Kraken (Hades Abyss MC 4) - Harley Wylde Page 0,7

would let you walk out of here. Not without wanting some sort of payment in return.”

“Whatever he wants, he’ll only use it for evil. You can’t give in to his demands, Kraken. I’d rather stay here and know other people aren’t suffering. Just… promise you’ll take Ember with you.” She curled tighter against me. “You said she was yours now. Keep her safe.”

I rolled her under me and smoothed my thumb against her cheek. “Baby, I’m not leaving you here. These men are monsters. You think you’re broken now? They aren’t done yet. They’ll completely destroy you. I can’t let that happen. I don’t know how you’ve held on this long, but I’m fucking grateful.”

My phone lit up on the bedside table. I reached for it, clicking on the text from Wizard.

Call me.

Well, fuck. I sat up and leaned against the headboard. I dialed Wizard and he answered immediately, foregoing his usual greeting.

“What the fuck did you get mixed up in?” he asked.

“I take it you found something.”

“Phoebe Whitlow isn’t a missing person. Her family never looked for her. As for the daughter, Ember, there’s no record of her. She doesn’t exist.”

“She’s in a crib a few feet from me, asswipe. She exists.”

“Easy, Kraken. I’m just telling you what I’ve found. Phoebe’s father is a minister. The girl in bed with you is a preacher’s daughter, but the family spun some story about her going to live with family out of state.”

I looked over at Phoebe. “If she was snatched off the street, why would they say she’d left voluntarily?”

“Don’t know, but we need to find out.”

“Hold on,” I said, pressing the phone to my chest. I turned to Phoebe. “Is there a reason your family wouldn’t have looked for you?”

“I don’t know, unless Deuce threatened them or something. It never occurred to me he might know where I lived. I wasn’t near the house when he grabbed me. Are my parents okay? My little sister?”

I put the phone back to my ear. “The parents and sister okay?”

“Fine far as I can tell. Wait. There’s something else… The day after your woman’s family claimed she’d left to stay with relatives, her parents made a rather large deposit. Cash. Now where would a small-town preacher get several hundred thousand?” Wizard asked. “It’s not like the guy is some big-wig televangelist raking in millions.”

My gut clenched. He was right. There was no way Phoebe’s father would get his hands on that much money, unless it was a payout from a family member passing, or a payoff when his eldest daughter was brought here. They knew. Those sorry motherfuckers knew their daughter was with these bastards, and they’d sold her. Maybe not intentionally, but the end result was the same.

“Kraken, I don’t have to tell you how this looks,” Wizard said.

“No, you don’t. I think we know what happened, or at least partly. I won’t rest until I know for sure. They might be her family, but if they abandoned her when she needed them most, I will fucking end them.”

Phoebe tensed next to me, and I curved my arm around her so she wouldn’t bolt. I disconnected the call. I didn’t know what part Phoebe’s parents had played in her abduction, but she needed to know they’d stabbed her in the back. If I’d known the turn the conversation would take, I’d have stuck with text so she wouldn’t overhear.

“Baby girl, we need to talk.”

“No.” She shook her head. “My parents wouldn’t do that. They couldn’t know where I am. They’d never…”

“Phoebe, honey, your parents deposited several hundred thousand in cash after Deuce took you. Where would they have gotten the money?”

She seemed to deflate, anguish twisting her face as she crumpled against me. I held her, murmuring words of comfort. She’d been here for roughly a year, thinking her family loved her, missed her. Only to find out they might have very well sold her out to the evil bastards who had raped and hurt her.

“We can keep digging,” I said. “Find out the truth. If they plotted with Deuce for all this to happen to you… Do you want to know?”

“I need to,” Phoebe said. “All this time, I worried they would be scared, not knowing what happened to me. I don’t understand, Kraken. Why? Why would they do this to me?”

“Don’t know, baby, but Wizard will keep looking.”

Whatever it took, I’d get the truth for her. She needed closure. I couldn’t imagine her family selling her out. I might