CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By the time Sor walked into the cafeteria, the girl squad surrounded Nell. He wasn't about to mess with any of them. Hazel stood with her arms folded, staring at him, daring him to say a word, while Addie, Kate, and Sophia Ann comforted her.

"Nell? Nell, honey, are you okay?" he asked. She looked up at him, nodding.

"Do you hate me? Am I in trouble?"

"No. I could never hate you. I'm actually fucking impressed with your shooting. And you're not in trouble. At all. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Sending little girls to be used or sold? I mean, I couldn't condone what he's doing to the boys, but I just lost it when I heard about what he did to the girls."

"I know, babe. I know."

"Are you good, Nell?" asked Sophia Ann.

"I'm good. Thank you, ladies. You're the absolute best, and Hazel and Addie, I'm going to take you guys up on that training opportunity. I'll see you both real soon."

"Training?" frowned Sor.

"Yes. Training. They're going to teach me self-defense, weapons, all of it."

"I don't think she needs weapons," smirked Hex.

"Oh, gosh. Am I in trouble with you?" she asked, frowning.

"Not in a million fucking years. That was impressive. He wasn't going to live, honey. We don't always kill men like him. Well, that's not entirely true. We probably do, more often than we don't. The point is, we know how you felt. We feel the same way all the damn time. Believe me."

"What happens now?" she asked.

"Now, I have to find DeWitt, and we need to find those mines. If they're not using major mining equipment, it might be hard. Usually, the locals will have some information about what's going on."

"It's not like someone could walk into a mining office or gemologist and hand over a bunch of gold or rubies," said Nell. "He'd have to have someone helping him to buy and sell it."

"That's true," nodded Hex. "I'll see if we can get someone looking into that right now. In the meantime, we'll meet in the morning to decide how we proceed. Let's get some groundwork done first."

"Hex? Thank you for not being mad at me," smirked Nell.

"Mad? Hell, I'm mad we didn't know you could shoot like that before." He walked away, shaking his head as he laughed, and Nell just smiled up at Sor.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" he grinned.

"Honestly? I only held a gun one time when I was a kid. My dad took me out shooting at my grandparents' place in the country. He wanted me to be comfortable holding it and shooting it if I needed to. And, as it turns out, he was right. I needed to."

"Well, I wish I could thank him, but that damn sure surprised me." He noticed the expression on her face and pulled her in tighter. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I was just thinking. All these children disappearing. Why isn't someone raising alarms if they aren't homeless or even if someone knows they're homeless but hasn't seen them in a while? I mean, if my child were missing, I would go to the ends of the earth to find him or her. Are these parents not capable of that?"

"Maybe," frowned Sor. "Or maybe they sold their children. Maybe they think that their children are working for DeWitt. In that part of the world, many children have jobs that they have to work every day. Factories, farms, even bars. It's not right, but it might be what they have to do to survive."

Nell watched as the families filtered into the cafeteria. So many people, so many children. Marcel and Amy were wheeling in Bowen and Beckett. Moose held Sergeant while Erica held Jennifer's hand. Hadleigh was being wheeled in her stroller by proud papa, Major, Elena on his arm. With Maddie and Daphne expecting any day, they were all watching the ever-expanding women carefully.

"It's pretty remarkable, isn't it?" smiled Sor.

"It's magical, Sor. I can only imagine what Matthew and Irene were thinking when they started all of this."

"You think they planned all this?" he chuckled.

"I do. I think they had Gaspar and looked at their first son and thought, ‘there is no way we are letting this child leave us.' That's what I would have said. And I bet every time they had a baby, it was even stronger. He worked hard growing his businesses, developing the land around here, supported his children in their dreams, and now they, and all of you, are giving back to them in the only way that they ever wanted a return. You can't tell me that's not magical."

Sor gave a huff, looking around the room. So much love, so much laughter. With the holidays coming, it would be nice if they could just enjoy one another and not chase bad guys and solve murders or rescue anyone.

"You're right," he nodded. "It's positively magical."

With dinner done and everyone enjoying dessert and coffee, the conversations were filled with laughter instead of sadness. Luke, Cam, Hex, and Eric had made it a point to get the men to stop discussing business during meals. Family time was important to all of them, none more so than Mama Irene and Matthew.

"Luke? Luke, I need you and these boys to start hauling out all the Christmas decorations," said Mama Irene, walking toward them with her posse.

"Grandma, it's only the beginning of November," he frowned.

"And it takes me four to five weeks to get everything up. We got big plans this year, and Pére Noel will be ridin' his boat through the bayou again. There's a lot to do. Presents to buy, lights to hang, trees to decorate. We're gonna be busy."

"Grandma, I promise we'll get to it, but we're in the middle of a case right now."

"Luke Robicheaux, you got two hundred men at your fingertips. Give me thirty," she said, frowning with her hand on her hip. "All the girls are helpin' where they can. The boys can too."

"I've got a crew all ready, Luke," said Jax, walking toward them with a big smile. "The inbetweeners are ready."

"Inbetweeners?" he frowned.

"Yeah," he laughed. "We're not quite old enough to be seniors on Belle ?le. We're not exactly the new kids like Sor, Leif, and the others. We're inbetweeners."

"Okay," nodded Luke with a smirk. "Who's on this team?"

"Me, Hunter, Bryce, King, Griff, Eagle, Hawk, Skull, Blade, Tristan, Tango, Razor, and a few others. Zulu, Whiskey, Doc, and Gunner are thinking of moving out to the island with the other seniors."

"Seriously?" frowned Luke. "They're not seniors."

"Luke, brother, we're all technically seniors. We just don't look or act it. It's cool. We're available to help, and we're happy to do it. I love Christmas, brother. This is my time."

"Alright. Sounds good. Thanks, man. I do not want Grandma on my ass."

"I wouldn't either," laughed Jax. "Besides, Ellie and me want this Christmas to be really special for Monroe. Last year, we were just getting to know one another. This year, it's on."

"Now that sounds perfect."