I pulled my face from his grasp and looked around the room. There was so much pain within these concrete walls. I wanted no more of it.
I was so tired.
“Why Volpe?” Ryu said with a glare over my shoulder. “Why him?”
“Please, Ryu, can we just wrap up here and go home?”
Cas put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Yeah,amore. We’ll go home.”
We helped our men and Max’s pile up all the bodies.
23 Vokshi men.
5 dead buyers, 18 alive.
33 trafficking survivors, 1 dead.
Max called clean-up crews to remove them, but I gave the girl’s body to Willow. Willow would try to return her to any family, but if she couldn’t, she’d bury her on their compound.
I still couldn’t bear the thought of visiting.
Maybe Ciel or Obi could talk to the survivors instead. They might have some useable information.
Max’s men and Giulio’s men agreed to question the buyers and gather whatever other information we could. I didn’t give a fuck what happened to them after that. Max said he’d deal with them—and a large part of me hoped he’d kill them, but with the feds on our tail, that might not be an option.
My brain was too fried to worry about it now. Giulio would update us when everything was taken care of.
I leaned against Cas’s shoulder while our men prepared to leave. Daniele and Max talked quietly in the corner, with Daniele gesturing toward me. I watched as Max’s passive mask fell over his face and his body went deadly still.
He said one more thing to Daniele before walking toward us. Daniele followed him.
“Couldn’t handle it, eh,princess,” Daniele sneered when he got close. “A panic attack? I knew you were weak. You should have stayed in your skyscraper. This life isn’t for the likes of you.”
My jaw clenched. I told him before I would kill him if he disrespected me again, but before I could grip my knife in my thigh holster, Max whirled on him. The sound of a gunshot tore through the tunnel.
Daniele looked down at his chest, where a red spot bloomed right over his heart. He gaped, murmuring something, and then collapsed in a heap.
Max turned back to me and my men. “I’m done here. I suggest we leave.”
Wynn’s fingers interlocked with mine. His touch kept me grounded as we made the trek back to the city’s surface. Nobody said anything else.
We left Daniele’s body behind.
53
CASPIAN
Max followed us home. Obi and Ryuji argued about stopping him, but he already knew where we lived. He was outnumbered six to one. What was the harm in his coming with us?
Besides, everyone needed a debrief.
I still hadn’t decided how I felt about him, but what just happened with him and Leona…another mind fuck.
Leona was barely standing on her own by the time we made it back to the penthouse. As soon as we all got inside, I handed her off to Ciel. She’d curled around him, and he took her to our room with Wynn.
Obi and Ryuji looked like they were about to beat Max half to death to get answers, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere. Something told me Leona would lose her mind again if she woke up and found out we’d hurt him.
Yeah. Mind fuck.
