by Ashlee Price
I shook my head slowly and told her that she didn’t quite appreciate the situation that she was in. “You’re here now, and I’ve got a feeling that you’re not going to be able to leave.”
She looked to the door. We both knew that the two men who’d dragged her in here were still outside, waiting for my orders. Those two would do what I wanted to her, and she didn’t seem to see how precarious it all was. Mariah still thought that her life mattered.
Mariah got up. I waited with a smile on her face. She was the type that had to learn the hard way. While I would appreciate that kind of attitude at the club, when dealing with me she needed to change her ways.
“Bruno and Lex will take you to Travis. He’s very eager to see you. Sasha just wasn’t enough for him.”
The look on her face was almost enough to make me question the chance I was taking with her. I didn’t know if Travis would bring her back in one piece. There was an agreement in place, but that didn’t meant that he would stick to it. It was a gamble, but one I thought I had to take to prove my point. If the worst happened, it might be hard to replace her, but it wasn’t the end of the world. She wasn’t as valuable anymore anyway. Now that she was no longer untouched, the loss wouldn’t be so great.
I heard her fighting back when she encountered the two men in the hallway. I’d instructed them to give her something to calm her down before they got to Travis. If she stayed calm and complacent, there was a better chance of her coming back in a usable state. I was really just trying to help her out. I don’t know why she couldn’t see it.
“Has Mariah always been like this, Sasha?”
The dark woman just looked up at me and then back down again. Her next dose was going to have to be a little less. She wasn’t going to be worth a dime the way she was. Sighing to myself, I got up and went to the front of the club. The men were just now getting Mariah in the back seat of the car outside, and since she was being carried out, I figured that it was a toss-up if I saw her again. I’d wanted it all to go so very differently.
Chapter 32 – Scott
“What do you mean she doesn’t work here anymore? I talked to her yesterday and she said she was coming in to see you.”
“Well, I haven’t seen her, Scott. You really should calm down. You’re getting all worked up over a whore. How am I supposed to keep up with her? I’ve got enough to worry about. I can’t be keeping tabs on each one of them when I’ve got so much to do.”
The man in front of me was lying. His shifty eyes wouldn’t even meet mine. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I wanted to see her now. She wasn’t answering her phone, and I had a bad feeling about it. I knew that Elie was the one I needed to get the information from. He was the one who was going to know what was going on.
“She said that she was coming here to get her money for the auction. That was a lot of money, Elie. Are you telling me that she didn’t try to come and get it? You expect me to believe that she just gave all of that money up and took off?”
He shrugged and told me that he didn’t care what I believed. “She took off and I haven’t seen her since that night. How am I supposed to know that you didn’t do something to her and you’re trying to cover your own ass?”
What was he talking about? Mariah had been just fine when she left my house. She was going home and then she was going to go see him. What happened after that was a mystery to me, one that I was bound and determined to solve. He wasn’t going to just brush me aside like he was trying to do now. He acted like I was going to be okay with it all, that I was just going to shrug it off like he was and ask for another girl. He’d offered a couple to me already, trying to get me sidetracked.
“It will be fine, Scott. I know that you’ve got a thing for her, but she’s just like all of the rest. There are plenty to choose from.”
I didn’t want anyone else. I should have stopped Mariah from even leaving. I knew what she was going to do, and I knew what kind of a man Elie was. I should have seen this coming. I should have kept her safe. All of the should-haves weren’t helping anything. I needed answers, not should-have, could-have, would-have sentiment. Those were not doing me a lick of good.
“I’m not leaving here until you tell me where she is, Elie. I know that you know and that you have something to do with it. Nothing goes on around here without your approval.”
“Fine, I do. I didn’t want to tell you because you’re a good customer and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but she doesn’t want to see you anymore. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, Scott, but she has requested that you not be booked for her anymore.”
His words threw me off, and I moved backwards like he’d delivered a physical blow to me. It was not at all what I’d expected him to say. I was sure that he was lying… but what if he wasn’t? What if she’d really said that and everything that I was feeling was wrong? The idea of it made me sit back in the seat and really think about everything. It was only when Elie spoke again that I realized I was just sitting there staring off into space.
“I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, Scott, but you have to remember that they’re just whores.”
He kept saying it over and over again, and it wasn’t helping anything. Calling Mariah a whore made no sense, especially considering what had been auctioned off just three days before. How much could change in three days was amazing. I felt like my life had been flipped upside down.
“Where is she?”
Elie sat up a little straighter. I don’t know what was on his mind, but I had a feeling the situation was about to change very quickly from here.
“I told you that she doesn’t want to see you. If I have to, I’ll bar you. I take the safety of my girls very seriously.”
“She’s not one of your girls, Elie. Mariah told me that she was leaving. I know that she was coming here to quit and to get her money. Now she’s disappeared? That sounds fishy, and you know it. Do I need to get the police involved?”
His demeanor changed and he didn’t look quite so smug. “Do you really want to go down that road? I’m a sleazy club owner. I won’t fall too far. You’re the golden boy, on the front of magazines. How much do you think it would affect your life if the press got a whiff of how much you paid to deflower a virgin? I wonder how many women are on the board of your company, and how they would feel about what you do with your free time. It doesn’t look very good for you, I’m afraid.”
Elie was sure that he had me, and although what he said wasn’t wrong, it didn’t matter. There was something eating away inside of me, and I knew that it was because something just didn’t add up. He was up to no good and Mariah wasn’t safe. This was just the gut feeling that I had, and I wanted to confirm it.
“I don’t take kindly to threats, Elie. We all have something to lose. Just tell me where she is, and if she really doesn’t want to see me again, she can tell me to my face. I would walk away if that were the case.” I was trying hard to be reasonable, even though it was taking everything in me not to go across the table and started smashing my fist into his face. The day was young, though.
“She’s out with a client right now. Mariah is not expected to come back for at least a week, so you’re just going to have to wait.”
“Which client?”
The idea of her with another man infuriated me. I’d wanted her to stay and not go see Elie. I never thought that she would get back into it. Why would she go back to the club when it was so clear that we were supposed to be together?
“I cannot tell you that. That information is confidential. You wouldn’t want me letting go of all of your secrets, now would you?”
“Just tell me who and where and I’ll leave you to it. No one has to know that you told me anything.”
Elie seemed to be chewing it over. I didn’t want to go to war with this man, he was complicated, but I would if I had to. All that mattered to me was Mariah. I didn’t want to go another moment with even the slightest doubt that she wanted to be toget
her. I had to know if he was lying or if what he said was true.
“I don’t know if I should, Scott. You look like you’re going to do something stupid, but on the other hand they’re not even in this country by now. So I’ll tell you, just because I know that you won’t go that far. She’s just a whore, after all.”
“Stop calling her that.” I could feel the anger welling up inside of me and I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. They were out of the country? Where the hell was she, and who was she with? Elie didn’t know much, because I was more than prepared to go after her to the ends of the earth. I loved her, and now that I realized it, I wasn’t going to go another day without her knowing that.
“Fine, whatever. I never knew you to be so dramatic before. You’re a good customer and I don’t want to see you run off somewhere else, so I’ll tell you where she is.”
I figured it had more to do with the threat of police involvement than anything else, but I was going to let it slide. If he was going to give me what I wanted, I didn’t really care how it had to be justified, just that it was.
“She’s with Travis. I think you know him, don’t you? He was the man you bid against at the auction.”
Yes, I knew him. The man was a monster, in and out of the boardroom. I’d had the unfortunate task of working with him a couple of times, and I didn’t even like to be in the same room as him.
“Travis is going to hurt her, Elie. How could you do that to her if you’re so worried about her wellbeing?”
He shrugged, and I realized that if he did that gesture again I was going to have to bond out of jail instead of helping Mariah.
“Where are they?”
“Dubai, I hear. You know that I don’t keep track of the whereabouts of the girls. It would be too much for me.”
“You sent her across the world with him?”
“Don’t be so shocked. She’s a… Well, you know what she is. This is what she gets paid to do. I tried to warn you back when you were talking crazy. I told you that she wasn’t the type to fall for. I thought you knew that.”
His lecture was falling on deaf ears. It wasn’t like I could just go back now. I could never go back to the time when I didn’t love her. I couldn’t go back to the time before I made her mine in all ways. That wasn’t going to go away, no matter how much I knew that I shouldn’t care.
A man like Travis would destroy Mariah. She didn’t have the self-control to really stop when she needed to, and Travis was more sadistic than most. He would want to push it, no matter what the consequences were going to be. I couldn’t let her stay with him, even if she’d gone of her own volition. Obviously Mariah didn’t know what she was getting into or she wouldn’t have agreed to such a plan with such a man.
“You know that he’s going to hurt her.”
“She likes it.”
“He’s going to really hurt her. That man is sadistic.”
“Pot, kettle. Aren’t we all a little sadistic in this world? He promised me that he would bring her back in one piece. What more could I ask for?”
That wasn’t enough to make me feel better. I stayed on him for more details and finally got what I wanted. He’d known exactly where she was going to be the whole time. Mariah was money to him, and he wasn’t going to lose track of that.
She was not only on the other side of the world, but in a part of the world where life was far different. Travis had taken her to a place where he could do what he wanted with her and no one would even bat an eye.
I left the club, knowing that I would never come back unless it was to take care of Elie once and for all. The man preyed on vulnerable women and I hated that I was ever a part of it. What I needed to do was find Mariah. Then I could figure out the rest of it. All I had to do was find her, and now that sounded a lot easier than I’d thought it would be.
As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw Sasha driving in. Her powder-blue car was hard to miss. Instead of leaving right away, I backed up and parked next to her. I was shocked at the state of her when she got out of her car. Someone had not been good to her, and my mind went to Elie. Had he done this to her?
“Sasha, right?”
She looked up at me, but didn’t really see me. I had to stop her with a soft touch on her shoulder so that I could get her to listen.
“Sasha, are you okay?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“You don’t look okay. You’re the one who lives with Mariah, right?”
The sound of her friend’s name seemed to pull her out of it for a minute and she seemed to get upset. “What’s wrong?”
“Elie gave her to Travis. I know what Travis is going to do to her. But there’s nothing that I can do. Elie wouldn’t listen.”
It was what I was afraid of. I wanted to leave right then, but something told me that if Sasha went in there, she wasn’t going to come back out. She needed to get away from it all just as much as Mariah did, and I knew a place that Elie wouldn’t dare go.
“I’m going to take you home, Sasha. Don’t go back to this place. I’m going to go find Mariah.”
She smiled up at me and some of the worry that creased her brow dissipated. “What are you on?”
Sasha shrugged. “Something that Elie gave me to calm down. He said it helps the pain.”
This was becoming a habit with him. I hoped that he wasn’t giving something similar to Mariah. If it was anything like what he’d given her the night of the auction, she wasn’t going to have a chance against Travis.
The thought made me drive faster. I had to get Sasha safe while I had the pilot get the plane ready. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Mariah to get back. It just might be too late, and I would never forgive myself if it was.
Chapter 33 – Mariah
The next thing I knew, I was on a plane. I remembered fighting with Elie’s goons, trying to get away from them. I remember them giving me something that I didn’t really have a choice about, and I clearly remembered what Elie had told me. I knew who I was with, and instead of looking around at where I was I snapped my eyes shut again and waited for the other shoe to fall. I knew that Travis was going to realize I was awake soon, even if that was the last thing that I wanted. I couldn’t pretend forever.
“I wonder how much he gave her. If he killed this one, I don’t want to hear anything from him. This isn’t like Lisa. Lisa was my fault. He covered it up, so I will too if I have to.”
The words were not as clear as I would have liked. I was straining to hear Travis and the person he was talking to. I had no idea who that might be, but I was sure that whoever it was, they weren’t there to help me. No one around me was going to help me. Somebody who was working with Travis would already know what kind of man they were dealing with.
That left me stuck in a very bad situation. I could remember some of the conversation that I’d had with Elie, although I knew that it didn’t mean anything. Elie had sold me off, and I didn’t know if I was going to ever come back.
The longer I sat in silence with my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, the more my brain was able to clear. I didn’t know what they’d given me, but I felt much like I had the day I’d woken up next to Scott. It seemed so long ago, but I knew that it was only a couple of days in the past. So much had changed since the auction.
“Why don’t you see if she’s awake yet? I’m starting to think that they gave her way too much. I should have known that Elie was going to screw this up. He already screwed up the auction.”
I heard footsteps coming towards me. They took a while to reach me, and I realized that the plane must be bigger than I’d imagined. Travis had money, and a lot of it. Obviously, this was a private jet and there was zero chance of help. I controlled my breathing as I felt someone standing over me.
“She’s still out, but at least she’s breathing.”
They talked about me like I was some insect that they were studying. I didn’t get anything good vibes off of them. They didn’t care who I was or what Travis was
doing to me. No doubt it was one of his lackeys.
“Just let her sleep. She’s a handful when she’s awake, and I don’t have the time to deal with her right now.”
“We can always help you out, boss, if you need anything.”
“No, that will be fine. Don’t you dare touch her until I’ve had my fill. She’s here for a week, so there’s plenty of time.”
I heard some mumbling, and I tried hard not to show my revulsion. Just because I’d had sex once didn’t mean that I would do it with just anyone. I wasn’t ready to go to that level, and I didn’t think I ever would be. I was getting out of this life. I just had to wait until we touched down, and then I would find some police and get out of Travis’s clutches. I didn’t know where we were going, but it really didn’t matter. All I had to do was get away from him and then I would be able to get back home.
I worried about Sasha as I listened to the three or four men talking amongst themselves. I wasn’t on their agenda anymore, and I was thankful that I was left to lie there alone. I had to pee and my head was hurting badly, but I didn’t dare move a muscle. Nothing would have been as bad as having them realize I was awake. I couldn’t have been happier that they had no time for me.
My luck didn’t last much longer. I was thinking about Sasha and what I was going to do when I got home when I felt someone touching my chest. It wasn’t hard, I was just surprised, but I made a noise that gave me away. Now they knew I was up, and I opened my eyes to see a tall, dark man standing over me.
“Who are you?”
“What the hell are you doing, Carl? I said keep your damn hands off of her!”
“I barely touched the bitch and she was hollering out. I bet she’s been awake this whole time.”
The man had a kind of drawl to his voice that made me think he was from New Orleans too. The other voice belonged to Travis, and I knew I wasn’t ready to see him again. The last time I saw him had been enough, and I had told Elie that I never wanted to see him again. Nothing had changed, especially not that.