A Matter of Trust: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 3) by Kimberly Rae Jordan

Author:Kimberly Rae Jordan [Jordan, Kimberly Rae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Three Strand Press
Published: 2015-11-20T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MELANIE GLANCED UP from the piece of chicken she’d been cutting. “Jenni?”

“Yeah. Is she getting the help she needs?”

“No. I talked to her mom earlier today and she said that Jenni’s still refusing medication and won’t talk to anyone.” Melanie’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure if she’s going to be able to get back from this mind set of hopelessness. I mean, she has to want to, but I sense she just thinks life will never be any better than what it’s been so why hang around to live it.”

“Do you mind me asking what exactly happened to her?”

Melanie stuck a piece of chicken in her mouth and chewed, obviously taking time to figure out her response to that. After swallowing, she lifted her glass and took a sip of water. “She was abducted when she was fifteen years old.”

“I’m guessing from the severity of her trauma that it wasn’t a parental abduction.”

“Not even close.” Melanie paused again. “She was taken as part of a trafficking ring.”

Suddenly, Tyler wasn’t sure he wanted to hear more. He knew enough about what something like that would entail without needing to hear about the details from Melanie.

But what kind of attitude was that? Stuff like that flourished because people ignored it. If it didn’t happen to someone they knew or loved, it was easier to turn a blind eye. Click away from the links to stories about it. Pretend it only happened in third world countries, not countries like the US.

If Melanie wanted to talk about it, he would listen. And after a pause, it was apparent she wanted to.

“It was a very specialized ring, apparently. They had been sent by some super wealthy men from the Middle East, who had very specific requests in the girls they wanted.” Melanie twirled her fork through the pasta on her plate but didn’t lift any of it to her mouth.

“Hey.” Tyler reached across and covered her hand with his. “You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want. I’m willing to listen, but I don’t want you to feel compelled to talk about it.”

She stared at him for several moments before she shook her head. “I want to share…her story with you. So you understand. But it’s not a pretty story, and you’ve heard the ending already.”

Tyler nodded then pulled his hand back and waited.

“There were two types of girls they wanted. Blonde or redheads with long hair and light eyes. Jenni had…has beautiful red hair and exquisite green eyes. They also wanted young girls, in the fourteen to sixteen-year range and…inexperienced. Virgins.”

“How would they know if they were virgins before they took them?”

“Jenni and her family were churchgoers. A young man joined their youth group and took an immediate liking to Jenni. He was the quintessential gentleman, she said. Even her family liked him. And he told her that he would never pressure her for sex because he believed in saving himself for marriage. When she told him she felt the same way, that she was a virgin, he knew he had what he needed.

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