Enticing Their Mate(38)
He spun around and faced her. “I’ve come to check out ten women. If she’s too sick, I’ll need a replacement. Seems to me you’d do just as well.”
She bit her tongue to keep quiet.
Connolly stepped forward. “There are five others across the hall.”
“Let me take their pictures and show my boss how pathetic these women are. Where’s Statler?” the man asked.
“He’s not at the facility,” Connolly responded.
“Just as well. Show me the others. I hope they’re better than this pathetic lot.”
She should chain them again, but her heart was already breaking. The ass had demanded that she show him the others, so that was what she’d do. Across the hall, four of the women looked good to her, albeit too thin and pale, but the fifth one had a bad cough and had trouble standing.
He snapped each of their photos. “This is pathetic.” He faced Connolly. “My boss will be in contact with yours.”
With that he strode out. Sarah wasn’t sure if she should be happy the women failed inspection or not. On the one hand, they’d be forced to stay at this horrible warehouse for an indeterminate length of time. If they had been acceptable, she wasn’t sure there would be enough time for Jay and Riley to complete a rescue.
“Sarah?” One of the women called out.
She rushed to her. “Yes?”
“I’m not feeling well.”
Sarah escorted her back over to her mattress and helped her lie down. If something wasn’t done soon, not only would some of these women die, so might she.
Chapter Fourteen
When Statler spotted the name on his phone, he smiled, already counting the money he was about to receive from this buyer. “Hello, Charles.”
“What the fuck are you trying to pull?”
Statler gripped his cell. How dare the ass use that tone with him? “I’m not trying to pull anything,” he ground out. He motioned the redhead to leave the bedroom.
“I sent my man to check out the merchandise, and what did he find? Ten women who were barely able to stand without help. And their living conditions were horrific. What kind of operation are you running?”
Fuck. “I had some issues at the clinic and had to change locations. If I hadn’t left, there wouldn’t be any women to sell you.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what issues you’ve had. You haven’t provided them with the care they needed. I expect quality and these women fall short. I’m not buying them. Goodbye.”
“Wait!” Shit. He told Sarah to make those women look good and she’d failed. The woman would pay for this. His mind raced. “Give me a little more time. I’ll get them the best medical care possible.”
“Time? That’s all you’ve had.”
Charles was the only buyer Statler could find where there wouldn’t be any repercussions. From past dealings, Charles had paid on time and was able to ship out the women with no one the wiser. It would take weeks if not months to find someone else willing to pay such a high price. By then, the women might be dead. “Give me ten days. I’ll make sure they’re in good health.”
“You’ll get seventy-five percent of what I promised, but only if they are healthy.”
As much as Statler wanted to rant, Charles had him by the balls and knew it. “Ten days then.”
His buyer disconnected and Statler tossed the phone on the bed. Fuck. Killing Sarah and Amy right now wouldn’t help the women improve, so he’d leave that pleasure until after they were in Charles’s hands.
* * *
By six p.m., Sarah was exhausted from trying to calm down the women. They’d asked a million questions about who the man in the suit was and what was about to happen to them. Telling the truth would have been too painful, so she said he was some kind of inspector. It was only a partial lie; he had been there to inspect them.
“This will hopefully turn out to be a good thing,” she told one of the women. “The man who runs this facility will have to get you better care.”
“So you can poke and prod us again?”
The captive’s bitterness ate a hole in Sarah’s gut. She’d been the one to draw their blood and perform tests when they were in the clinic. The thought of what she’d been required to do sickened her every hour of every day. Many times she’d considered asking for a transfer to a different department altogether, but only after she finished this assignment. She needed justice for these women.
After patting the woman’s hand, Sarah stood. “Amy will be in soon to check on you.”
Sarah couldn’t wait to get out of there. Because of all the changes in shifts, Connolly told her to check out with him. Normally, she waited for Amy to arrive, but Sarah wasn’t ready to confront her roommate. As soon as she returned home, she’d pack a bag and head on over to where Jay and Riley were staying. First, though, she needed to speak with Riley to find out the address.