by Claire Adams
I was impressed. Roxanne was serious about starting her own salon. I knew I had certainly underestimated her when I first met her, and I could see PJ and Nate as they realized they had also underestimated Roxanne.
“There will be no need to print it off, Roxanne. I’m with Jackson on this one. We can’t have you going in there. PJ, she was almost killed only a couple days ago. I don’t think it would be safe. I don’t see any logical reason that she would decide to ask Stephano to go into business with her after he had her almost killed.”
I shook my head in agreement with Chase and was grateful he had stood up for what he knew I was thinking.
PJ pondered what Chase had said and then sat down in a chair next to me. She seemed defeated by the realization that we weren’t going to be able to send Roxanne into Stephano’s house to help us.
“Okay, hear me out,” Nate started as he stood up and addressed our group. “I’ll go get us some semi-automatic guns. We will approach his house by water and come up slowly. We will start shooting everyone we see until we come across the girl. Bam, problem solved.”
“Really? You don’t think that the police will be there within thirty seconds? Star Island is one of the richest neighborhoods in town. They probably have police officers sitting within eyesight of the island at all times,” I said as laughed at Nate’s plan.
We all sat quietly as we let our minds think through potential ideas.
The silence was hard, and I looked over at Roxanne as we tried to think about new plans. Finally, I moved over to sit next to her. Not for any particular reason, only because I really liked being next to her.
“What if Nate…sold me to Stephano?” PJ asked with a smile on her face.
She seemed pretty proud of herself for her plan. It was unusual, that was for sure. But she also worked for the CIA, so I knew it wouldn’t get her boss’ approval anytime soon.
“We don’t have a week to wait for approval,” I added.
“No approval. I have full authority to take on projects I deem necessary. I won’t be able to get a team down here, but if Nate could sell me to Stephano, I could get Ana out from the inside.”
“I like it,” Nate added.
“I don’t know; what if they kill you?” I added.
“I’ll go in prepared. They aren’t going to search a poor starving girl from Russia. They won’t see me as a threat, at all.”
“I could do your makeup to make you look sick,” Jordan said as she finally appeared to feel useful. “We could talk about some of the things Stephano said on his profile. I think I still have the one where he called himself Gordon.”
“So, basically, I just tell him I want to sell you?” Nate asked.
“No, maybe say you ordered me online and I’ve been acting up and not listening. You don’t want to deal with me anymore. I’ll pretend not to speak English, or maybe just a little. Before we know it, they will have me in the room with Ana and I can plan our escape. I’ll bring a small pistol and knife with me.”
“I like this plan,” Jordan said as color rushed back into her face.
Actually, I liked the plan, as well. PJ was much better equipped to fight off the bad guys than Jordan or Roxanne were. Plus, it wouldn’t take much to make her look like a young Russian girl.
“Well, let’s get started then,” PJ said as she made her way to the door. “Jordan, come with me to my room. Roxanne, you come, too. I have questions for you.”
Chapter 14
ROXANNE
PJ was starting to grow on me. I did think it was pretty suspicious that Jackson found the most beautiful woman in the CIA to come and work with us. But it looked like that plan was starting to be a good one. She would make a great decoy to send into Stephano’s world and I was a little happy that it was going to be her instead of me.
I wanted to help get Ana back, but I didn’t want to risk my life.
“So, why is the CIA involved in these cases?” I asked as the three of us made it to PJ’s room.
“It’s a long story, but basically, the women are coming from hundreds of different countries and sometimes bringing weapons and drugs in with them. We work very closely with the DEA and the FBI.”
I paused for a long time as I tried to wrap my brain around what she said. It seemed odd to me that so many agencies were involved, yet it was so easy for women to be bought and sold. I wanted to ask more questions, but I figured I should play nice with her. She was a federal agent, after all.
“Thanks for explaining that. I feel like all those initials are hard to keep track of, but basically, everyone is working together to try to keep the women safe?”
“Yep,” PJ said and then focused her attention on Jordan. “Do you have a picture of your friend?”
Jordan pulled a picture of Ana out of her purse and I gasped when I saw her. She looked so beautiful in that picture, nothing like how she had looked when I had known her.
“What?” Jordan said.
“She doesn’t look like that now. She has lost a lot of weight. Her skin is really pale and she has dark circles under her eyes. I suspect she’s probably only about one hundred pounds by now and she’s tall, so it looks like she’s a skeleton. She still had some curves on her when she was at my house, but if she’s still not eating well, then I’d bet she’s even thinner.”
“Yeah, I guess I don’t have any recent pictures,” Jordan said as tears started.
“It’s alright. That picture was very helpful.”
“Should we get started on your makeup?” I said to try and change the subject a little. “We might need to test out a few different things to get you looking just right.”
“Sure,” PJ said. “What can you tell me about Stephano?”
I wanted to tell PJ everything I knew about Stephano, but I realized that it wasn’t actually as much as I thought. Sure, I had dealt with him a lot over the years, but I didn’t know all that much about him personally. He kept most of that stuff quiet and didn’t let people get very close to him. I did the best I could and told PJ what I thought she needed to know.
“Well, he likes a woman who is submissive. I’m not sure just how far you’re willing to take this acting job, but the more you are willing to give, the more he will like you. I’d bet even a kiss and a little rubbing of his pants would do just fine.”
I really didn’t know how much description I should go into for PJ. I didn’t know her well enough to know if it would offend her. But to win Stephano over, she was going to have to be a bit more sexual than a typical CIA agent. She was going to need to flirt with him and use her body to her advantage. A woman’s body was a powerful thing around a man like him.
“Is he going to want me to give him sex right away or will I be able to pretend to be shy?”
“Interesting point. I bet you could pretend to be a virgin. That would get him really excited and he would be extra sweet to you. That would be your best bet for sure.”
“Who else do you think he will have there, Roxanne? Are we talking one personal security guard or dozens of them?”
“I’m not really sure.”
It was the truth. I had no idea what Stephano had going on at his house lately. In the recent months before Chase, Jordan, and Jackson had come to town, I had been avoiding Stephano a lot. My independence was important, and I didn’t want to go to any of his parties or even talk to him if I could avoid it.
“Do you think he has more girls than just Ana there?” PJ asked as Jordan started to do her makeup.
Jordan first took all of PJ’s makeup off and I saw that she looked plenty young enough to pretend to be a virgin. There was no way Stephano would even question it. Her flawless skin and dainty figure was going to fit right in with the girls that he normally had sent to him.
PJ was short, probably only 5’5”, and she was very thin. Her frame was very muscular, though, and that was going to be hard to hide. We would have to put her in a long sleep shirt or something to hide the definition in her arms.
“He’ll have more girls there, but I’m not sure how many. It just depends on if he’s had some new arrivals in or not and if he’s breaking them in himself or not.”
I felt Jordan’s body tense up when I started to talk about the grooming process that Stephano put the girls through. Unfortunately, it was really important for PJ to understand as much as possible about Stephano before she put herself at risk, so I couldn’t stop talking to her just because Jordan was going to be upset by what I said.
“Is he sleeping with them all? Beating them? Treating them well?”
“I’m not sure. At first, he seemed to be treating Ana really well. Except he had groomed her before he put her up on stage to dance. I think he likes Ana and wanted to keep her around, but after the buyer saw her, it was over and he stopped being nice to her.”
“Groomed?” Jordan asked as she sat down on the bed. “Do you think he’s forcing Ana to sleep with him?
I wasn’t someone who normally cared about other people's emotions. Most of my life, it had always been about me and what would make me feel better. But at that moment, I told a lie. A little white lie that would help put Jordan at ease.
“If he were trying to sell Ana for big money to an overseas buyer, he wouldn’t sleep with her. He’d make the buyer pay extra by telling him she was a virgin,” I said as I looked at PJ.
I could tell that PJ knew I was lying. We both knew very well that a guy like Stephano was probably sleeping with Ana and didn’t care at all how pure she was before he sold her. But of course, he would still tell the buyer that she was a virgin.
“Okay,” Jordan said as she appeared to accept my reasoning.
“Are you going to go over there today?” I asked.
“Probably first thing in the morning, maybe mid-afternoon. But I need some shading done to make me look gaunt and I’ll stay awake tonight and away from the shower, as well. Maybe even get a good workout in and stink a little,” PJ said as Jordan added shading around her jaw line and cheeks.
“Just make sure it doesn’t look like you have makeup on. Stephano is not forgiving if he thinks something is going on behind his back. But the good news is that you’re beautiful and that will distract him quite a bit.”
“Yeah, why are we doing your makeup tonight?” Jordan asked.
“Exactly because I don’t want it to look fresh and like makeup. If we do the shading and stuff now, it will fade and look more natural by tomorrow.”
I found a seat near the bed and sat back and watched as Jordan worked on PJ. As the two women talked and joked, I felt extremely left out. Not that I wanted to talk and joke, but mainly because they seemed to be getting along so well.
My entire lifeI had avoided female relationships. Other women just weren’t something that I was good at. I did feel like Jordan and I had gotten along when we met, but not nearly as well as she was getting along with PJ. PJ seemed to actually enjoy being around other women and talking to us – there was no way I would ever be that kind of person. Not if I tried my very hardest could I actually like hanging around women.
There was always this feeling like other women were out to get me. I’m sure it had something to do with my mother or my childhood, but I had never thought about it hard enough to figure it out. All I knew was I had started to get very uncomfortable in the room with Jordan and PJ.
I didn’t know why I felt so uncomfortable. Both of them were really nice to me. They hadn’t don’t anything specific to make me feel like they were out to get me and I certainly didn’t feel threatened by them. Sure, PJ was beautiful, but she wasn’t the kind of woman a guy who liked me would go after.
PJ was athletic and muscular. She was petite and overly friendly. I found it hard to believe Jackson would like a girl like her, at all. Not if he liked me, and I really did feel that he liked me.
It seemed odd to me that Jackson liked me, even though I really did like him, as well. He was a pretty straight-laced guy with a military background and rich family. Having a girl like me around probably wasn’t something his family would be alright with. His parents were probably uptight and wanted all the Foster brothers to find rich, well-bred women. I wondered what they thought when Chase brought Jordan home.
Not that Jordan was anything bad. She was a really nice girl and obviously cared a lot for her friend. I just wondered what Chase’s family had said when he introduced them to her. I couldn’t help but wonder if they approved of his non-traditional approach to finding a wife.
Jackson had stood up for me when I had volunteered to go into Stephano’s house. I could tell by the tone of his voice that there was no way he was going to let me actually go and help get Ana. The problem with that was I already felt really useless and like I hadn’t earned a single penny of what Chase had promised me if I worked with Jackson to find Ana. Even if Chase decided to still pay me the money, I would always feel guilty because I hadn’t worked hard enough for it.
“Do you have any other questions for me, PJ? I’m exhausted and think I need to head to bed,” I said.
“No questions just yet. We can talk more in the morning. Sleep well.”
“Enjoy your night, ladies. It was nice seeing you again, Jordan,” I said as I stood in the doorway.
“You, too. Sleep well, Roxanne.”
I had had just about enough female bonding time to last me a lifetime. I felt like I was constantly going to say or do something wrong when I was around Jordan and PJ. It was totally on me and I knew it was my issue, but I just couldn’t stay in the room another minute longer. I needed to get to my room so I could relax.
As I made my way back to my room, I could still hear the guys in Chase’s room. They didn’t sound like they were working. It sounded more like a college frat house. I was almost going to knock on the door and tease them to keep it down, but I decided against it. Instead, I made my way to my room and started the warm shower water.
There was something so relaxing about taking a shower in a hotel. You could stand under the warm water for hours and it would never go cold. That was my kind of shower. The warmth of the water and the pressure of the jets was just what I needed to wash away all the stress of the last few days.
I couldn’t have imagined where my life would be if I had thought about it a week before. There was nothing in my life that I thought would change so quickly as when Chase and Jackson came into my club. I was so grateful for the turn of events and really couldn’t stop worrying about if I was going to do them proud and made a difference in the search for Ana.
I had barely been in the shower when I heard a loud thud against the wall. I ran over toward the door and looked out the peephole and didn’t see anything. It was eerily quiet over in Chase’s room and I got a little freaked out.
Quickly, I wrapped myself in a towel and went out into the hallway. I was just about to knock on Chase’s door when I heard the three men as they started to laugh uncontrollably. Relief flushed through my body – well, it did for about a second until I realized I had locked myself out of my room.
My body was freezing in the hallway and I wasn’t about to stand there naked and wrapped in a towel. So, reluctantly, I knocked on Chase’s door. It was a much better option than running all the way downstairs to the front desk in just my tiny towel.
As Chase opened the door, I started to talk before he could say a word. I didn’t want to hear any comments about my towel, or my body, I just needed him to call downstairs and have someone come up and open my door.
“I’m locked out. Can you just call downstairs and have someone come up with a key? Thank you.
I walked back over to my door, right next to Chase’s, and refused to look at him, although I could tell the door to his room was still opened. I was just going to stand in front of my door until someone came to open it.
The embarrassment of the moment started to show on my cheeks though and I felt them turning red. It was ironic how I could take my clothes of in a strip club and not be embarrassed, yet standing in a hallway totally cov
ered in a towel had me looking embarrassed.
“Do you want to come in and wait?” Chase asked.
“Nope. Just call, please. I’ll wait here.”
I waited and the door was still opened. But I heard Chase on the phone as he asked for someone to come let me in. I peeked over at his room and saw he had put a shoe in the door to keep it from closing all the way.
“She can wait in my room,” Nate said. “Where’s my damn key?”
“No,” I heard Jackson say.
“Oh, so you are boning her?” Nate asked.
“The door is open you two,” Chase added as a reminder for them to shut up.
I had to laugh. The three of them together were pretty damn funny. I suspected their childhood was probably a giant succession of them yelling and beating each other up. I bet their mother was exhausted from yelling at them all the time.
“Are you naked?” Nate said as he peeked out the door.
“No,” I laughed. “Are you disappointed?”
“Yes, let me hold that towel for you.”
“I think I’ll keep it,” I joked.
Nate was actually a lot of fun to be around. He looked a lot like Jackson, but Jackson didn’t have nearly the same personality. He was much more subdued and serious all the time. I wasn’t sure he even knew how to have fun. I think the closest I could remember of him smiling was when I took a picture of him naked in our first hotel room and he chased after me. That had been really funny.
“Will you please leave her alone, Nate? She’s not interested,” Jackson said as he pulled Nate back into the room. “Do you need a blanket or anything?” Jackson asked as opened the door but stayed in the room.
“No, I’m alright.”
“Do you want to come in here and wait? I promise Nate will behave himself,” Jackson said and then I heard him demand that Nate obey the order to behave. “Nate, I swear to God I’ll clock you if you disrespect her again.”