Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Charlotte Mitchell

E arlier this morning, before the sun came up, I had met with Miles in an alley. It was in a part of the city that hardly anyone goes to besides the homeless. Shadowed and cold, he had given me the envelope I needed.

The very envelope that had everything in it he could find about Andre Seager. Discreetly, of course. If Visser found out, we’d both be fucked.

It was a stroke of luck that that slime ball had left his wallet on the counter. I just hope it doesn’t come to bite me in the ass.

But I’m not stupid though. Andre Seager isn’t his real name. It would be a dumb idea to use your real name for what he and Nix do for a living. Even though I don’t know the full role Andre plays, my gut still says he’s in charge of the sex trafficking.

Now, running on very little sleep, I stare at my bedroom wall in my apartment. I’m doing my best to ignore the crying baby next door and focus on the task at hand. I have Andre’s picture now, and it dangles from the wall next to Nix’s blank page. Connected to Andre’s picture are sticky notes of everything the envelope contained. Everything attached to that name.

His job occupation states that he’s a consultant at a local matchmaking business, and I snort loudly as I read it for the hundredth time. It’s the perfect cover for sex trafficking.

Matchmaking. Yeah… For dead people.

When I looked up that business and found their website, there was no full address listed. It was a dead end, and that’s probably because it doesn’t actually exist.

The next note says that he owns a storage shipping container at one of the ports. With a little research a few minutes ago, I discovered that it’s still sitting there. I have every intention of searching inside it because it’s really the only way to ship people from another country to ours. The business that he and Nix are in has to have deep pockets to convince boats to ship actual people. Or, they could have friends in really high places. That wouldn’t surprise me either.

As I stand here, I tap the pen in my hand against the other. I should check it out now. I told Miles that I’d wait for him, but honestly, what if there’s something in there now that won’t be later tonight? After all, nighttime is the best time to move things. In the cover of darkness, Andre could move a lot of people. My chances are better to find evidence in the daytime and, with any luck, find the people he stole.

God, Miles is going to kill me, but I stir to action anyway. I order a cab on the phone Miles gave me as I slide on my shoes in an unbalanced sort of sway, nearly knocking Nathan’s belongings to the floor when I grapple for the counter.

It’s now or never. I’ll deal with Miles later, and hopefully, I’ll have something to hand over.

I didn’t have to wait long for the cab to arrive, and thankfully, he didn’t ask any questions when he pulled up to the port. Nor did anyone ask questions as I waded through the rows and rows of shipping containers, checking the numbers for Andre’s.

Gravel crunches under my feet, too loud to my ears even though it’s broad daylight. There are only shadows of the containers to hide me, and lord help me if I round a corner and bump into the man himself. I’ll be absolutely screwed.

A sinking feeling settles in my gut as I trudge along the path. This might not have been my brightest idea, and as dried-up leaves swirl around my ankles, I have half a mind to turn around and truly wait for Miles.

But then, as I read the next number on the side of a shipping container, I stop dead in my tracks.

“Fuck,” I whisper because I found it. It truly is here, and if I turn back now . . .

I rotate full circle to see if anyone is around. There’s not a soul to be found, even though I can hear people talking over moving water off in the distance. With a shaky breath, I put my ear up to the cold metal and listen for several seconds, but all I can hear is my own rapid heartbeat from the adrenaline of it all.

The horrible feeling in my gut intensifies as I pull away and make a move toward the corner of the container. My steps are slow and hesitant. And that damn gravel! It announces every single one I take like the crunch of impending doom.

I reach the corner and peek around it, just to make sure I truly am alone out here. When I find no one, I round it and stand before the container’s door.

And it’s fucking cracked open.

I scowl at that and look around once more before grabbing the door and swinging it open. The sun banishes half of the shadows within, and I immediately cover my nose at the stench that wafts out.

“Feces,” I say into my palm. It’s the unmistakable smell of shit and piss.

I step inside, careful to avoid the piles and puddles that belong to the offending smell. Obviously, there’s no one here. With the sun, the shadows aren’t as dark, and I can see all the way back. Whoever was here is gone by now, taken out and shipped off to another destination to keep them prisoner, but I have zero doubts now that Andre is in charge of the sex trafficking.

I’m so mad that I nearly see red. He stole people. He’s selling them for horrendous things. These poor people; they’re here solely for someone’s sick and twisted fetish.

“You can’t kill him,” I growl. I can’t because, even though this is enough to arrest Andre Seager, I know he couldn’t have done this alone. I’d bet my life on the fact that he isn’t smart enough to organize something this huge, to have workers in other countries even. No. Someone else is – someone in charge of both halves of this business that’s getting larger by the second. If I bring in Andre now, I’ll never find out who it is, and this business will just get moved to another place, possibly another country.

Does Nix know about this? He has to. It’s probably why Andre was at my interview, to see if I’d better serve his purpose than Nix’s because Andre’s side of the business sure as shit brings in more money than porn.

I release a shaky breath into my hand. No, Nix knows all about this. What kind of man does that make him ?

My mind doesn’t even want to contemplate what that makes him, how he lets this happen, how he probably has a finger on the pulse of it. My heart won’t allow it. Why? Because the fucking organ already has a thing for him.

I rake a hand through my hair, knowing I’m in absolute deep shit if I still find Nix attractive after this revelation. Again, I wonder what kind of person this makes me, pining after a man so dark. Wanting to kiss him. Wanting to see him naked and raw.

He once asked me to find out who I really am, and I’m slowly peeling away those layers. I don’t know if I like what I see.

Fully done with the shipping container and needing a fresh breath of air, I turn and make my way out, but as I do, a glint on the floor catches my eye. I pause in my step and carefully bend to the tiny object. Pinching it off the floor, I bring it to my face for better examination.

It’s a tiny red ruby. It’s so small that it had to have come from a piece of jewelry.

I nearly tip over into a pile of shit when the phone Miles gave me rings in my jacket pocket. Cursing under my breath, I palm the tiny stone and quickly exit the shipping container. I gulp in fresh air and reach into my pocket, pulling out the phone.

My gut does a flip-flop because I’d recognize Visser’s number anywhere. I should have already been at work, my days off having already come to an end. I know exactly what he wants, and I know it won’t be a pleasant conversation.

I slide the ruby into my pants pocket and pinch the bridge of my nose while I press that little green button and put the phone up to my ear.

“Yeah? ”

His familiar voice comes out bitten and clipped. “Where the hell are you?”

I pinch my nose a little harder and wince at the pain it causes. “At the port.”

“Which one?”

“Does it matter?”

“Damn it, Charlotte!” The phone rustles on his end, and he says something to someone he’s with before returning to our unpleasant conversation. “Miles said you aren’t supposed to be there right now. He looks about as unhappy as I feel.”

Unhappy is putting it mildly. Ragey sounds more like it. “So he told you?” I ask, annoyed, as I close the shipping container’s door back to how I found it. I then make my way back through the port yard.

Of course Miles would be with the captain right now. I’m annoyed with him and with the situation because chances are Visser told him he’d lose his job if he didn’t tell him where I was. And because of that, he had to tell him the truth about the whole thing.

“When I come back from lunch, I expect you back at the station. At your desk, Charlie, because that’s where you’ll be spending your foreseeable future.”

I stop in my tracks as anger rises up in me. I push out the word, “No.”

“No?” It’s said so deadly and calm that I know, at any second, I could lose my job.

“I’m on to something. I can’t just leave it where it is when I’m getting closer every second.”

“What you’re doing is going directly against my orders. You’re too green, Mitchell. Too young and stupid to have any idea how to handle yourself in this situation.”

Anger rises in my chest because he’s never once called me stupid. I know it’s the heat of the moment, but there’s no excuse. Visser has always been on my side, despite my father, my age, my weight, and how new I am. He may be rough around the edges, but he’s always believed in me. Perhaps me going completely against his orders has tarnished how he sees me.

To save myself, I begin to rattle off everything I’ve found so far, keeping my voice quiet as I stand between shipping containers. I tell him about Andre, Nix, the shipping container, the ruby, and everything in between, minus the time Nix and I ‘share’ together. Like Miles, he doesn’t need to know that, though he’s a smart man. He probably has that figured out by the time I finish my last sentence.

He’s so quiet that my own breathing is loud to my ears. “No one else can do what I’ve already done. If you try to put anyone else in here, it’ll never work.”

He has to know the truth of that. It’d be suspicious if I left and someone else started. Not only do I have my own reasons for not wanting to leave because of . . . well . . . a certain someone I should not have a crush on, but he has to know it’s true. It could jeopardize the entire case. And honestly, I’m not sure Nix would let me leave alive. Certainly not Andre for that matter. I’d probably be the next girl he sold if he had his say in the matter. His interest in me is out in the open. I know he wants me for his own uses, and since I have a fan base, I’m sure one of them would pay top dollar for a night with my corpse.

The thought doesn’t settle well with me. My stomach roils from it.

“You’re in deep shit, Charlie. With me. With your situation. Do you know that?”

I straighten my shoulders to keep from deflating them. “Yes, sir. I know.”

He curses under his breath and then spouts out, “I want you to check in with Miles twice a day. The only time you don’t have our phone on you is when it could be discovered. If you can’t comply with any of this, we will take extra measures. Understand?”

A smile graces my face, and I start walking again. “Yes, perfectly.”

“You do exactly as Miles says. No running off to ports like today. No going anywhere without his approval. He’s your babysitter, Mitchell. And if I find out you’re out of control, don’t underestimate how fast I will pull you.”

“Understood.”

He breathes out a breath of frustration, and his tone becomes gentler. “And Charlie?”

“Hmm?”

“As soon as you start taking your father’s road –”

“I won’t,” I say immediately.

“– I will be forced to fire you.”

“I won’t, Captain.”

“Sure, sure,” he says hesitantly. “Find out where that ruby came from, and you’ll have something more we can work with.”

Basically, find the victims. I have every intention of doing so.