Page 59 of Pin-up Girl

In hindsight, I can tell they wouldn’t have picked up on my half-assed clues, but I tried to give them any hint I could without compromising my sister.

“And me.” Milo stepped forward. “The pictures in your apartment. The rock that looked like a house on fire, the close up of the iceberg.”

I nodded. “Exactly, everything isn’t always what it seems, and that some things are deadly, even if you’re too close to see the threat.”

A bitter laugh came from Emmett, breaking my heart. “How noble of you. Trying to do the right thing. Did you ever think of just telling us, and maybe we would have done everything we could to help you? That maybe we loved you enough to get your sister safe?”

Sucking in a sharp breath, I pressed my hands to my chest. Past tense, not present. “How could I? You three had your own problems to worry about, and your own agenda. If I would have told you the truth right off the bat, you would have laughed in my face, and maybe turned me in for spite.”

Emmett shook his head vehemently, but a knowing glint entered Milo’s beautiful blue eyes. He was the one that made the tough decisions. In the beginning, if he thought it would have jeopardized their endgame, he would have turned me over in a heartbeat.

“I tried, I can see it was tremendously stupid now, but at the time, it was the only way I could think of to warn you and save Ellieat the same time. I didn’t even give any substantial information up on you.” I blew out a breath and started pacing. “Cassidy hates Infinity as much as I do…we do. All we passed on was that you were rich, spoiled frat boys who took too much pleasure in the jobs you worked.”

Milo stopped me with a hand to my shoulder, touching me long enough to stop me, then withdrawing. “Why were you crying? At Roosters? The truth this time.” His tone said I didn’t have any choice, but even if there was, I was so tired. These games took too much out of me, and the truth was liberating. With every secret I shared, it felt like a cement block lifted off of my back.

“Cassidy was delivering a warning. If I didn’t get some kind of dirt on you that would prove you wanted to stage a coup, I was supposed to frame you. Otherwise…” The words choked me.

“Otherwise…” Emmett murmured, much calmer than minutes before.

“They were going to do the same thing to Ellie that they did to me.” And Cassidy, but her secrets weren’t mine to share.

“Come on, Elise. You’re on thin ice with us right now. Stop dancing around the truth and tell us who you really are. If you have any real feelings for us at all, tell us.”

If I had any real feelings for them?I wanted to scream my despair at them, at the unfairness of the shit hand I’d been dealt in life. The better question was, did they have any feelings for me, or were they willing to discard me like yesterday’s trash?

“I know Chao.” I started to scrub my arms, but my hands were still tied. All three of their gazes locked on the knotted rope, but they didn’t make any move to untie me.

Fuckers. They wanted me to bare my soul, but I was still their hostage. This was our beginning all over again. Only this time, they hated me, and I might hate them a little bit, too.

Jules hesitated, then stepped forward to untie the rope around my body and wrists. I didn’t thank him, and he seemed to understand this wasn’t something they deserved to be thanked for.

“He sure didn’t seem likeheknew you,” Milo drawled once Jules took his place next to him.

“Let me rephrase that. I know who he is, but he doesn’t know me personally, although I made him an ass load of money.”

They all recoiled back in horror, probably thinking I worked in his brothel. But he only employed Asian girls there. They would remember that in a second.

“I need to sit down for this conversation.” I kicked my heels off. I had no idea how they stayed on while they carted me around like an unwanted bag of potatoes.

Three futons lined the walls, but it wasn’t a surprise that I took one, and they took the one opposite me. At first, I studied them. Relearning these men that had been mine.

Milo, the boy next door with his wholesome looks and charming smile. I let my gaze trail over his features, starting at his blond hair, which was always styled perfectly, and cornflower blue eyes. Even his build was long and lean, lightly muscled and impeccable posture. Before I got close to any of them, he was the one I clocked as the most dangerous, a lethal adversary who would commit any sin for his cause. Robert said he was the leader, the brains, but nowhere in his notes said why. I figured that out all on my own through campus gossip and simple observation. I was right, and now I was the threat.

Jules sat in the middle like the others were trying to provide quiet support. He was the one who drew me first. All the girls on campus swooned anytime he walked by, bewitched by his exotic features and light green eyes. But that wasn’t what pulled me in against my will. It was his bad attitude any time I was around him, it made me want to cuddle him. And it was the depth he couldn’t hide, even when he didn’t speak. His eyes said everything. Now they said I was his enemy.

Then there was my fuckboy, Emmett. He was extremely handsome, his features sharper than Milo’s or Jules’, making him beautiful in a way only models in LA seemed to be. There was mischievousness in his every action, seduction in his every move. The entire package was irresistible to the female population of Wellington, and he knew it and wielded it like a weapon. I didn’t want to like him, didn’t even want to respect him. But from minute one, he showed me he was a real person and not just the player I wanted to see. And he was trying to find something in me to hate.

It was hard to hold their stares as the words tumbled out of my mouth, but I did. I wanted to witness their expressions as they learned just how evil the organization was, even if they already suspected.

“Chao is notorious for his girls and his services. Milo, you told me all about him, so I know you’re familiar with his operations. But what you don’t know—at least, what I think you don’t know—is that he offers other services.” I snatched the blanket from beside me and balled it in my fists, pulling it tight between my hands. To get through this, I needed something solid to hold on to, and they weren’t going to be it.

“Did you know families like mine existed within the organization? Or on the outskirts, really?”

Jules shook his head, his dark brown hair shaking with the movement. Milo and Emmett both chorused “No.”

“Mostly, the families are made up of women who became mistresses and had illegitimate children, or some low-level grunt workers that aren’t intellectual enough to be part of the club, but perfect fall guys. Well, my mother began her days as a mistress when I was eight.

“Whenever they scout a young pretty girl, they send her photo and details to Chao, and he barters their virginity to the highest bidder. Chao only keeps Asian girls on property, but he deals in young girls,period.”

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