Clothes shopping for more than half a dozen girls ended up being an experience unlike anything Ashe had ever endured, and it was with a smile that she handed each of them twenty dollars to raid the food court for whatever they wanted. It wasn’t enough to go completely crazy, and she promised more for dessert after, or just more food if they didn’t have a sweet tooth.

Again, none of the girls were in lines alone, though Ashe was watching one of them talk to a young woman that looked to be on hard times. Her face softened when she saw that she was splitting her allowance for food with her, then invited her to sit with Jessica’s group.

“Keep an eye on Lily,” Ashe said, nudging Crystal. “She might have just made another friend.”

Crystal looked over where Ashe was pointing, and smiled. “Damn, that makes two new girls already. Careful, they might just end up adopting half the city at this rate.”

“I’d be okay with that,” Ashe said. “I have more money than I need and a chance to genuinely help people. Might put some black back on my ledger after staining it red.”

Crystal smiled softly, her hand reaching out to take Ashe’s into her own, squeezing gently as she did. Ashe returned the smile, a faint heat coming to her cheeks as she did. With the coming of the weekend, she would finally get to spend the night at Crystal’s. Her parents gave her permission, but only for Saturday evening into Sunday. A bit restrictive, but at the same time, Ashe knew she was likely to move out as soon as school was done. She couldn’t fault her parents for wanting as much time with her at home as she could manage.

Plus, Ashe would miss Jasper dearly.

Sure, he was every bit as much her dog, but she wasn’t going to take him away from her parents either. The odds were good that he would be safer at their home than Crystal’s anyway. No point putting him in any danger that wasn’t necessary.

In just a few short months, Ashe would be a legal adult, and the realization was heavy on her mind. She would already be tried as an adult in almost any crime she was involved in, which was quickly adding up to a rather impressive rap-sheet. Now that she had dealt a substantial blow to the human trafficking scene in Jericho, she could take things slower, find out who was behind it.

“I’d say you’re doing a pretty good job,” Crystal said, moving back to her rice bowl. “Just look at all the good you’ve accomplished. Just because something might be illegal doesn’t make it morally wrong.”

“True,” Ashe said, watching Jessica and Brie laughing along with some joke Sandra had said.

Sandra was another that hurt to see. She hadn’t recognized Sandra right away, and Ashe was afraid to ask for confirmation, but she was almost certain that the girl was the waitress that had stood up to Gray when he and Jessica confronted her at the bistro. If it was her, and Gray was the one that had her kidnapped…

Well, Ashe would ensure he paid a price for that.

A few patrons of the food court gave some of the groups side-eyed looks, but none bothered them further, much to Ashe’s relief. The bitch from the salon was bad enough and she didn’t need a repeat of that taxing experience.

Once everyone was done, they all gathered back up, a considerable haul to their names and Ashe several thousand dollars poorer. Granted it was all stolen money which she was happy to invest into those more deserving of it. Once they arrived back in the safe house, Ashe called for everyone to gather in the living room.

“Alright, it’s been nearly a week,” Ashe started, glad that her voice wasn’t wavering. “I made you an offer when we took those bastards down. Now that you’ve had some time to get settled, I’d like to talk it over with everyone.”

“Kicking us out already?” Brie asked, sitting on the back of the sofa, Lily lounging by her feet. “Eh, was cushy while it lasted.”

“Nobody is being kicked out, though we are looking for more long term housing for everyone,” Crystal interjected, her voice slightly muffled by the mask she was still wearing. “Though, if someone is looking to leave, we’ll make sure you get wherever you want in the continental US with enough money to get established.”

Ashe knew that would be expensive, but she wouldn’t settle for anything less. Just cutting the girls loose would absolutely wreck her conscience. Twenty thousand on prepaid cards, and enough cash to cover the basics, that was what she could do for each of them. If everyone walked, she would take it as a sign to just walk away herself, let Inferno fade away as a one and done occurrence.

“You’d actually let us go?” one of the girls asked.

Ashe tried to remember if she had been among those she rescued, though she did know she was at the mall with the rest. At least they hadn’t picked up another straggler since that one at the food court. Ashe had few doubts that trend would continue, so she was going to establish some ground rules early, but only after she established her core group.

“I would prefer that everyone is here because they want to be,” Ashe said, looking across the assembled girls. “The same goes for any jobs I give you. You will all be paid, and nobody will have to do any work they don’t want to and everyone is free to change their mind at any time.”

“What’s the catch?” Caralina demanded, not having translated it yet for the two that didn’t speak English. “Nobody does something like this out of the goodness of their heart.”

“They do when their heart is bleeding,” Jessica said softly. “I told you I knew her, before I was taken.”

Sandra looked at her, eyes narrowed, then looked back at Ashe. “You’re the one with the dog, aren’t you?”

“Fuck,” Ashe cursed. It really was the waitress from that day. So much for keeping her identity hushed, and she now wished she’d kicked Gray in the dick on her way out the alley. “Yes, and that’s all I’m willing to say on that matter.”

“You really are a bleeding heart,” Sandra said, then laughed with a level of cynicism that Ashe rarely heard. “Oh, this is rich. Just what the hell have I stumbled into? Fuck, are you even my age?”

“Dunno,” Ashe said. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen,” Sandra answered. “Guessing you’re about the same age as Jessica then, which makes you a bit older than me.”

Ashe’s shoulders slumped. She already had almost no faith in humanity, but looking at all the girls that were there with her, how many of them were so obviously under eighteen, she couldn’t help but find her opinion dropping even lower.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m sorry,” Ashe said, her voice barely a whisper. “You got dragged into this because I stood up for myself.”

“You’re right,” Sandra said, sending a metaphorical knife through Ashe’s heart. “And I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”

Looking up, Ashe was surprised to see the resolve that Sandra was displaying. “You were kidnapped because of me, not to mention what else they might have done.”

“I was raped, just say it,” Sandra said, rather bluntly. “The police didn’t give a shit to look for any of us, but you did. You weren’t the one to order any of us taken, and you didn’t help them in any way. You helped us, so stop acting pitiful about it.”

“What she said,” Jessica added, her arms holding her sides. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine for sending them after you, and even then I let Gray goad me into it. I actually got to see my parents on TV, crying as if they missed me when they just handed me over without blinking a fucking eye. So much for the Iron Patriots being loyal to their own.”

Sandra and Lucy reached out to hug the now sobbing girl and all Ashe could do was stare at the former bully with a slack jaw. She knew the fascists were hypocrites, but that was taking it to a completely different level. Her parents had just handed her over? Ashe really shouldn’t have been surprised, not after her own foster ‘family’ had tried to ship her off to a torture camp.

Burning the entire institution to the ground was sounding better by the day, not that she was in any position to really strike back against them. Caralina was finally relaying the offer to the others that struggled with English while Brie was talking to the two girls they had since brought on board. Once they were done, their attention turned back upon Ashe, waiting for her to continue.

“Okay, show of hands,” Ashe said. “How many want to walk away? We’ll arrange travel to any city you want, as well as give you twenty grand to get established with.”

“Limited offer?” Brie translated for one of the smaller girls.

Ashe shook her head. “That offer will always be on the table, even if you end up working with us for years. Everyone will be free to leave if they ever choose to do so.”

“What kind of work are we talking?” Brie asked. “Obviously this is gonna be some gang shit, so I’m guessing selling ourselves and drugs are part of it.”

“Only if you want,” Ashe said, unable to meet their eyes. “I don’t want to push anyone towards that, and I’m going to be looking for other sources of work as well.”

“I’d like to go,” another girl said. “My parents… They didn’t want me anymore. Sold me for some white powder… This city… I can’t stay.”

“Then you don’t have to,” Crystal said with a gentle tone. “We’ll do everything we can to ensure you find a place you belong.”

“Is it really wise to send someone so young off on their own?” Caralina asked. “She’s only fourteen, you can’t tell me someone won’t prey upon her at the first opportunity.”

Ashe bit her lip under her mask. She really didn’t want to keep anyone against their will, but Caralina had a point about how things would go if they didn’t take proper precautions. She needed solutions, but lacked them at present. The only thing that came to mind was a bit on the crazy side, but it might just work.

“I might have an idea there,” Ashe said. “I’ll look into it and get back with you.”

Caralina’s eyes narrowed. “If it involves the Viuda, you would only be sending her back to the monsters that held her before.”

“Awfully quick to throw the Viuda under the bus like that,” Crystal said, stepping forward. “What makes you think they would do that?”

“Because they were helping the gringo bastards,” Caralina snarled, pointing at Crystal’s exposed wrist. “I was gifted to them by someone with that blasted widow tattoo.”

“Bullshit,” Crystal said, but Ashe knew her well enough now to catch the slight hesitation as she said it.

“We’ll get in touch with Headhunter and Hanabi later,” Ashe said, not wanting to dig into that can of worms while dealing with the girls. “Just know, the Viuda weren’t the first idea I had, so we should be good there.”

She could tell all eyes were on her, but she elected to leave it vague, just in case sending the girls to her parents for a discreet extraction didn’t work out. It was an absolute longshot, but they would know the right people to contact, but she would need to ensure the girls didn’t end up being deported, or returned to any living relatives that might have contributed to their situation.

“Also, I’m all for bringing in new girls, but do run each of them by me for now,” Ashe added.

“Uh, I’m new,” the girl from the food court said. “Donna. My name, it’s Donna.” She was almost stuttering with how nervous she appeared. “My parents kicked me out a few weeks ago when they caught me kissing my best friend.”

Crystal winced and Ashe couldn’t help but agree. Such stories were depressingly common, even in supposedly progressive areas. Jericho was anything but progressive. Ashe knew her mother asked to be assigned any case involving children like that ever since they took her in. They couldn’t adopt everyone, and she knew that they would probably adopt another kid shortly after she moved out and got settled.

“I might know someone that could help you as well,” Ashe said. “They do social work for LGBT kids with nowhere to go. They helped me a while back too.”

“As long as they don’t try to send me back,” Donna said.

Hopefully that would be one situation solved with legal means rather than employing her running drugs or worse. Ashe really didn’t want a reputation for corrupting children fresh off the streets. The Iron Patriots would have a field day organizing people against her if they could find actual proof rather than projecting their own issues on her.

“Moving on,” Ashe said, her gaze traveling across the assembled women. “I’m not going to make any of you work, but I want to know if you plan on it. For safety, if nothing else.”

“Don’t think we can take care of ourselves?” Brie demanded.

Ashe shook her head. “Given what we pulled you out of, I’d rather be cautious and pro-active when it comes to anyone under my employ.”

“It’s a fair precaution,” Caralina said. “Though, if you continue to grow, eventually you will have to delegate the lower level things to others.”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Ashe said, her voice chipper until it dropped, the next line uttered as barely a whisper. “I don’t want to be responsible for underage prostitution, that’s one line I refuse to cross.”

“There she goes again,” Caralina said. “I started turning tricks at nine.”

Ashe’s heart broke at the admission, knowing that could have easily been her if she was left on the streets after she ran away. The least she could do was try to ensure that those with nowhere else to go had somewhere they could stay. Somewhere safe from those that would hurt them, and she was unfortunately including the police in that.

Too many of the girls would be deported almost immediately under Florida law, and she couldn’t do that to them, not when they had nowhere to go. She’d been joking when she told her parents about adopting a bunch of girls, but it was starting to look like there would be some truth to the words.

“Then help me make sure the girls we take in have a better childhood than you did,” Ashe said, holding out a hand to Caralina. “No matter how little remains to be had.”

“Your idealism will be the death of you,” Caralina said, turning away before she left the room.

The girls all watched her head up the stairs, then Brie snorted.

“Can’t win them all, but I like the naive optimism you’ve got,” she said, then hopped up. “Why not give it a shot, see how it all shakes out.”

Brie took Ashe’s hand in her own and squeezed, not that she could feel much of it. A single shake followed and the girl grinned.

Ashe shook her head, fighting down a tired smile of her own. “Won’t know until we try.”