Seconds passed, and after a minute he pulled away, stroked her cheek, and saw her outside of the building.
“Did you have to do that?” she asked.
“You won’t be getting any trouble again. I just made sure the whole building knew who you belonged to.”
She touched his cheek. “Don’t work too hard.”
Kissing her again, Russ hailed a cab, gave the driver the address, and paid for it. “Let me know when you get in home.”
She nodded.
He watched her go and made his way back inside to his reception desk. Slamming his hand down on the desk, he stared at both women. “If either of you treat Anna with disrespect again, I will have you out on your ass.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Wyatt.”
Russ shook his head. “I’m not interested in you saying sorry. Don’t do it again.”
Making his way up to the security room, he went through the footage of the elevators. Recognizing the man, he called him up to the office, and fired him. He didn’t want any of those kinds of people in his office, working for him.
Sitting behind his desk, he started work, absorbing himself so that when he left nothing was on his mind. He went through a multitude of documents and emails that were asking him to consider another takeover bid of a card making company. Looking over the figures, he started to do the calculations.
He was deep in thought on what he could do about the takeover when the cell phone for the club went off.
Pulling it out of his pocket he saw it was Richard calling.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“They’ve got her, Russ. They’ve got Mandy, and brought her back home.”
“Wait? What?”
“We just got the call, and Lewis has already gone to the hospital. She was beaten pretty bad.”
“Fuck me, I’ll be there.”
“Russ?” Richard said.
“What?”
“She couldn’t remember who she was. Our contact warned us that she’d suffered a blow to the head, and she has amnesia. She can’t remember anything.”
Russ shut down his office and ended the call after telling Richard he would be at the hospital.
He passed Daniel on his way back to the office.
“Cancel the rest of my appointments, and take the rest of the day off.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
His brother needed him.
****
Lewis was standing outside of a hospital room when Russ found him.
“Richard called me,” he said. “The brothers are all outside waiting. Tell us what you need.”
“I need nothing. That’s her, Russ. That’s Mandy.” Tears ran down Lewis’s face. “I’ve got to call her family. A family she doesn’t even remember.”
“She has amnesia?”
“Yes. She’s been awake even through the pain. The doctor asked her a lot of questions, and she didn’t have a clue what to say. She was scared. Terrified.” Lewis ran fingers through his hair. “I was too late.”
“What happened?”
“We gave the information over, and they wanted the element of surprise. It was a holding house for women to be put up for auction. They trained the women to be subservient. They stormed the house, got several of the men, and I’ve been assured that they’re never going to leave a prison cell.”
“What about Mandy?” Russ asked.
“She was found beaten and locked in a cage that was smaller than the dog cages we saw. They had raped, beaten, and thrown her away to rot.”
Russ looked at the women in the bed. She looked so small, so delicate, and the bruises covered her face and body.
“They’re animals.”
“They are.”
“I know I’ve found Mandy, but I’m not going to stop looking for them, Russ. I’m going to rid the world of the scum. One fucking trafficker at a time.”
Gripping Lewis’s shoulder, he offered his friend and brother comfort. There was nothing he could do to take away the pain.
“I’m not leaving her side, Russ. I’m not leaving her at all.”
“I’ll stay with you for as long as you need me to.”
For several hours, they sat outside of Mandy’s room. Every now and then Lewis would go in and come out.
“I’ve got to phone her parents.”
“She doesn’t know who they are.”
“The doctor advised that I wait until she wakes up so we can judge what is going on. The, erm, the amnesia could be a simple confusion with the blows to the head.”
“Do you believe that?”
“I don’t know what to believe. I want to tell them I’ve found her, but I don’t know who I’ve found. The cops have already notified them. I just didn’t want to cause them more pain.”