Shattered Love

Chapter 3

Maxten's POV

"I don't, but my family is pushing me to marry and if I don't, they are going to choose one, and I don't want that. I want a woman that I can control and, when the time is right, dispose of her."

"Well, I have a nice little selection in the basement that you can view. Just remember you can't take any home tonight. You must buy at the auction on Saturday night and there is no sampling."

"Don't worry about any of that, and I plan on buying Saturday night. Do you have any that are better behaved than others? I need one that is going to be seen and not heard. I don't need a b***h running her mouth and I don't have time to train her," Caleb said, and I knew it was making him sick. We all felt the same way about this kind of s**t. It was disgusting and needed to be stopped. Unfortunately, it was something we saw in our line of work.

"Let's go boys," the other man who had yet to speak said as he stood up. We followed them through the house to a door that was in a weird spot, almost hidden.

The second I got halfway down the stairs, the smell hit me. I had to gag back the vomit. It smelled like the most disgusting urinal I've ever smelled and once they turned the lights on I saw why. They had the girls chained to the walls and most of them looked like they hadn't been fed in days and all of them had soiled themselves. I'm sure they haven't been taken off those chains since they were brought here. I wanted to put a bullet in their head right here, but I couldn't and, besides, that would be way too nice of a death for them.

"What did I tell ya, some nice stock," Samuel said, like it was something to be proud of.

"Not bad," Caleb said as we walked through the entire basement, looking at each girl. They were all huddled up next to the wall like they were freezing. None of them were fully dressed. Some had tops on and some didn't and some had pants on and others didn't, but one thing they had were bruises and cuts at varying levels of healing.

The very last girl we came to was Lyla. She looked like she was knocking on death's door. She had no shirt on, but a bra was hanging off her shoulders. She didn't even try to cover herself, and she was so skinny that I could count her ribs and she was covered in bruises and had a cut that went down the center of her chest. She looked up at us, but her eyes were dead, and she quickly looked back down at the floor, thinking we weren't there to help her.

"What do you think?" Samuel asked as he kicked one of the girls in the legs, making her whimper and pulling her legs in.

"I think there is one or two in here that are worth bidding on."

"Glad to hear that. Shall we go talk entry fees into the auction?"

"Oh come on now, my fee to come view them in person doesn't cover that," Caleb joked with him, making them both laugh while my stomach churned with bile.

An hour later, we were back in our SUV and got the hell out of there. "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," Ian said as soon as we were off the property.

"We need to move in fast. Some of those girls look like they might not make it much longer. They are being starved and beaten," Caleb said.

"Agreed."

We met everyone back at the meeting point after driving for an hour, making sure that no one was following us. We were sitting in an empty field. We had no clue who it belonged to and really didn't care either.

"What did you find out?" Conrad asked before we could even get out of the SUV.

"We need to move now. There were a few people around and there was one huge guy, but it didn't seem like they had top-notch security. I don't know the man running this, but I do know about him and he isn't well-liked in our world. I can make a few calls and see if anyone knows anything," Caleb said.

"How is she?"

"None of them are OK," I told him, but he wasn't buying it. He knew better. He knew she was in bad shape.

It took us four hours to get everything organized and a plan in place and, unfortunately, that plan didn't include Conrad. He was too emotionally invested, and he would be a wild card right now. He wasn't impressed by it and is currently sitting in one of the SUVs pouting or raging mad. It may be a better way to describe it. One of Rush's men got in the car with him and stayed, and we headed out with our plan in place. We had sixty men, and they were broken into teams with specific job assignments.

By the time we pulled up outside the house, it was right before dawn and the sky was starting to get light. We wanted to be here sooner, but we had to have a solid plan in place. Everyone got out of their SUVs and broke off into their teams.

Rush led the lead team that was going to basically blow the front door off and the rest would move in and kill all men on sight. They lined up, and he fired the hand cannon we had and there was a loud boom before there was a small explosion, and then we all ran inside the house.

Caleb, Ian and I all ran towards the door in the back of the house that would take us to where the girls were. We moved slowly and methodically. Every step was calculated with our guns drawn. We could already hear gunshots going off around us, but we trained for this constantly, and it wasn't the first time we had been in this type of situation.

I heard the whistle of the bullet before I heard the shot of the gun. All three of us turned around to see the same big man standing there holding a pistol with a smile on his face. He liked this s**t and wasn't afraid of it and that is what made him so dangerous.

"I got this, boys," Ian said. He was like this same big guy, afraid of nothing. "Let's dance big boy," he said with a smile on his face. I could hear it. The guy fired again, and we all ducked, but just as we all hit our knees, Ian was lunging at him. Caleb and I knew he could handle himself, and so we got up and moved out of the room quickly and made it to the door that held the girls hostage.

I reached up to open it, but it was locked, so I stepped back and kicked the door down. I could hear a few muffled screams as we went down the stairs. Caleb found the light switch and as I scanned the girls they were all terrified but not making a noise.

"Don't worry, we are here to help you," I said as I went to the first girl. I grabbed the chain and realized that we would need something to cut it or the key.

"On the counter over there," the girl said, knowing what I was thinking.

I ran to the counter and there was a big key ring with multiple keys on it. It could take a few minutes to get through these and figure out which key, but I got to work while Caleb stood guard at the bottom of the stairs, making sure no one came down here. You could still hear fighting going on upstairs but it was quickly fading.

I quickly got to work finding the right key and freeing all the girls, but none of them really moved from the spot that they were in. Once I freed the last girl, Lyla, I stepped back. "We are going to get you out of here. Please don't fight us. We will take you all to get medical care, but as far as you know, you don't know who free'd you. Some random people broke in wearing masks and dropped you at the hospital. Are we clear?"

I got a few head nods and a few mumbled yeses. People slowly made their way down into the basement and started helping the girls upstairs. We had found blankets or towels or sheets to cover the girls with, and I had a blanket someone handed me and I went over to where Lyla was at. She moved away from me as I got closer.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said as softly as I could. "I'm just going to pick you up and take you upstairs to a waiting SUV."

"I know you," she said after staring at me.

"Yes, but that isn't important."

I slowly wrapped the blanket around her and picked her up. This girl didn't even weigh a hundred pounds and the way she winced when I picked her up was sad. No one should ever have this happen.

I easily got her up the stairs and headed to the front door or what was left of the front door when in the living room where the two guys that were responsible for this whole thing. They had them tied up, and you could tell that they had bullet holes in their bodies, but they were still alive. I knew that Rush would take care of them in the way they deserved. I kept walking and got Lyla laid down in the back of the SUV and went around and got in the driver's seat and took off, not waiting for anyone else. They had their SUVs, and she was my main concern for my brother.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket as I sped down the back road and dialed his number.

"Do you have her?"

"Yes. She is alive but not in the best shape. We are headed to St. Mary's. Meet me there and figure out a story for her."

"I'm on it," he said, and hung up, and I pressed the gas pedal down onto the floor, reaching a speed that I shouldn't, but I wanted to get her to the hospital as fast as possible.

When we finally pulled in, Conrad was standing there with Avery waiting. They ran to the car as soon as I stopped. I motioned to the very back. Conrad pulled her out gently while Avery started crying, and they ran inside with her. I went back to the SUV and moved it, so more people could pull in and park.

When I walked inside, Conrad was sitting in the waiting room, and I guessed that Avery was back with her. "We still need to find her father and little sister," Conrad said, but there was such sadness in his voice.

"We will find her. Kev is still looking. He is the best there is. Look how long it took him to track down Lyla."

Avery walked out an hour later, and you could see that she had been crying. She came right over to Conrad and sat down on his lap.

"How is she?"

"Physically she will be fine after a few days, but mentally I don't know. She went through awful things," she said, and wiped her eyes. I couldn't sit there anymore. I walked out without saying a word and got in the SUV and took off. I was going to find this girl for them, and then I could go home and that is what I wanted more than anything.