Page 326 of Lodestar

“Yup. The dream career of most women in Russia is prostitution.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nope. You ask around on the ground, and it is. That’s what poverty and years under a communist dictatorship do to you.The families would payhimto help their daughters find work if you can believe that.”

“Didn’t they question shit if they never heard from their kid again?”

“The ones with families became brides. The ones who were on their own became slaves.

"The brides went with average middle-class Americans, and to people in the Baltics, that’s practically luxury living. Why wouldn’t they spread the news that Belyaev had the means of giving their children better lives?”

My brain whirred with the new information that wasn’tnew. Alessa, Kat’s sister, had been on her own when she’d become a slave, whereas her mom, who’d left Alessa and her own mother behind, had become a bride.

I thought about Amara, another victim of this heinous market Belyaev and his ilk had exploited. “Why were some kidnapped?”

“Easy marks, of course.” Theduhwas silent.

“Belyaev must have had an empire by the time he died.”

“I think that’s why they wanted him gone. Ya know, stop him before he got too big for his britches. If hewasfeeding Kuznetsov intel, that probably didn’t help matters.” She sniffed. "All supposition though. Finding out why these bastards do what they do is next to impossible."

“Understatement.”

“Yup.”

The driver’s door opened and Conor hopped in behind the wheel, bringing with him the scent of oranges.

It was refreshing.

Freeing, almost.

It took me away from the truth of the moment and made me think, instead, of good times.

Bettertimes.

“It’s colder than a witch’s tit out there.”

“How do you know witches have cold tits?”

“On the behalf of all witches, I’m annoyed,” Troy concurred.

Conor grunted. “It’s a saying.”

“In which part of the world?”

“My world. Witches can be men too. Now, who’s being sexist?”

“They’re warlocks. Wizards if you’re aHarry Potterfan. Which,” I tacked on before he could speak, “knowing you, you are.”

“I preferStar Wars.”

“What does one have to do with the other?”

“If you know, you know,” he taunted. “Anyway, witch, warlock, or wizard, ever heard of man boobs?”

“I’ve heard of them. Surprised you have.” Especially when I thought of his pecs.

“I was chubby as a kid.”

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