“Shut the door, please,” I instruct, keeping my back turned to him. Seconds later, I hear it click shut.
“Sir, where would you like us to transport your winnings?” Lee asks, his voice respectful, yet timid. He’s uncomfortable.
Good.
“My winnings,” I repeat. “You do know they are human beings, correct? Just as you are?”
Lee clears his throat. “I apologize, sir. Where would you like us to transport your girls?”
“There’s a limousine pulled up to the back entrance. Make sure none of them are hurt from here on out.”
“Yes, sir,” he says.
“Tell them now,” I demand softly. “On your radio. Tell them that now.”
He stammers, caught off guard from my odd request, but ultimately, does as I say. He radios for my winnings to be transported into the limo unharmed, and once he receives the confirmation, he clears his throat again.
“Will that be all, sir?”
“In that regard, yes.”
Assuming I’m done with him entirely, I hear his feet pivot on the thin black carpet and his hand jiggles the doorknob when he grips it.
“Before you go,” I assert, stopping him in his tracks. “Have you ever bought any girls for yourself?”
Lee stutters. “Well, not here, no.”
“But elsewhere?”
After a beat, he says, “Yes, of course.”
I hum noncommittally, though his answer has my body tightening with rage.
“Sir, may I ask why—” His question comes to a crashing halt when I stand and turn to face him. I’m not sure if it’s my scars, or the look of cold murderous rage in my eyes, but something about my face has his words fading and his eyes widening.
Blindly, his hand reaches behind him, searching desperately for the door handle as I approach him.
As quick as a whip, my hands grip him by his throat, cutting off his shout. I lift him to my height level while he kicks and claws for me to release him, and I stare into his dilated eyes.
All I see is my own monstrous reflection.
I had told him those girls were human beings, but I never said that I was.
Pulling my top lip over my teeth, I snarl at him. “How many women have you thrown onto that stage, just to be carted off to a life of misery and suffering? How many have you taken for yourself and did unspeakable things to them?”
His face turns purple and his mouth flops like a fish, but no sound escapes from his constricted throat. I only squeeze tighter, relishing in the way his veins pop from his forehead. I wonder if I can make them burst open.
“Come on, Lee, I know you have a wife and children. How do you face them every night, knowing that you’ve condemned people just like them to a sickening fate?”
Just before he goes unconscious, I release him. He sucks in a huge breath while I force him into the chair that I’ve been occupying for the last two hours. Purchasing women that he proudly presented to me and fourteen other men.
I deliver one punch to his face, nearly knocking him out cold. It provides me enough time to grab the black bag I had brought in with me, full of rope and tape. Of course, the two bouncers, Beavis and Butt-Head, checked my bag before allowing me to enter the building, but they had only smiled—assuming the items were for the girls I planned to buy.
I had smiled back because they’re idiots, and because they were going to die.
Quickly, I dig out the roll of duct tape and bind his hands and feet. He pleads with me relentlessly, and when that fails, he flops around like a worm on a hook, but I can’t imagine what he thinks that’ll accomplish.
Next, I fish out my can of lighter fluid and squirt some all over his body. His eyes widen, and he struggles harder, attempting to break through the tape like he’s the Incredible Hulk.
“Jay? Send them in,” I order.
“On it.”
Leaving Lee to struggle for a bit, I step out to find several of my men pouring into the building, engaging in a shoot-out, and taking down security in a matter of minutes. No one is making it out of this auction alive.
While they take care of the employees and guards, I meticulously make my way into each cubicle. Jay unlocks each door for me one at a time, and I walk in, incapacitate the grimy rapist inside, then tie them up just like Lee.
By the time I make my way through all fifteen cubicles, a sheen of sweat is coating my skin. Most of them were old, but there were a few younger ones who put up a fight. A very pathetic fight—but one all the same.
Rolling my neck, I release some of the tension in my shoulders.
“All the girls safely in the limo?”