Page 76 of Pretty Monsters

"He needs to go to school," Raven says from the doorway.

"How would that help?" I ask.

"People quit jobs all the time because they need to study. It's hard to work nights if you go to school all day. It won't seem suspicious if he tells them he realized he doesn't want this life. He's young, so it's believable," she explains.

"Yeah, it's a great excuse, except we don't have the money for it," he says.

She comes over to us and hands Lucien my phone. On it, she's pulled up the school website. "There's an opening for a groundskeeper. Classes are free for staff."

Lucien looks at me, and I can see the longing in his expression. He never wanted the life he was being pushed into. I'm jealous because I'd have loved nothing more than to lose myself in a formal education, but like most things, that life isn't meant for me. Doesn't mean it can't be his though.

"I think you should try it," I encourage him.

"We can't just abandon these women. I don't even think all of them are over eighteen," he argues.

"We won't, but we're going to have to be more covert with how we go at them. I'm afraid this operation might be too big for us, and if it's your father–"

He rakes his hand through his hair. "If it's him then they are screwed. Getting those girls out is doable, but we can't take out an international smuggling and money laundering racket that's been established for generations."

"We won't quit," I promise him. "But, we're going to have to take them down when we are ready to move on your father."

"What about Governor Whitmore?" Raven asks.

Lucien looks up from the phone. "What about him?"

"You've both said he's Damien's biggest threat. What if this information made it into his hands?"

"We don't know if we can trust him," I hedge.

She shrugs. "We don't, but if we agree that most people act in their own self interest, then we can trust him to use the information to bring down Damien."

"If Martin Gerrick is Damien," I point out.

"We keep digging. We also find out if he has any federal agents he works closely with. Again, we don't trust them, but at least we can start there," Lucien says, accepting her suggestion.

I stand up and stretch. My eyes hurt from spending so much time on the computer without using my glasses, and my body aches for a hard workout. "You've got a job to quit, Luce, and Raven and I need to meet Ford at the gym."

Lucien tosses me the keys. "Might as well take the truck. I'm not going to need it today."

* * *

Ford meetsus at the gym after football practice, and he and I start working on the dorms upstairs while Raven gets to work on designing a website for the gym. Shane joins us after class and working for his grandfather.

The three of us manage to drywall half the space over the course of several hours. We work in silence, but it isn't awkward. When I'm with them I get flashes of what my life would have been like if I'd had a more normal life.

Voices from downstairs carry in the still mostly open space. I drop my hammer and take the stairs two at a time. Ted leads Lucien through the work out equipment toward us. Immediately, I know something has gone wrong.

"We've got a problem," Lucien confirms my suspicion.

Instead of pulling up the secure site I set up to access the club's files, he opens the tracker I put on Damien's men. "They're getting close. Also, there's this," he pauses while his fingers fly over the keys.

Just like I figured would eventually happen, Damien is giving a tearful interview with a reporter about his missing daughter and son.

"Why haven't they mentioned you, Jackson?" Shane asks.

"Jackson?" Lucien pops an eyebrow.

I shrug. It is my name, at least I think it is. I focus on Shane's question instead. "Because I don't exist. There's no way he can explain who I am without implicating himself."

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