Page 38 of Craving You
“What?”I ask.
“Lorelei… We’ve had undercover agents in that club numerous times and you know what is always found?”
“What?”I ask.
“The girls are happy, taken care of, no one is on drugs, the girls have personal vehicles, clients pay the girls, not Rob… We have not found one indication that girls are being forced in there,” he says.“Also… an agent has been with you, Lorelei.”
“Oh hell,” I sigh.“It was the weird guy that just talked, wasn’t it?”I ask with a sigh.
“Yes.His name is Heath,” he chuckles.“We have never had an owner who ran the girls also run background checks on the clients… But Rob did.His rules were strict, too.”
“Not strict enough,” I grumble.
“What do you mean?”he asks.I sigh heavily and back my head back against the wall before looking up at Cam and Remy.
“Meh.Worst-case, we will bail you out and run,” Tris says.“Hypothetically…”
“Fine,” I sigh.“Rob never made anyone do anything.He let us make our own choices.He took care of us and made sure we were safe.I was there because I was trying to rewrite my trauma from being violently raped in high school…”
“But you’ve gotten hurt there before?”he asks.I look at Remy and just shake my head.“Understand that I already know all the answers to the questions I’m asking you.”
“Then why the fuck are you asking?”I snap.
“Because it’s your story, Lorelei,” he says.“Look… The three men last seen at that club that someone took a bat to had cameras in their home planted by me and my boss.”
“Then you should know who did it then.Why are you here?”I ask.
“Because Remington was smart enough to wear a mask, Lorelei,” he says.
“Then what the fuck do you want from me?”I yell at him before standing up and hitting the emergency stop.I scan my badge so it will take us to the top floor instead so I can go to my office.When the doors open, I storm out ahead of everyone and go to my office.I try to slam my door shut, but the detective puts his foot in the way to stop it.“Go away.”
“I’m trying to be gentle here, because I know you have been through a lot.You aren’t responding to that, so I am going to be blunt,” he says.“Those two men were wanted in connection to the disappearance of Nadia Jenkins.”
“What?”I ask.“Dia… She…”
“Was a dancer at the club.I know.We sent undercover agent in over and over again because we thought for sure Rob was guilty, but it never panned out,” he says.“George Hamilton was the last client she saw before she went missing.Two other men joined him.After she went home that night, she was never seen alive.Her body was recovered last week, she had been held for six months before eventually dying.”
“Wait,” Remy says.“Six months?”
“Oh….Fuck,” I say.“Oh, no…”
“The two men he brought in with him are named Jose Miranda and Julio Martinez.They are connected to a ring that traffics girls, and George… Well, he is thought to run everything.He picks the girls, and those two men carry out his orders,” he continues.
“I kept seeing someone in my apartment building over the last six months.I never saw their face, but if I was in the elevator after dark, he was there,” I say.“George… He has been coming to see me since I started there.”
“But he never could get close enough,” Remy says.
“Exactly,” Detective Yotes says.“Rob was moved to a different location for his safety.Many of the girls also were moved as a precaution, but you were their target.Those men who got their brains beat in had your picture, a copy of the key to your apartment, and your daily schedule.They saw you on that Friday night, yes?”
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“Rob said they expressed to you that they’d come back the next day,” he says.“If it weren’t for Remington… doing what Remington does… They would have taken you.They tried many times, I think, because there were some text exchanges on their phones talking about Remington always being around and getting in the way.”
“So, if they are dead…”
“It does not mean you are safe,” he says.“It just means that I now have no idea who is running the ring or who will come after you.”
“Fuck,” Cam says.“Her face is all over the goddamn media.”
