by Claire Adams
Obviously, they had to know I was putting myself in danger by talking to them. If they had done any research at all on Stephano, then they knew he would have no problem killing someone if he thought they betrayed him.
“How long did she stay here with you?” Jackson asked.
“How do you know she stayed with me?”
“She was a nice girl, but unless you knew her well, I doubt you would put yourself at risk with Stephano. Since she only worked at the club one night, naturally, I assumed she had spent more time here with you,” Jackson said with a hint of superiority in his voice.
I could tell he was the type of man that was used to being in charge. I could also tell that he had done his research and did know how dangerous Stephano was. Right away I liked Jackson, despite his obvious need to feel superior to everyone else in the room. He had done the work ahead of time and I liked that. I also felt like he wouldn’t purposely expose me to danger and I liked that a lot, as well.
Damn, this guy is smarter than his big muscles and blond hair let on, I thought.
“They brought her to my apartment a few nights after she arrived, I think.”
“Where was she before?”
“Stephano grooms the girls. Wines and dines them and gets them to fall in love.”
I noticed Jordan looked away from me and tears started to form. She was obviously one of those sweet girls who couldn’t take care of herself well. That had been Ana’s problem, too. You couldn’t show emotion in my world. Emotions were a sign of weakness; weakness was Stephano’s chance to win. I learned a long time before that I didn’t have any use for emotions.
“How long has she been gone?” Jackson asked me.
“About a week. Stephano got a buyer who is coming over from Dubai at the end of the month. He paid Stephano to take her out of circulation.”
“So, why not just leave her here with you?”
“My apartment isn’t controlled by Stephano. When he realized she wanted to get away from him, he needed to take her back with him.”
“How did he know she wanted to get away from him?” Jackson asked.
“One night at the club, Ana just got up and walked out the back door. When Stephano’s guys dragged her back, she was pretty bruised up. She came home with me that night and I took care of her, but then they came and took her to his house.”
“You just let him take her? You just let her be kidnapped!” Jordan cried as she stood up and yelled at me.
Bull became defensive and started to bark at her, but as I reached for him to pull him back, he ran towards Jordan. He was just trying to protect me and I knew that, but I also didn’t feel threatened by her at all. I knew she was just angry her friend was missing.
“Bull, heel!” I yelled.
I watched as Jackson stepped right in front of Jordan and just stood still. He didn’t yell at the dog. He didn’t make any fast movements. He just stared right into Bull’s eyes and calmly talked.
“Sit.”
“He’s not going to listen to you…” I started to say, but then realized that Bull had, in fact, sat down.
“I guess he listened,” Chase said as he looked between Jackson and me.
Chase looked like he was only a split second behind Jackson and would have also stepped in front of his wife to protect her. But Jackson just had faster reflexes and a bigger ego, so he did it first.
Jackson seemed to be one of those cocky guys who could do anything he wanted and never had to struggle. He had a level of confidence about him that left no room for anything else. I suspected he had once been in the military. Those were the men who would come to my club and acted like that. But then again, he could have just been a rich spoiled man – they acted the same way.
“Okay, so you don’t know where she is?” Jackson picked up the questions again.
“I’m not sure. I assume he has her at one of his home or business locations, but he’s got a few throughout town. I’m not even sure she’s still in town. She could have already been sold.”
“But you said the guy was coming at the end of the month,” Jordan said as she stood behind Chase.
Bull had returned to sit near me and I honestly didn’t think he would attack Jordan. Her yelling had just made him nervous. He was a good dog and could tell good people from the bad ones. Even though Jackson annoyed the shit out of me, I thought he and the other two were genuinely just trying to find their friend.
“Do you think you could show Jackson the locations and help him find her?” Chase asked me.
“Here’s the deal. I liked Ana, she was really nice, but I’m not about to get killed over the girl. I think you just need to accept that she’s gone.”
“No, I can’t,” Jordan said as she started to cry in her husband's arms.
This girl certainly had more emotions than I think I had ever shown in all my life. She must have had a sheltered life if she was so willing to let her feelings out like that. I had never felt safe enough around any man or woman to break out in tears.
“Jackson, go talk to her, please. Convince her to help,” Chase said quietly, although I still clearly heard him.
Jackson grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway toward my bedroom. He was a handsome guy, and I would have loved to take him for a ride in the bedroom. But I didn’t think that was why he had dragged me down the hall.
“Help us out here. We are just trying to find a scared girl before things get too out of hand.”
“I can tell you’re the kind of guy who always gets what he wants, but I’m not going to get myself killed for some girl I only knew a couple weeks. Besides, I’ve risked enough by having you all at my house today.”
“Listen here, if it were your friend, you would want someone to help. Just give us the addresses and I’ll go check them out myself.”
“I don’t know the addresses. Do I look like Google?”
“Fine, just tell us the names of the businesses.”
Just then my phone rang. It was Stephano. I froze solid as I looked at Jackson and then went to look out the window. Stephano’s car was right out front. My heart sank, and I instantly felt like I was going to pass out. If he found the three of them in my house, he would demand an explanation. Since he knew I didn’t really have friends, it would be really hard to explain why I had the trio in my apartment.
“It’s Stephano. He’s here!”
“Tell him you have a John up here,” Jackson told me just before I answered the phone.
I wanted to be offended by his thought that I would sleep with any of my customers for money. But I knew way too many girls that would easily take a guy home for a thousand dollars. Being offended would have to come later.
“Hello,” I said to Stephano.
“Who’s there?”
“A customer from last night.”
“The high roller?”
“Yes.”
“Get rid of him. He’s had enough time with you. And, I get a fifty percent cut of this side job you tried to sneak in.”
“Of course, Stephano. I’ll leave five hundred dollars for you at the club.”
“You told me you would never whore yourself out and now you’re doing it. Don’t start whoring yourself around every night. You’ll look sloppy on the dance floor.”
“Okay.”
Stephano hung up and I looked up at Jackson, who had clearly heard every word of the conversation. I looked away, unable to look him in the eyes. Even the idea that I would sleep with a man for $1,000 was disgusting to me.
My knees felt weak as I watched Stephano drive away. It felt awful that he even thought I would sleep with a man for money. It wasn’t me, I would never do that, and I didn’t want Jackson or his friends to think that I was that kind of girl. I might not have been the best woman in the world, but I had some dignity.
“I’ll get you some money to give him,” Jackson said as we walked out into the living room.
“I know you guys are rich and everything always works out the way
you want it to. But this isn’t a game, this is my life. I can’t get away from Stephano, and he’ll kill me if he finds out I was helping you. You are going to have to leave.”
“We’ll pay you,” Jordan blurted out. “Right, Chase? We will pay her for her time. What do you need? We will help you get out if you help us find Ana.”
“Come on now. I make almost ten thousand dollars a week. There just isn’t a place for me in this world without dancing.”
I didn’t believe the words as I said them, but it wasn’t going to be as easy as Jordan thought for me to leave my life. If I was truly going to leave Stephano, it would require me moving far away so he couldn’t track me down and that would require money.
“You don’t want to get married and have a family some day?” Jordan asked naively.
I laughed at her assumption that I was the kind of girl that wanted to be stuck in suburbia with a house full of brats. That certainly wasn’t even close to what I wanted for my future.
“Girls like me don’t get married.”
“One hundred thousand dollars,” Jordan said. “It’s enough for you to start fresh.”
“That’s only ten weeks of work. I’ll need five hundred thousand.”
“I’ll give you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and you agree to work with Jackson to find Ana. I’ll give you the money even if you don’t find her, but only if you agree to work with him until he feels like the case is over,” Chase said.
A quarter of a million dollars was a hell of a lot of money and plenty enough for me to start over fresh and get away from Stephano. I wanted to keep negotiating, but I actually liked Ana and wanted to help find her. It made me sick to think that Stephano was going to sell her to some sleazeball.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But I can’t quit my job yet, he will know something is up. And when it’s all done, you have to do everything you can to keep me safe.”
“Jackson is ex-special forces. He can keep you safe if you stay with him.”
“I’m going on record as this is a bad idea. No offense, but we don’t even know if this girl really knows Ana at all. She could be playing us,” Jackson said as he stood near the window and watched the driveway.
“Fuck you. I wouldn’t have risked my well-being to have you over to my house if I didn’t know her.”
“I’m just saying, this is on you, Chase.”
“I’m going to take Jordan back to Atlanta. I’ll have fifty thousand dollars wired to your checking account today and the rest when Jackson says the job is done. Deal?” Chase said as he reached his hand out to shake mine.
“It’s a deal.”
Chapter 3
JACKSON
“I don’t need the help of some stripper to find Ana,” I told Chase on the drive back to the hotel.
I really couldn’t understand why they had bothered to offer her so much money. I could certainly find out everything she knew on my own with a couple of days of research. And I cost much less than $250,000. It was like a slap in the face to hire someone like her and ask me to work with her.
“I’m right here, I can hear you,” Roxanne said from the back seat.
“Did we really need to bring her with us?”
“Again, I’m right here, you don’t need to talk about me like I’m not here.”
I looked into the rearview mirror and saw Roxanne and Jordan sitting in the backseat with Roxanne’s giant Rottweiler sitting in between them. I wasn’t in the kind of mood to take care of a woman and I certainly didn’t want to take care of her hyped-up mutt. I couldn’t see any good reason that Chase should pay this scam artist a quarter of a million dollars when we really had no idea how she could help.
“Can you just be quiet while Chase and I talk? Is that too much to ask?” I said as I turned around in my seat and looked back at Roxanne.
“Is he always such a giant asshole?” I heard Roxanne ask Jordan.
“I just met him a week ago. He seems nice.”
“If this is him being nice, I’d hate to see him being rude.”
“Where can we drop that mutt of yours off at? You can’t bring him with us to the hotel.”
“Wait. What? I’m not helping if I can’t bring Bull. He’s the only reason I’m still alive.”
I had had enough at that point and pulled the SUV over to the side of the road. This woman thought that she was the best thing to happen since sliced bread and I wasn’t about to let her go around determining how my investigation was going to turn out.
I took a deep breath and then turned around in my seat. I kept my voice steady but stern as I said what I needed to say.
“Your dog is not coming with us. Either tell me where you would like me to drive so we can drop it off or I’ll drive to the humane society and we can leave it there.”
I had never raised my voice to a woman my entire life and I wasn’t about to start just because this particular woman was getting under my skin. She obviously didn’t understand the true gravity of her situation or she would have been willing to leave the damn dog and come with us.
I kept my eyes locked on hers and saw the anger and defiance that built up the longer we sat there. I was done, I didn’t need to deal with that kind of attitude for a woman we were going out of our way to help and get away from a dangerous man.
“Fine,” I said as I pulled out my phone. “Siri, directions to the nearest animal shelter.”
As my phone brought up the route to the nearest shelter, I saw Roxanne start to cry in the rearview mirror. I was sorry that giving up her dog was so sad to her, but a human life was just worth much more than the animal. Plus, at a shelter, he could find a new home if someone wanted him.
It only took about fifteen minutes and we were in the parking lot to the Miami Humane Society. I didn’t say a thing and just sat there and waited for her to get the dog and bring it in.
“I can’t do it. He’s the only friend I have,” Roxanne cried as she slumped over the dog.
It was an outright fake cry and I knew it. There was no emotion in it, but her attempt was enough to get Jordan and Chase on her side and that was all that mattered. It was clear to me that Roxanne was an excellent manipulator and I was going to have to keep a close eye on her.
“It’s alright. He’ll find a nice home,” Jordan said as she tried to comfort her.
“He’s a Rottweiler. No one wants big defense dogs. Or if they do take him, they’ll put him into underground fights or something.”
“I’ll go in with you. Will that help?” Jordan asked.
I watched as Jordan got out of the car and held onto the collar of the dog, Roxanne quickly got out, as well, and the two women made their way into the building.
“Is your wife always a bleeding heart for people she doesn’t know?” I asked Chase.
“She does have a big heart.”
“Why the fuck do I have to bring this stripper with me? She’s just going to slow me down.”
“Jackson, she knows Stephano. She can get into places that you can’t. You need her.”
“I don’t need anyone. But whatever, I’ll work with her to keep you happy. You better be paying me more than you pay her. That’s fucking ridiculous to give her that kind of money.”
“It’s just money. Not nearly as important as a human life.”
“What the hell?” I said as both women started to walk back to the car with the Rottweiler walking between them. “Why is he still with you?” I said as I rolled down my window.
“They don’t take Rottweilers and said they could only put him down for us. No shelter in the county takes them because they are too dangerous, the guy said,” Jordan looked at me and then at Chase. “Chase can we just take him back to Atlanta with us? We have a huge yard and he can just stay until Roxanne and Jackson find Ana?”
I looked at Chase as he thought about Jordan’s proposition. I had to laugh at how the whole situation had been turned around onto Chase. The old Chase I knew would never cave in to having a pet around. They were
way too much work for him. But sure enough, one smile from his wife and my little brother rolled over and agreed to a dog.
“Sure, we can bring him to Atlanta. But only until Roxanne and Jackson come back.”
“Oh, Jesus, have you all gone mad? It’s a dog.”
“Jackson, just take us to the hotel so we can gather our things and we will head home and leave you and Roxanne to get some work done,” Chase said with a sly smile.
He knew I was beyond annoyed with the women in our vehicle, but I knew enough not to fight a battle I couldn’t win. And once two women had swung a man over to their side, I had no chance of changing anyone’s minds.
As we pulled up to the hotel, everyone got out of the vehicle and left me there with Bull. Neither the dog nor I were happy about the situation. We both sat quietly to ourselves. I looked at him through the rearview mirror and he looked right back at me.
“Why does Roxanne need to come in?” I asked. “She doesn’t have any things in the hotel.”
“I’m getting her a room next to you so you can keep an eye on her until the job is done. Unless you want to share a room?” Chase asked me.
“For fuck’s sake, just get her a room and let’s go.”
I sat and watched as the three of them made their way into the building. It was abundantly clear that I wasn’t going to win any battles that day, so I shouldn’t even try. It was humorous how quickly two women joined sides when they wanted something.
“Don’t start with me,” I said firmly as I turned around and talked to the dog.
He had started to whine as Roxanne disappeared into the building. I wasn’t about to sit in the car with a whining dog. Luckily, he listened to me and lay down on the seat. His eyes looked up at me and I felt compelled to reach back and pet the poor thing. He was actually a really good dog. Unfortunately, I didn’t like dogs all that much and he wasn’t going to win me over, no matter how nice he was.
***
“Wow, he’s behaving himself for you,” Roxanne said as she helped Jordan carry some bags out of the hotel.