Chapter 11: Leo

I slip into the car, shutting the door just as Riley and Danny bring Sofia over, her arms draped over their shoulders. She’s passed out cold, her head lolling as they maneuver her into the back seat. Nate’s up front in the driver’s seat, ready to take off the moment we’re all settled. They lay her carefully across the seat, resting her head on Riley’s lap and her feet on Danny’s. She looks so small, so defenseless, and I can’t shake the pang of guilt that hits me as I glance back at her.

Riley shuts the door, and Nate pulls out of the parking lot, keeping his eyes straight ahead. “Well,” Danny says, settling in, “that was easier than I thought. Area was completely empty. Lucky break.”

“Lucky, sure,” I mutter, pressing a few buttons on my phone. I’d already shut down all the security cameras around that side of the building for the next two hours. “There won’t be any footage. We’re clear.”

Danny raises an eyebrow, noticing the tension in my voice. “You good, Leo? You look like you’re ready to hurl.”

I glance over at him, then back at Sofia, her face peaceful and completely unaware of what’s happening around her. Her hair falls over her cheeks, and I push down the wave of nausea that rises up. “I feel like complete shit,” I admit, clenching my jaw. I hadn’t expected this to hit me so hard. She’d been so sweet, so real, and I almost forgot I was playing a part, pretending to be just another student.

Danny nods, giving me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “It’s just business, man. She’s not hurt. We just needed to make sure she didn’t make a scene.”

Riley adds, his voice calm and steady, “We’re doing this for a reason. Once we get what we need, she’ll be fine. We’re not here to hurt her.”

I know they’re right, but it doesn’t make the guilt go away. I look back at Sofia again, her chest rising and falling softly, her face relaxed. She looks so vulnerable, and it hits me hard. For a moment, I forget where we are, and all I see is a girl who didn’t deserve any of this.

“So, what was she like?” Riley asks, breaking the silence. “Before we showed up?”

I hesitate, glancing back at her again. “She was… different. Sweet, but there’s something about her. She’s smart. She asked about my tattoos, talked about her job at that coffee shop. She didn’t seem like someone who’d get mixed up in this mess.”

Danny snorts. “Not like she had a choice. With parents like hers, she was probably screwed from the start.”

Nate lets out a sigh from the front seat. “We all know the deal. It’s not like any of us had much choice either.”

We fall silent after that, and the drive to the hangar feels longer than it is. When Nate finally pulls into the gravel lot near the hangar, we all sit there for a moment, just staring at her. Nate and I look back, while Riley and Danny look down at her, sprawled across their laps. There’s something heavy in the air, a strange sense of unease that none of us wants to acknowledge.

“Let’s get her inside,” Riley says finally, breaking the spell. He shifts her in his arms and steps out of the car, cradling her like she’s made of glass.

We’ve set up a small room in the back of the hangar, just off the main area. It’s got a bed, a small washroom, and a lock on the door. There aren’t any windows, which is both a blessing and a curse—it’ll keep her from trying to escape, but it also feels a little too much like a prison. We figured tying her to a chair would be too much. She’s not our enemy, not really.

Riley carries her to the bed and lays her down carefully, stepping back as I sit beside her, unable to shake the feeling in my chest. I brush a strand of hair away from her face, watching the way her features soften, even in sleep. For a moment, I can almost pretend this is normal, that I’m just watching someone sleep, but the truth crashes down on me again, harder than before.

“She looks so damn young,” I mutter, more to myself than anyone else.

Danny comes up beside me, peering over my shoulder. “She's about our age, dude,” he says quietly. “Guess we’ve all done some bad things, but this…”

I look down at her shirt, which has ridden up just a bit, exposing a hint of her ribs. I hesitate, then lift it a little, just enough to see what’s underneath. My heart drops. Her skin is mottled with bruises, dark patches spreading across her ribs, her hips, her back. I swallow hard, feeling a wave of anger and something else—something close to helplessness.

“Holy shit,” Riley says, his voice barely above a whisper. He leans closer, his expression hardening as he takes it all in. “What the hell did they do to her?”

Danny’s face is tight, and I can tell he’s struggling to keep his emotions in check. “You think her parents did this?”

“Who else?” I reply, my voice cold. I can feel my hands shaking, and I ball them into fists to try to steady myself. We’ve all been around violence our whole lives, but this? This is different. I’ve never put a hand on a woman, and seeing her like this, bruised and broken, makes my stomach turn.

Nate suddenly stands, storming out of the room without a word. I watch him go, but I can’t bring myself to follow. I just sit there, staring at her, wondering how someone so small, so fragile, could endure this.

Riley takes a deep breath, running a hand over his face. “All right, so now what? We still need to stick to the plan. We get what we need, and then we get out. Simple as that.”

Danny nods, but there’s a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. “Yeah, but… seeing her like this? I mean, I knew it was going to be rough, but damn.”

I glance at Sofia again, feeling the weight of what we’ve done pressing down on me. “We’ve got to do this right,” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper. “We can’t let her get hurt any more than she already has.”

Riley nods, his face grim. “Agreed. We’re not here to make her life worse. But we need to remember why we’re doing this. This is our chance to finally get out.”

I know he’s right. We’ve been fighting for a way out for so long, and Sofia is the key. But that doesn’t make this any easier. We all know damn well that once we hand her back, they will resume whatever torture they inflicted upon her. I reach down, pulling her shirt back down to cover the bruises, and stand up, trying to shake the image from my mind.

“Let’s give her some time to wake up,” I say, heading toward the door. “We’ll explain it to her when she comes to. Maybe if she knows the truth, she’ll see why we had to do this.”

The others follow me out, and we lock the door behind us. I glance back one last time, watching her small form on the bed, and I can’t help but wonder if we’re doing the right thing. For all our planning, for all the reasons we’ve given ourselves, I can’t escape the feeling that this is wrong. But we’re in too deep now, and there’s no turning back.

As we leave the hangar, I catch up to Nate, who’s standing outside, staring off into the distance. He looks like he’s about to say something, but he stops himself, and we just stand there in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. We’ve made our choice, and now we’ll have to live with it. I just hope that, somehow, we can make this right in the end.