Page 24 of Lethal Salvation

Damon returned with a glass of water and sat. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.”

“What happened to the girl? Was she okay?”

“She will be, but she lost the baby.”

Gideon looked down at his hands. “Fuck.”

“And the others? You said there were more.”

“Yes, they’ve been moved to a secure facility where they’ll get the help they need.”

Gideon nodded. “Good, good.”

“You say the girls are picked or chosen and some are impregnated by members, and others picked when they’re already pregnant?” Damon asked.

“Yes. Carter has a string of fertility and obstetrics clinics around the country and some in other countries and, while they do operate a legitimate side, when they have a girl come in who fits the profile, young, alone, with no support, they’ll check the background and run the DNA and then decide if she’ll be used.”

“Fertility clinics?”

Gideon was recovering from his shock now.

“Yes, they’re legitimate holdings.”

“How come we don’t know about them?”

“It wasn’t done under his name. It’s a shell company, so there’s no reason why you would as it isn’t tied to Cavendish in any way.”

“And by used, you mean kidnapped, and her baby stolen from her?”

“Yes.”

Damon sipped the water. “What happens afterwards?”

“We think the mothers are either kept as breeding stock, killed, or the younger ones are sex trafficked.”

“How has nobody figured this out already?”

“Because there are some very powerful people involved and they’re clever and connected.”

“You said some were already pregnant but there are ones who are impregnated by the members?” Gideon swallowed and she could tell from his ashen face how hard he was finding this, so she softened her tone.

“Yes, from what we know some are runaways, others are tricked into prostitution at the clubs and then sperm is used from one of the high-ranking members in some kind of awful insemination process. Others, the ones…” She paused because even she found this hard, and she’d had years of dealing with the worst of humanity.

Gideon reached out and threaded his fingers through hers and she sucked in a shaky breath, seeing her paler skin against his tan hand, their fingers woven together. She ignored the questioning look Damon was giving them because there was nothing sexual about the touch, at least not overtly. There was strength in his touch, but it was meant for comfort, a sign to her that he was in this with her and despite having her team who she adored this felt different. Right in a way she didn’t want to explain even to herself.

“The ones the members find attractive are either seduced into a relationship with the men or taken without consent.”

Gideon dropped his head and squeezed her hand before letting go. “Jesus Christ. I knew Carter was a piece of shit but to find him involved with this is sickening on a level I can hardly process.”

“How do you know all this, Duchess?”

She turned to see Damon share a look with Gideon, an unspoken conversation between siblings. Damon looked as heartsick as his brother and it was strange to see them together like this. For the first time, she could see the similarities in the slopes of their shoulders. She mistakenly thought because they were so different, that they weren’t close but seeing them like this it was easy to see they were.

“Our last job was to infiltrate the house where some of the girls were being kept. The ones we rescued that are getting help, they’ve slowly, after a lot of therapy, begun to open up to us. We also found files that corroborate what we’ve been told.”

“How can we help? Above what we’re doing?”