Page 51 of Protecting Christina

There were a few seconds of silence, then she said. “Yes.”

“What’s going on? Why can’t you leave on your own?”

“He threatened to kill us if we left. To kill our whole families.”

Will turned to me, and our eyes met. Mine grew wider. ‘Us’ I mouthed.

“Who else is in there with you?” he asked.

“There’s me and two other girls. One of them has a kid who lives with her grandmother, but she’s worried Simon will get to her.”

“What does he want with you?”

“He…” she struggled to get the words out. “It was supposed to be an equal partnership at first. He would bring the Johns and we would perform the service. He was only supposed to take a thirty percent cut. But he threatened us and we haven’t seen any of that money. I just want to go home.”

I ran both hands through my hair. “Motherfucker.”

“Who’s that?” Donna sounded panicked.

“It’s your sister Christina.”

“Oh, God. I didn’t want her to know about this. She’s just going to say it’s my fault.”

I whipped my head around to look at Will. I would never blame my sister for this. I knew the piece of garbage Simon was. But Donna and I hardly had a loving relationship, either. I shouldn’t be surprised to hear her say that. Even though it hurt.

I turned around so that Will would not see the pain it caused me to hear it.

“I don’t think that’s the case. She hired me to help you.”

“She did?”

I wiped away the moisture from my eyes and turned around. “What do we do now? We have to get her out of there.”

“Donna, are the doors to your room locked?”

“No. But he knows we won’t leave.”

“Give me some time to come up with a plan. We will get you out of there. All of you. I promise.”

“Leave the phone on silent and hide it somewhere safe. I will text you when we’re ready. It won’t be long.”

“Thank you,” she whispered and hung up the phone.

As soon as he put his phone back into his pocket, I faced him. “What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know yet.” He walked past me to his security room, and I followed him.

“We have proof now of Simon doing something illegal. We should get the NYPD involved,” I said.

“We should. But not yet. It could take days or longer for the police to get organized.” He checked something on his laptop, then pulled out his phone again. “You hired me to get your sister out of there, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“All alone?”

“No. I’m calling in my brothers.”

13

Will

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