Page 155 of Beautifully Ruined

“I guess I want to know about the training center, what it takes to get a job. I…” I hesitate not even a full beat of my heart. “Do you think it’s possible Gianna’s there?”

Macy frowns. “This isn’t some conspiracy place. Everything seems to be on the up and up, but…”

A dark light comes to her eyes.

“But?” I prod.

“There are areas I don’t have access to. Like any place. Just like in the club itself there are parts, on the lowest levels, like some of the private rooms, I don’t have access to. I’ve never been. I—I don’t do that stuff. I like certain things, being treated like a wanted object, but if I want someone, then I’ll do something. You know? I’m not forced.”

“You’re not? Do you think some people are?” I ask, still trying to keep it on the curiosity got the better of me side of things. “You said there are places you can’t get into or don’t have access to.”

“No, I don’t think anyone’s forced. There are some girls there who—” She stops, biting her lip, and then she leans forward. “Some who got out of the whole being traded thing. Human trafficking? Which is disgusting, but they’re the super-hot ones, and some of them now are Dommes. Some like the lifestyle and they like to earn money. If you want a sugar daddy then it’s totally the place to go and find one. But they don’t sleep there. They have homes. I know they do.”

I nod and sip my drink because I don’t think she’s done.

“You know I can’t wrap my head around Gianna still being alive. She’s been gone so long, and what would someone be doing with her? And I can’t believe she’d be so close, under my nose basically, without me noticing something. Without anyone.”

She finishes her wine and signals to the waitress for another.

When it arrives, she continues. “Why are you so convinced she’s alive, anyway?”

Her eyes are glossy with unshed tears, and her lip trembles a little.

“You were friends, right?”

“I want her to be alive, but there’s no way she’d be here, so close, and I wouldn’t know.”

“My…the guy I’ve been seeing got into some bad shit,” I say, trying desperately to keep it vague so Cade isn’t backed into a corner if she tells Thomas. He could easily get out of this. I’m not saying anything. “And I was kidnapped and…”

I stop. I’ll protect Cade, I won’t say it was over Isaac, or anything like that but the rest? I don’t think I’ll get honesty from her or trust unless I’m completely honest.

“I was put in a cell. It’s the only way to describe it. I was scared, and the cell was empty except for a bed, like a cot. But it wasn’t the only one, and because I was yelling, when I stopped to breathe I…I heard someone on the other side of my cell wall. Another girl.

“She sounded lost and drugged, and she told me she’d been captive for so long. And I was taken from the cell to be used to make my guy do something for this Russian asshole. And…then the place was stormed. I don’t really know what happened, but when I made my rescuers go downstairs, she was gone. Just a hairclip, and… Macy?”

The other girl’s gaping at me.

“I had the hair tested. Gianna. She’s alive. But I don’t know for how long, and I don’t know where.”

“Why would she be at the center? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Because… Because I think Joseph Walsh might have something to do with this, and I think he knows Thomas.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t… Really? You really think that?” She sucks in air. “I mean, you think the congressman’s what? Trafficking his own daughter?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. But it seems to all point to the club. And he goes there, I know he does. What…what if he thought she’d bring shame on him, and he arranged this?”

“That’s demonic,” she hisses.

“Or human nature,” I shrug. “I’m not saying he’s behind it, he might not be. She might be alive to bait him. I don’t know. But I want to save her.”

For a moment, I think I’ve lost her. “Why do you care, Vi?”

“Because I spoke to her. I was scared witless, so god only knows what she’s feeling. And who knows what’s happened to her. Or what will. So, I have to try.”

Macy grips her wine glass. “But Joseph?”

“I don’t want to believe it, either.” I pick up a fry, take a bite, then wash that bite down with the wine. “I’m guessing he knows you work there?”