She pants and bites her lip before continuing. “Jessica! He has Jessie. She couldn’t escape.”
Sarah starts trembling, her fingers spasming. The shock is wearing out and she’ll break down about now. I clutch her arm, shake her and say in a loud, clear voice. “Which room?”
“I…” Tears well in her eyes as she opens her mouth, but says nothing.
Dammit. If she starts crying, I won’t get to Jessica in time.
I can check the security feed, but that will take time I don’t have.
“Sarah.” I grab both her shoulders and force her to face me. I’m told I’m scary when serious, and while I want to comfort Sarah, Jessica is a priority. “Breathe. I need you to tell me where Jessica is so I can help her.”
“Thir… teen.” She chokes out in a sob, her tears fall loose like the oozing of blood. The sight of her crying tightens my chest, but I force myself to leave her behind.
I punch the lift’s button. It doesn’t come down. I bunch my high couture dress to above my knees and storm to the stairs, taking two at a time. My breathing remains steady when I arrive at the top.
This is nothing compared to the lethal training we went through since we were kids.
I swipe my complete-access card and barge through the door. Jessica’s pained cries and muffled whimpers into the pillow reach me first.
A bulky man twice her size pins her down with his body from behind. He has greasy, dark grey hair, bushy eyebrows and a belly fit for a swine. His fat fingers reach underneath her torn gown while his other hand immobilises her head in place.
Memories shoot through me like an unstoppable storm. Wreaking. Destructive. Real.
It might have been a decade and a half, but the crippling pain remains the same. I see myself in Jessica’s state. The helplessness. The heartbreak. The fucking anger. I hold onto the last one and let it rush through me.
I can do anger and I can do it so well.
If I use my knife, I’d kill him and we don’t need blood in Le Salon right now, especially since the police are watching our every move.
I grab a lamp and throw it at his back. He screams like a schoolboy with a grown man’s voice. As he staggers backwards, Jessica scrambles from underneath him, crawls to the other end of the bed, and hugs her knees to her chest.
“What the fuck?” The man swings a fist back at me when I’m within arm’s reach. He’s obviously new blood or he wouldn’t have dared to touch the girls under my roof.
I grab his arm and twist it behind his back. He’s bigger than me, but I’ve dealt with bigger and more trained opponents. I shove my leg into his back, using it as leverage and yank his arm backwards.
He screeches in pain as his shoulder pops from its joints. I suppress a smirk at the sound of the scum’s agony as he falls on the floor, wailing.
I’m not done.
Not even close.
I reach for the pointy knife sheathed under my dress. The black, cold hilt sends the familiar, consuming thrill through my veins.
Fuck the police and fuck the ‘no killing’ rule on Le Salon’s grounds. I’ll murder this arsehole and throw his rotten body in the sea.
“You fucking bitch.” The man snarls, still holding his injured shoulder while sitting on the carpeted floor. The knife doesn’t seem to faze him. Most powerful men think they’re too untouchable that no one would dare hurt them.
He messed with the wrong person.
“Do you know who I am?” A foam of spit spills from the corner of his thin mouth. “I’ll send you behind the sun for fucking eternity.”
I smile like a plastic doll, caressing the hilt of my knife as if it’s a pet. “You can’t do that when you’re dead, now can you?”
The scum must’ve realised I’m serious since he swallows and sweat beams on his forehead. “I’m the secretary of the cabinet –”
I crouch in front of him and hold the blade to his throat. “Too bad I don’t care.”
He gulps audibly and the knife cuts through the skin. “P-please.”
“When she told you please, did you listen to her?” My voice becomes louder, and I feel the demons of my past crowding the space. I stand up and kick him in the ribs with my pointy heel. Over and over until he’s curled in a ball, wheezing like a kid. “Did you listen, you scum?” Kick. “Did