Page 17 of Torn

“Yup.”

“So then you know they won’t let outsiders near their women.”

Thad groaned. “Oh, fuck no, man. You can’t be serious. You’re gonna try and bang some Amish chick?”

“They aren’t Amish, dumbass.”

“Eh, whatever.”

“Just think about it. These women are about as unattainable as it gets.”

“I know, but it’s not gonna happen. Those people are extremist freaks. I’ve heard they get up to some crazy dark shit out there,” he said.

“Heard from who?”

“Vlada. She studied a sociology course while she was modeling. She told me she did some sort of assignment on sequestered religious groups in the South.”

I frowned. “She did? How the hell do you know that?”

Even I didn’t know that, and I worked with the damn woman nearly every day.

Thad cleared his throat. “Uh…”

I groaned. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’ve been screwing my secretary?”

I could practically see the sheepish grin curling up his lips. “Sorry.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just tell me what she told you about them. The more info I have on these people, the better.”

“Ask her yourself. I have to go in a minute. But seriously, drop this stupid idea of yours. Even you can’t make it happen.”

“We’ll see. How does a million dollars sound?”

He was silent for a moment. “You’re thatsure you can pull this shit off?”

“Yep. And I want my lake house back. That’s part of the deal too.”

He snickered. “Fine. You’re on. And just to be extra nice, I won’t give you a time limit on this one. You can take as long as you want to try and screw one of these chicks. But let me tell you, man. You won’t get it done.”

“Like I said: we’ll see.”

I ended the call and buzzed Vlada. She arrived a moment later, eyebrows raised. “What can I do for you?” she asked.

I pointed to a chair across from my desk. “Come in and sit down. Shut the door behind you.”

Her brows dipped in a frown. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I was just talking to Thad Klein.”

Vlada’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Ashwood. Please don’t fire me. I just—”

I waved a hand at her. “I don’t care that you slept with him. I want to talk to you about something else.”

She sat down quietly with her hands folded across her lap, waiting for me to go on.

“Thad said you studied cults and similar stuff at college.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

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