48. Meredith

48

MEREDITH

I stare in the mirror as I take in my new look. When I think about luring the kind of men that pay for girls and sex, it's a much different look than what I might go for day to day. While these men have money and don't want their girls to look cheap, looking too basic isn't great either.

My eyelashes are fuller, my lips are pinker, and my hair has more volume. I need to give the impression that I'm here for their pleasure, and that I'm worth every penny they put out for me.

It makes me sick to think about my own father, someone who has raised a daughter of his own, selling young girls into trafficking. I don't want to face him, but I know I must if we ever want to save these girls from a terrible fate and put an end to my father's harmful behaviors.

The other issue is that the shelter has been so vulnerable. When we decided I should call my father to lure him and his boss out, we knew there was a chance we would end up nothing more than a target. It could be far easier to get rid of me at this point than to deal with me at all.

Grizzly takes a picture of me wearing lingerie and puckering my lips, posing in a way that makes my very slight bump even more noticeable.

"Perfect," he says, adding the picture into a burner phone and typing in the number of my father. Or at least the last number I can remember him having. I hope it's still connected.

"What are you going to say?" I ask.

"We're posing as previously high-paying clients who have come to possess you through other channels. We'll say we have you and are willing to sell you, even for a cheaper price, to settle the score on some of our own debts. We'll say you're boring to us now that we've used you, but that you're still tight as ever, even pregnant. They can keep the baby and sell it to someone hoping to be parents, yielding them more profit. I hope they'll see you as a walking fetish, ripe for the taking."

"You think they'll go for it?"

"Your father is desperate. He'll take this opportunity in a heartbeat to get right with the people he's in hot water with. Kind of a fucked-up way to find out he's going to be a grandpa, but I hope all of this gives him nightmares someday."

Grizzly presses send on the text message and all we can do is wait.

For the next little while we barely speak to each other. We all do our own thing, whether that's having a snack, reading a book, or staring up at the ceiling fan. There are always a lot of nerves when dealing directly with the scummiest people on the planet. It's hard to put your guard down.

We're mostly sitting in silence when the burner phone gets a text back. The sound of the ring alongside the vibration nearly sends me out of my skin. Dart puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me. Trap is the closest to the phone and picks it up, reading the message aloud.

"It only says one word with a question mark—Address?"

Trap lets us know he's responding with the address. We all tense, unsure of what might be coming for us. I'm prepared for anything, but I can't help but worry considering how pregnant I am at this point. I feel helpless, and guilty that I'm putting my baby in danger. I know the guys didn't like this plan and even tried to warn me, but it's really starting to sink in now. The guys get dressed in the suits they've used before while undercover to keep the charade going, and then they help me into my own outfit—complete with bulletproof vest.

It's only a little while later that we hear a car driving up the gravel.

The phone dings again and this time all it says is: We're here. Come outside .

"Dart, make sure you stay close to Meredith," Grizzly orders. "I want space between her and these guys for as long as possible."

"Of course," he says. He looks deeply into my eyes, and I feel his reassurance.

As we walk outside to greet them, I see my father getting out of the car alongside his boss, the man we know needs to be eliminated for so much of this chaos to end. What I don't expect is for even more men to step out of the car. With the four of them it's even more intimidating.

"Meredith," my father says, addressing me. "Are you okay?"

I nod my head and think about what an odd thing it is for him to ask me. If this scenario were real, and I was truly kidnapped and made pregnant by being a sex slave, how would I be okay? If he means okay as in being alive, that's about the only kind of grace I'll afford him. But even then, I would venture my own wager that there are a lot of girls who might sooner choose death.

"Good," he says, and his anger seems to be growing as he thinks about the time that has passed since we last saw each other. "Because you've already wriggled your way out of helping me before. I don't know how you ended up with these men, but it was of no benefit to me. You should have run when I told you. And now here I am, having to pay for you to come back with me. You're a losing investment, my dear."

"I think we can come to some sort of agreement we all feel comfortable with," Grizzly says. "We have prices in mind, and if you're willing to strike a deal, we'll all walk away pretty happy."

"That's why I brought the big man over here," my dad says, jutting his chin toward the man everybody here is eager to put to an end. He's the one behind so much of this suffering.

The men start talking back and forth about how much they should be selling me for, but all I can do is look at my father, who seems to be waffling between staring down at the gravel and my pregnant belly. If he had any kind of conscience, he'd be ashamed of himself right now. The problem is, I'm not sure if he does or if he ever had one at all.

The really screwed up thing is that there's a part of me that wants to thank him. If it weren't for him making some of the most messed up calls of his life, I would never have met any of the men I now consider the loves of my life, or have a product of our love on the way.

He doesn't deserve the satisfaction of that story though. Not now. Not ever.

"I think that's a fair price," Grizzly says, and I snap out of my haze.

My father walks closer to me, and I have to resist my visceral reaction to step back from him. I want to hold on to Dart's arm so tightly that nothing could pry me away from him. My father takes me by the arm and tells me to come with him and that it will all be alright.

I can't remember a time when I would have believed him saying something like that. Nothing is alright. Not at all.

I'm not paying attention to the rest of the men until I'm suddenly splattered with blood. It isn't until I look up that I hear a shot and see that the main guy my father arrived with has been hit. He's clutching his chest, falling backward. Terror rises in me until I can't hear anything around me.

All I can see is gunfire erupting. Two of the men who drove in the car with my father are opening fire on everyone, I assume in defense of whoever took the opportunity for their shot on our side. They are retaliating. I can't help but look for Grizzly, Dart, and Trap out of instinct to see if they're alright. I'm not paying any attention to my own safety as I freeze with shock.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see at least two of our men get knocked back by bullets, and when I see Trap take a bullet, I let out a scream. I can't even hear myself screaming but I know that I am.

As I look over at the two men in the car, one of the men turns his gun directly at me. I don't know if I should jump to the side or duck, but my feet are still cemented in place.

I feel Dart tugging at my arm and in a blur of motion my father stands right in front of me. I see his head jolt back and I know he's taken a bullet to the chest. Things are getting hazy, and while I make out that the two men in the car also getting hit with bullets, I feel myself starting to fall.

"She just needs some rest," Dart says. He's standing over me as I blink my eyes open a few times, but I'm too tired to keep them open.

It's quiet now, and I'm comfortable. I'm in bed, nothing but the sounds of birds chirping outside.

"We're lucky she's not dead," Trap says. "And any closer on that shot it would have been way worse than a flesh wound for me."

Grizzly chimes in, and I can feel his hand brush against my arm. "The important thing is that we got him. We got the guy we intended, and I'm only sorry it resulted in the fall of our brothers."

I'm relieved to hear all three of their voices. My men made it out okay. And we got the guy, that lowlife of a human being who trades innocent girls to line his pockets.

"Do you think we'll be hearing from her father any time soon?" Dart asks. "He took off in that car quick, even after being shot. I couldn't get a good view of how bad the injury was."

"None of us should get too comfortable," Grizzly says. "I think we should expect to be hearing from more scumbags plenty soon. We can't let our guard down now. None of this is over."