Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“That’s not your head talking, Maestro,” Czar said. “If Billows doesn’t have women down there, but you find evidence he trains them there, we missed a shipment. There is bound to be another coming immediately. We don’t want those women to be shipped somewhere else without our knowledge. We need to see this through.”
Alena and Lana exchanged a long look. “What if she isn’t safe now, Czar? Can we risk that? Look at her. She’s holding herself in check but just barely. Mechanic programmed heart rate monitoring into that camera as well as audio. You can see she’s terrified.”
“She’s been living that way for a long time,” Czar said. “I know it’s rough, but she’s under our surveillance. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.”
“I just would like to point out that she’s alone in that hallway with that guard and scared out of her mind,” Destroyer said.
Czar sighed. “We put a lot of effort into this before we got any kind of a lead. Years of work. This is it, all we’ve got. We can put it to a vote to abort the mission and pull her out of there, which is fair. She doesn’t deserve to live the way she’s living. And she’s Maestro’s. That makes her ours. Before you vote, weigh the consequences to the other women lost to trafficking that we know we’ll never get back against the fact that leaving her would be like leaving Blythe or Soleil or Anya. Seychelle or Zyah. Any of our women.”
There was a long silence. Maestro broke it with a sigh of resignation. “I want her out of there. I’m not going to lie, I want her out more than I want my next breath, but I want her out for myself. For my peace of mind. I know damn well I’m never going to find another woman like her. No one else is going to do it for me. Do I want to protect that? Fuck yes.”
Savage nodded. “I would feel the same way if it was Seychelle hanging out in the danger zone.”
Reaper, Ice and Player murmured agreements, as did Master.
Maestro shook his head and then ran both hands through the sides of his hair. He had to do the right thing even though it went against everything his mind screamed at him to do. “But it wouldn’t be what Azelie would want. She would put those women first every time. She’d be pissed beyond hell if she found out we’d sacrificed other women to get her out. She would tell me she’s worked there a long time and knows how to handle Billows and she could work there for several years more if that’s what it took. She may be soft inside like Alena, but just like Alena, she’s got a core of absolute steel.”
Azelie looked small and fragile to him and to the others. But he knew her now. “She would never agree to be put somewhere safe if that meant jeopardizing other women’s freedom. And she wouldn’t forgive me for taking that decision out of her hands.” He knew that to be true, and it was the most difficult thing for a man like him to tell his brethren and sisters.
For years he had advocated that women obey their men when it came to matters of safety. He’d said it shouldn’t matter what the woman said or did. She should be punished for not trusting her man to make the right decision. She should always follow his lead. He’d not only advocated for that shit, but he’d also believed it. To some extent, he still believed it. He needed his woman to allow him to lead. He needed control. But after watching Azelie with others and seeing the way she was with him, he also knew their relationship had to be about trust.
Like Maestro, Azelie had known betrayal—the ultimate betrayal by a family member. Someone she loved. She’d lost everything she valued. To be her partner, he had to always give her reason to trust him. That meant he had to know her. Read her smallest cues. It was important to provide what she needed for her happiness if he was going to keep her.
Maestro was a man who looked at himself closely. Kept himself in check. Knew what he had to work on about himself and what he needed in his life to keep those around him safe. He was dangerous, and when he was dangerous, that meant lethal. Azelie made him even more lethal. He had never expected a miracle. A gift such as she was. Every instinct in him was to wrap her up in Bubble Wrap, keep her in a safe room, never let her leave his side, but that wasn’t going to make her happy.
He struggled to find a balance between his intense personality and needs and her gentle independence. She wanted to stand on her own two feet, when he wanted her to depend on him. Needs versus wants. He absolutely knew Azelie would never forgive him if she thought other women suffered because he took her out of play.