had selling women like fucking cattle, but my father never wanted a cent of it. We didn’t need it. He built his syndicate into a powerhouse because he made smart deals and built up respect among those he did business with.”
My hands curl into fists, his anger urging mine on, infecting me too. “Camilla’s in too much of a fucking hurry for that. Too fucking greedy to do things the right way. So she’s decided to scrap every shred of human decency she has to claw her way to the top.”
Hale’s right. There’s money to be had in human trafficking, for those sick enough to take it. And if this is what Camilla’s been up to this whole time, then she’s a more formidable opponent than we ever realized. She’s got a huge operation going, one that has managed to stay under our radar for months, growing like a weed before we could pluck it out—drugs, money, women.
The Rooks are poised to explode onto the scene of the Chicago underground, and the clock is ticking.
If we don’t take her down soon… Camilla could win this fucking war.
18
Grace
Movement beside me pulls me from sleep. The mattress dips, and my eyes fly open, my head jerking up from the pillow.
“Shh…” Hale says softly, his thumb brushing over my lips. “It’s just me. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
My heart pounds heavily for a few beats before slowing to a more normal pace, and I let out a breath as he crawls into bed beside me. He tugs me against his body, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace—a gesture that reminds me of the way he held me in his sleep for the first few nights after his father died.
I stay still for a few moments, letting him take what he needs from me. But after a little while, I press against his chest, wriggling a little. He relaxes his hold fractionally, giving me enough space to pull back and peer up into his eyes.
“What is it?” I murmur. “Are you okay? What time is it?”
He looks a little surprised at the question, like he’s not used to someone being able to read him so well. Then he draws in a deep breath and lets it out, his chest moving against mine. “Late. Some shit went down tonight. It’s a fucking mess.”
“What?”
Worry spikes in my veins, a shot of adrenaline bringing me wide awake and banishing the last cobwebs of sleep.
He grimaces. “Turns out you were right to ask me about human trafficking. I didn’t think any of that shit was going on in Chicago—we’re not doing it, and I assumed we’d know if a smaller organization even tried to get into that game. We should have known. But Camilla’s been able to keep her operation a secret up until now.”
My heart lurches as I try to follow his words. “Camilla? What are you talking about?”
Hale pulls me a little closer, tucking my head under his chin. His voice rumbles against my ear. “My team and I got wind of a possible Rook exchange, a handoff with a buyer. We crashed the party and took their men out, along with the buyers. Unfortunately, the merchandise we seized wasn’t the usual illegal weapons or drugs. Instead, we found three women.”
I blink into the darkness, breathing in his scent. “Women? My mother is trafficking… women?”
“Yeah.” His tone is clipped and full of anger. “I wondered why the hell she mentioned human trafficking to you, why she tried to convince you the Novaks were dealing in that shit. It’s what she’s been doing.”
I swallow, trying to keep my tone even. “What did you do with the women? The ones you found?”
He shakes his head. I can’t see it, but I feel the movement. “We’ve got them in a safe house, full security on them. We couldn’t just leave them there or put them back on the streets. Camilla’s a goddamn piece of work. I’m fucking positive these aren’t the only three girls she’s captured. Human trafficking isn’t the kind of thing you dabble in.”
Shit.
My mind is running a mile a minute. I pull back again and stare at Hale, pieces of the full picture falling together in my head.
Agent Brady is wrong.
Camilla is the one running a human trafficking ring.
But she’s diverting attention from herself by making it look like the Novak Syndicate is the one responsible. Whatever she’s done to point guilt toward the Novaks, it’s enough to warrant an FBI investigation