“Oh.”

Tyke steps up behind me, curling his arm around my shoulder. “Is any of this necessary? Pippa has a job. She can’t lose it.”

I nod and Maddox glances at Tyke. “I will cover it with her boss; she will have a job when she returns.”

In other words, he’ll threaten my boss.

Things are about to get interesting.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THEN – Pippa

He’s gone.

He wasn’t in the fields when I went back down, and I was quickly tied up before I had the chance to search. I worked all the day, and when it was finished, he wasn’t in the room either. I sat waiting and waiting, but he didn’t come back. Rainer, my only friend, the only person I’ve ever trusted, has gone.

There’s a desperation in my heart that I can’t remove. I’ve asked, I’ve frantically pushed the other slaves for information. No one knows. No one really cares. He meant nothing to them. Nothing. To me he was the world. I wonder if the guards have locked him up. Maybe Artreau took him out for a job.

When I ask them, they won’t tell me. They simply stare at me as if I’m losing my mind. I cry out, I beg, I scream and pound my fists on the door, but they ignore me as if I’m no more than a fly buzzing around their ears. I don’t give up. I cry out until finally, they call Artreau. He arrives at the door, swinging it open and staring down at me as if I’m a pitiful child.

“Why are you screaming? You’re annoying everyone who can hear you. Cease, or I’ll make you cease.”

“Where is he?” I cry. “What did you do to him, you monster?”

It’s only now that I notice Artreau’s face is bruised and battered. God, has something awful happened. Has it? Oh God.

“Who?” Artreau demands.

“Rainer! Where is he? What did you do?”

Artreau shrugs. “I have no idea what happened to the insolent little fool. As far as I’m concerned, he was a waste of my space. Now, stop your screaming or I’ll give you something to scream about.”

With that, he slams the door. I pound my bruised fists against it over and over until I slump with exhaustion. Then I cry for my friend. I don’t know what happened to him, but whatever it was he’s no longer here and that can’t be a good thing. My body shakes and I curl into a tiny ball, wailing, unable to hold back the agony.

I lie on the floor for two days. No one can move me. The guards leave me there. I wait for him. I wait and wait but he doesn’t come. He’s not coming back—with each passing hour I know this. My Rainer is gone and without him, I’m broken. I don’t have the strength to keep fighting. I don’t have the strength to care.

Without him, I’m nothing.

I’ve lost the only thing worth fighting for.

I lose the last piece of my heart that day, and every day after I sink further and further into myself until there’s nothing more than an empty shell left.

The last traces of Pippa are now gone.

~*~*~*~

NOW - Pippa

“What is this place?” I ask Santana as we pull into a compound surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

There’s a cabin and a few large sheds right in the middle of the mountains. If you didn’t know it was here, you wouldn’t be able to find it.

“This is where they hide out when they aren’t safe at the club. Not many people know about this; it’s secluded. It’s been damaged quite a bit, but over the last few years Maddox has brought it back up to scratch.”

“And we have to stay here with the entire club?”

Santana grins. “Mostly, they take it in turns. Some will go back and forth from the compound and keep an eye out, but yes, most of them will be here.”

Great.

Just great.

The last of the bikes rumbles in behind us, and then Maddox padlocks the massive gate. Stuck like prisoners. That very thought has my heart clenching. I don’t like not having a choice. I don’t like not being free when I need to be. I push the feeling down when a hard body comes up behind me, wrapping solid arms around my middle.

Tyke.

“This is home for the next week or so. What do you think?”

“If I’m with you I’ll be fine,” I whisper.

“We need alcohol,” Krypt grunts, walking past me. “How are we goin’ to get that up here discreetly?”

“I might know how,” I say before thinking it through.

Everyone turns to me and I realize I’m about to tell them all about Rainer, only I haven’t told Tyke about Rainer.

“Ah . . .” I swallow. “I have a friend. He was with me when I was a slave. Turns out he lives here. I found him last week. He owns a bar. He’s trustworthy and will bring us supplies, if I ask.”

“Oh,” Santana claps. “I forgot about Rainer!”

“Rainer?” Tyke says stiffly from behind me.

I turn, looking up at him. “I have a lot to tell you.”

His eyes scan my face. “Seems you do.”

“Call your friend,” Krypt orders, walking up the front steps. “Tell him I’ll pay double if he hurries it up.”

It’s only adults up here. Everyone has handed their kids off to family members for safety. If there’s a raid, the last thing they want is for kids to be involved. I understand that. It feels empty without the kids, and I think everyone is feeling it. We all head inside, and Tyke holds my hand tightly.

“We’ll sleep down here,” he says, pulling me down the hall.