Bernd marched closer to them. Cat felt nauseated by fright. She spotted men’s clothes in a pile on the floor, and Bernd squatted and dug in the pockets. Cat began to back toward the door, but Anna darted behind her and threw an arm around her head, burying her neck in the crook of her elbow. Cat couldn’t move and couldn’t breathe. Bernd stood up, and he had a gun in his hand, which he pointed at Cat’s head.

Cat whimpered and tried to speak, but she couldn’t.

‘On your knees,’ Anna told her roughly.

Cat sank to the floor. Her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach. Her chestnut hair spilled across her face, and sweat beaded on her forehead. She kept staring at the gun.

‘Tie her hands,’ Bernd said, snapping his fingers at Anna. ‘Quickly. Leave her ankles free for now. She’s going to have to go with us. Where’s the other girl?’

‘In my storage unit across the street.’

Bernd waited in stony silence while Anna ran to the kitchen and returned with a roll of duct tape. Anna bound Cat’s wrists tightly with tape, which was sticky and rough on her skin.

‘I warned you,’ Bernd snapped at Anna. ‘You put the whole operation at risk with your stupidity. I told you not to freelance.’

Anna flinched. ‘Look, I’m sorry, okay? Your people pay good money, but it’s not enough to live on. I found you the other girls—’

Bernd made a slashing motion across his throat. Anna stopped talking. The man stepped into his jeans from the floor. As he zipped himself, he squatted in front of Cat and held her chin between his fingers, pinching so tightly that she grimaced in pain. He shoved her face left and right, and then he put his hand on her stomach, and she tried to squirm away.

‘We’ll use this one as a bonus,’ Bernd said. ‘She’s pretty. Pregnant is a plus. Some buyers like that. And the baby will be worth something, too.’

‘You leave my baby alone, you bastard!’ Cat screamed into his face.

Bernd slapped her hard, leaving a welt and choking off the words in her throat. ‘She’s spirited, too. That’s good. They like the ones who fight. Maybe she’ll make up for the one you lost us.’

‘You shot the other girl!’ Anna barked. ‘If you’d kept control of Kelly, there never would have been a problem. I texted you about the cop in the bar. You needed to get her out of there, and instead, we wound up with a mess on our hands.’

‘The mess started with the gun you gave me,’ Bernd replied. He reached out and grabbed Anna’s neck with his hand, pinching his fingers shut like a vise until she began to twitch, unable to breathe. When he finally let go, she jerked away, coughing and crying.

‘Fucker!’ she moaned.