat and grabbed her phone, thumb tapping out a call. The screen glowed cold blue in the cab’s darkness. It rang. And rang. Finally?—
“Everything going good with dinner?” Nova’s voice came casually, but pointed.
Diamond caught the cue instantly. “Yeah. Ordered in for three.” Letting her know Carla and the girls were still safe.
“Sounds like a nice evening in.”
“Maybe. I got roped into a movie.”
