Page 153 of Beautifully Ruined

I ignore the warning note in his voice. “And I’d like some training so I can work at the club is the best route.”

“No, it’s the most idiotic and the most dangerous.”

I huff out air, annoyed with him. “I’m not a fool.”

“Aren’t you? Because you’re sure acting like one.”

I step back and point at him. “You said it yourself. You think there’s a good chance she’s being held at the big training center.”

“Do you?—”

“And if I can get him to buy my story, I mean, even if it’s that I want to just see what it’s about, he’ll probably go for it, right? And then all I need to do is get in there, do the things you need done so you can hack the system and the security cameras. And then you and Enzo can ambush the place and rescue Gianna.”

“I fucking hate this plan. In fact, you might see a theme with me and all your plans. I hate them all.”

“At least I have one. When did you come up with a plan? You and Enzo sit behind your computers and play around with mobster money and act big, but this is about a girl’s life?—”

“There are a lot of girls with lives on the line, including yours if you do this.”

“So? I care.”

“And I care about you.” He grabs my arms and gives me a little shake. “I have fucking plans, Vi. Just because things aren’t guns blazing doesn’t mean I’m not doing a thing. I need to find a way in, the best way, one where you’re not in danger.”

I pull free and take a step back. “It’s my life, Cade. Not yours. I can do what I want when I want. You don’t actually own me.”

“I’ve warned you about the fucking training center. It’s not a class with written exams and how to stand or act. It’ll be sex. Sex you won’t like. Sex you’re expected to just put up with and do. You’ll be trained, all right. On how to take multiple cocks. How to handle a gangbang, a train, how to act when you’re the meal at a party full of men. How to pretend you don’t feel pain, how to give blow jobs, go down on a woman, deal with things shoved in you.

“Do you see what I’m getting at? Fantasy and that are not the same. And I’m not letting you be put in that situation.”

He’s told me before, but not quite in such blunt terms, and it makes me want to throw up. But I don’t let him see. “Thomas likes me What if I ask about seeing if it’s for me? Surely, I can go in and then change my mind. Macy isn’t a slave. She comes and goes. She chose that. So, there are choices.”

He nods slowly, folding his arms. “Okay, let’s say you’re right, you can go and audit it and plant the shit I need planted. What if we’re successful?”

“Me, not we.”

His eyes narrow. “You. What if you’re successful and get out unscathed, untouched? And what if he figures out what you’re up to at some point. You’re easy to track. Look at where the fuck you work. There’s no telling what he might do to you.”

“So,” I say slowly, “I make sure I do it right. I flirt with him a little, tell him I’m not ready for that yet, but I’m thinking of moving on from you. Maybe, tease him.”

“No.”

“What’s the alternative, Cade?” I ask him softly, “Sit around and wait until it’s too late?”

He doesn’t answer me because there’s no answer to that. None apart from what I’m suggesting.

“So, I go in.”

“Look, I don’t have an answer for you, and we both know that. Not yet. That’s the key phrase. Not yet. But I’m going to figure it out. I know people who can get in there, it’s just coming up with the right scenario. The right person.”

“But—”

His eyes catch mine. “You need to promise me you won’t do something stupid, okay?”

“I promise, I won’t.”

As I say that, I privately tell myself that the meaning of stupid is relative. I’m not going to be reckless, whatever I do. I’m going to be smart and plan it.

Because he’s wrong. He’s too invested in the wrong thing: me.