Chapter 22

Graham didn't need to rely on the soldier who was about to become a slave to bring back Rose, especially when he still believed that Mathias was the one behind Rose's disappearance. "And how do you intend to find her if you don't know where she is? If you are hiding her, bring her to me now."

"I don't have her. Last night when I came to the brothel, there was a fire that I helped to put out then I left. When I came, the fire had already started. You can ask the soldiers that I arrived with. They were with me all day since the incident when I kicked her," Mathias said.

He could tell that Graham believed he had a hand in setting fire to the brothel. Mathias wished Graham would quickly understand that he wasn't foolish to bring attention to himself. 

Graham placed the pipe in his mouth. "Fortunately for you, I believe you, but I don't trust you. You show up and then she goes missing. I don't believe in coincidences. Where is that other fellow? The one that wouldn't listen to me and tried to get in my way from seeing her?"

Graham remembered the shorter of the two boys to be the one Rose was closer to. If anyone were to have helped Rose slip away, it would have been that other one. He should have ordered his guards back then to hunt down these two and not return until they found them.

"He doesn't have her and he doesn't know that she's still alive. When I came here last night, there were some foreigners here. Why don't you check if they have her?" Mathias asked.

Graham thought about it. He had not sent his men to look there. The foreigners did not have any reason to steal from him, but he couldn't dismiss how Zayne would not keep his eyes off of Rose. Those foreigners would have to be fools to come here and steal from him.

Zayne had left rather abruptly right after the fire started. He had already paid for rooms and did not use them. The one thing that swayed Graham away from thinking that Zayne had taken her was his new belief that Zayne was interested in men.

"I passed a few of them on my way in-"

"And did you see them with her?" Graham asked.

"No," Mathias replied. Rose had run away by herself and he had seen the foreigners after but he would love for Graham's focus to be on someone else.

"It's not looking good for you right now. Luckily for you, I am a man to give others a chance. Besides, I could use having one of my slaves in the king's army. Someone who desperately wants their secret to be kept. Bring her back to me within three days or I will start lining up customers for you," said Graham.

Graham didn't fear Mathias running away because from their short meeting, he could tell that Mathias cared a lot about hiding that he was once a slave. Everyone cared about having a status, be it big or small. 

Graham started to believe more that Mathias didn't have Rose. He must have kicked her to hide his past. Still, he wasn't going to let the kick slide. "While you are looking for her, get some of those soldiers to come here. I have a storage room that needs to be built over so I need to make some more money."

"Fine," Mathias answered. The men around him were already excited to drink and see women so that wouldn't be so hard. "I need to go since I only have three days."

"I must say, I like how quick you are to move. Much different from the idiots I have searching for her. Do well by bringing her back and I might just entertain letting you have your freedom. There's something to enjoy about a friend betraying another. I like a man who picks status over friendships. We're similar," said Graham.

Mathias didn't like the comparison since he was nothing like Graham. Graham was a vile man who bought people regardless of their age and made money off of them in places like this. Mathias viewed himself as a soldier fighting for the good of this kingdom. 

Graham was out of his mind to compare them.

Mathias exited the room. There was much he had to do in three days. If not for Graham wanting Rose back alive, he would have killed her for getting him into this mess. This wouldn't have happened if she would have just kept her mouth shut.

'She's still the annoying idiot,' Mathias thought.

At this age, why did she think anyone was going to help her? Now she was causing trouble for others who had moved on from this.

'If not for her seeing me, I wouldn't have to give up all that damn money."

Mathias needed to hit something to let his anger out. He made the mistake of not taking her somewhere when she first saw him and warned her to keep her mouth shut. This had to be revenge for him being the one to run away with Alexander.

'She shouldn't get angry with me. Alexander would have needed to keep taking care of her if she went with him. We wouldn't have gotten far with a girl,' Mathias thought.

He was right to push her out of the way back then. He did what was best for him and Alexander. A young pretty girl like Rose running around with them would have just made their life harder. She would have ended up being captured by someone so it was best she stayed here.

Instead of going out where he came, Mathias went where he had seen Rose run away toward the mountain. He had to hope that she was still alive there or he might have to find some reason for Graham to be killed by the town guards. 

"That won't work. All these bastards are coming to him for women and something else," Mathias said, stuck on finding Rose.

How was he to get the town guards to go after Graham when Graham was already buying children and no one batted an eye? It was all coming back to him how much power in this town Graham's family had. 

Back then, it had been Graham's father who held them captive, but Graham would act like the owner. Graham always knew he would take over.

Mathias started to run to follow Rose's tracks. She couldn't have made it far so she had to be stuck somewhere on the mountain. If she was smart, she would come back right now instead of having the foolish dream of running away from Graham.