Page 273 of Dark Love

Vex: Let me guess… you accepted for us.

That doesn’t sound good. Is he irritated that I made a decision for him?

Me: Yes.

Vex: Good. I know how much you love baseball. I can’t wait to watch you at the stadium.

I love that man.

Could Temperance be right? Is all that’s stopping us from being together an irrational fear?

Snitches Don’t Get Stitches

Vex

I should have snuck into Dahlia’s house last night. Her parents never would have heard a thing. This separation thing lasted two days too long. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough. I pull out my phone and check the security feeds.

Dahlia laughs at something Imogene says.

She’s baking cookies. With all the sugar she just dumped in the bowl, it’s got to be cookies. Why? Why does Dahlia do things just to torment me? I miss that smile. I miss that laugh. I miss everything about that woman.

But now isn’t the time to think about her endlessly.

Plant walked away with another woman, and I need to start getting to the bottom of all of this. Today, that means finding out more about his victims.

Jogging in the park really isn’t my thing, but it’s the least conspicuous way of meeting up with my contact.

She’s waiting for me at a little corner bench by the pond. It’s close enough to the running path not to look odd for a person to stop, but isolated enough that we won’t be overheard. I do one quick reconnaissance round to make sure no one followed me then sit down on the other side of the bench.

“Hello, Vex.”

“How have you been, Charleese?”

“Good. I’m really enjoying school. It’s definitely more fun this go around compared to when I was a teenager.”

Charleese fell for the oldest scam in the book. An older man telling her that he loves and understands her in ways that her parents never could. She ran away from home only to find out he was a human trafficker. By the time I got her out of that situation, she was addicted to drugs and barely alive.

“Why did you want to know about that women’s shelter? The Nest always has an open bed.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Fine. I won’t ask any questions.” She leans back against the bench, staring out at the water. During the spring and summer, there are ducks swimming around. But it’s too cold for them now. They’ve flown south for the winter. “It’s on the up and up. A friend of mine from group therapy lives there now. She isn’t getting any weird vibes from any of the staff.”

“What about any missing women?”

“None of them disappeared randomly. Not all women stay at the shelters. Some choose to return to what they know.”

It boggles my mind that they choose to return to their nightmare lives rather than staying someplace safe. But mental trauma runs deep, and it makes us do weird things. “Do you know the names of any of the women that left?”

“I could only get two. If I pushed anymore, she might have gotten curious.” Charleese pulls a slip of paper out of her bag. “These are the names. I’m not sure they’re spelled right, but my friend said they left a couple of weeks after arriving.”

“Thank you.” I hold out an envelope to her.

“You don’t need to give me that. You’ve already given me enough to go to school and live on for the rest of my life.”

Every woman the Payne and I rescue gets the same regardless of whether the place we rescue them from is flush with cash or like in Charleese’s case an idiot, penniless pimp. After what they’ve been through, these women deserve a life without worrying about where their next meal will be or how they will put a roof over their heads. “But I want you to take it anyway.”

“No.” She stands up. “I might not know what this is about, but I bet it’s to help save another woman. So, no, I won’t take your money for helping. But I will say thank you for letting me do this small bit.”

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