Redemption (The Restoration Series Book 1) by Christina Simpson Read Free Book Online Page B

pass a multitude of doors on the right and left of me. Each one signified another girl taken and used. The emblem of a black dragon had been painted on each door. This was it, I was here.
     I watched as Laruso stopped at a wooden door, hesitating for a moment, glancing at me, then back at the door. A few moments later he moved on to another door a few feet down the hallway.
     “This one should work for you. Not everything you asked for, but pretty close.” He pushed open the door after unlocking the bolt. Inside was a sliver of a girl sitting on a tattered mattress with her knees curled into her chest. Her long blonde hair curled around her, dirty and tangled, with spots of matted blood trickling throughout. 
     Her face was covered in bruises, her brown eyes darkened by the purple skin around them. Her adolescence was evident in her tiny frame; she couldn’t be any older than eleven or twelve. She immediately shrunk back in fear, waiting for whatever was about to happen to her, soft whimpers escaping as her eyes slammed shut and she buried her face in her arms.
     My heart shredded, knowing I couldn’t waltz out of here with this girl in my arms and rescue her. I vowed to take this place down and free her and all the other girls. I needed to.
     “How much?” I probed.
     “I’ll make you a deal. Two hours for your payment at the door.”
     “Deal.” I kept my eyes trained on the small child.
     Laruso stepped outside and closed the door. The girl began to whimper and cower in the corner.
     I dropped my voice, making sure to keep my hands at my sides. No need to terrorize her even more. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you or touch you. I swear.” Her eyes got big and she whimpered again. I pulled out my identification.
     “It’s okay. I won’t touch you.” I promised again. “Here’s my identification. I’m from a rescue team. We’re going to try and save all of you. You can’t let them know that’s who I am. Do you understand?”
     “Help me,” she cried. “I want to go home.”
     “I know youdo, sweetheart. And Ipromise, I will try to make that happen.”
     “I want to go home.” She cried softly, tears streaming down her dirty face.
     “I’m going to sit here for two hours with you, okay? Nothing is going to happen, I swear it.”
     She nodded, wiping the tears from her face and pulling her knees to her chest.
     “Can you tell me your name?” I asked, pulling a pen from my pocket and a small notebook from my briefcase.
     “Shilah Morris.” Her shaking voice echoed around the room while her eyes darted back and forth, waiting for something else to happen. She didn’t trust that I wasn’t going hurt her. Her arms held her legs tightly against her, protecting herself from whatever onslaught was about to take place in her mind.
     “What’s your address, sweetheart?” She jumped at my intruding voice and cracked open her cautious eyes.
     She mumbled off a house and street number that was local. I would bet she’s one of the many girls that had been reported missing over the last few weeks.
     “What are your parents’ names?” I scratched a few more notes on the notepad, then began a sketch of her.
     “Craig and Natalie Morris.”
     “Okay. I’m going to contact them and let them know what’s happened. I won’t be able to take you today, do you understand that? I have to come back with police and lots of support so we can take out all these evil men.”
     “Please don’t leave me here…,” she cried. Her voice dropped to a whimper, so I had to strain to hear. “They will be back, more of them. And they – they do bad things.”
     My thoughts scrambled for something to say, something that would comfort her. I could try to buy her from them as a personal slave, but I doubted they’d let me. “We’ll figure it out,Shilah. I promise.”
     She eventually fell asleep on the mattress. I finished sketching her image and when the two hours