Page 202 of Caught in the Crossfire

“Drug the wine as soon as ya can,” Fallon said to all of us. “The pill we have will dissolve quickly, but it’ll be visible in the liquid until it does. We need them to drink a whole glass to knock them out.”

That was our plan to capture Arion Vokshi without creating a massive firefight and turf war. He’d be assigned to my room. I’d drug him and tie him up. Then, once the other girls had knocked out their buyers, the guys would come in and do their part. We’d turn over Arion Vokshi to the Camorra, and hopefully, get them to leave us the fuck alone.

“We’ll go two at a time,” Ximena said. “Two of us will go up to the second floor; one of us will bring a girl down. Then two more go up and bring another girl down. Try to mingle on the other side of the room from the staircase so we can keep attention away from the stairs.”

“I’ll go first,” Ludmila said.

“I’ll go with ya,” Fallon answered.

“The music and lights will change when they’re ready to bring you all down to the basement,” Justin said. “Look for Brian. He’ll lead you down there.” Justin took a deep breath and glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Okay. We have fifteen minutes. Everyone ready?”

We all nodded. My fingers brushed against the weapons strapped to my thigh, just out of sight of the slit on the dress. I saw Fallon do the same. Willow, Zoya, Ludmila, Ximena, Claire,and Penny all took deep breaths, and squeezed each other’s hands.

“Aye, let’s go,” Fallon said.

Justin led her and Ludmila out first. The rest of us waited until he came back, and then I went next with Willow. When we left the employee break room, we first walked through the main floor of the nightclub. I saw multiple poles with dancers, a floor full of gyrating bodies, and tables throughout the room. The lights were low and intimate, but I caught flashes of leather couches and booths in the flickering light show, which was matched to the beat of the music. It thumped in my chest, and while it looked so similar to Ryuji’s clubs, the vibe was different.

This felt predatory and exploitative, in a way that Ryu’s never did. This felt like the men here were only here to consume the women. As we walked up the stairs, I watched their faces and saw a desperate hunger.

When we reached the second floor landing, a silk curtain hanging from the ceiling met us. Justin pointed inside, and when Willow and I nodded, he gave us a thumbs up before descending back down the stairs.

Willow swallowed, and I squeezed her hand. Then, we both pushed through the silk and walked into the lion’s den.

If the below floor was all about sleek luxury, this was about privacy and intimacy. Silk hung from the ceiling in different areas, creating little private rooms. The music from the below dance floor was just a distant echo up here. Instead, there was softer, more relaxed music fit for a cocktail party. My eyes locked on Fallon and Ludmila speaking with two well-dressed men across the room, as planned.

In their red dresses, they stood out like beacons, and I understood instantly that this color was chosen with careful purpose. They were distinct from every other person in this room wearing black or white. Other girls wearing the same red dresses were scattered around the room, some more lucid than others. A fewlaughed hollowly, smiling tightly with the customers in front of them. Some were seated, struggling to keep their eyes open. Men crowded around them, grabbing their arms or legs.

My eyes scanned the room for Arion Vokshi, but I didn’t see him.

I straightened my back. “Let’s go,” I whispered as I pushed forward. “You get a girl, I’ll distract.”

“Got it.” She nodded toward the girl sitting on the closest leather couch, partially hidden behind a silk drape. Her head lolled back behind her, but a man sat next to her with his hand creeping inside the slit of her dress. “Her.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

I strolled through the room, feeling the gazes of multiple men brush uncomfortably across my body. Waitresses wearing black pants and a black shirt blended into the darkness of the room. They carried trays full of champagne, and the men ignored them unless they were plucking a glass from a tray. Instead, the men kept all their attention on us: the women wearing red dresses, the products on display.

Slowly, I walked over to the man next to Willow’s mark. My heart pounded in my chest, but I slid onto his lap and drew his attention to me. I had no idea who this man was, but as soon as his gaze locked on me, it left the poor girl practically passed out beside him. Willow helped her stand and walk away while I dragged my pointer finger under the man’s chin.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said. His hand came around my back, and he leaned forward to kiss me, but I turned my head with a laugh. By now I’d already drawn the attention of a few other men in the room. I stood, letting the giggle bubble up from my chest. Ximena said to act drugged, so I was going for theout-of-it-but-hopefully-a-good-timelook. The men followed me like little ducklings as I stumbled around.

I caught a glance of Penny and Claire angling toward another girl with eyes almost completely glazed over. Three men foughtover getting her onto their laps. I changed direction, and I pretended to trip over my heels into the back of one of them. He turned, upset at first, but his frown melted away into a predatory smile when he saw me giggling up at him. With their attention on me, Penny could distract another, so Claire could usher the drugged girl away.

I did the same move three more times, flitting about the room, trying to draw the attention away from the staircase, where the rest of my girls were escorting the victims out one at a time. I still scanned for Armir Vokshi, but he was nowhere to be found. Anxiety churned in my chest. What if Vokshi never showed?

I did, however, see the MTA director, and he was one of the men caught under my spell. I laughed and fell into him, and his hands clasped my waist far harder than I liked. I had to pull myself free.

When I looked up again, the only women I saw in the room were my girls. I counted all eight of us, and we each had clusters of men around.

Ximena told us we were up for auction. This is where the men would scope out who they wanted, and then put bids in to spend the rest of the evening with us. The men who paid the highest would get moved to the rooms on the basement floor, where we’d be waiting for them. Fallon scoped out a businessman she wanted to blackmail, and I still searched for the absent Arion Vokshi.

Finally, the lights raised slightly before lowering entirely—which Ximena said was our signal to head to the waiting guards at the staircase. According to plan, Brian stood with one other guard, and they led us all away like sheep to the fucking slaughter. As we walked back down the staircase, my heart raced. If Arion Vokshi didn’t show, the plan was fucked.

Should I call it off? Should we take the survivors we’d rescued and come back again later?

At the base of the stairs, I was just about to give our abort signal to Fallon and Willow when I looked back over my shoulder, and finally spotted him. Arion Vokshi had appeared, dressed in a crisp tuxedo, while he greeted the men we’d just left behind.

Okay. We could do this. Brian and the other guard ushered us through the main floor, down another hallway, to a staircase leading down.