Page 22 of Deliverance

Sonya shrugged. "You know, like how much of a witch she is and shit like that."

"I thought you liked living here?" I took a bite of spaghetti.

"Why would you think that?" Liz asked.

"Emily said that it wasn't that bad," I clarified.

The girls looked at Emily. "I just meant that if you do as you're told, you'll be okay. We get food, clothes, and a roof over our heads. Sometimes our clients bring us gifts like books, candy, flowers. It's just not all bad."

"Except we have to sleep with strangers," I pointed out.

"That's the shitty part," Ronda said.

"It's all shitty," Tamara snapped. "We were fucking kidnapped, held in cages, and now brought here to be sex slaves. How is it not all shitty?"

"Because we'd rather live here than be sold like the others," Emily stated. "There's no telling if those girls are even alive."

"Or Lana," I muttered.

All eyes turned on me.

"What do you mean?" Liz questioned.

I snorted. "You think she just moved out?"

There was a moment of silence before Emily leaned forward and lowered her voice. "We think David got her out."

I balked. "What do you mean? Who's David?"

"David is one of the guards, and Lana was sleeping with him on the side. She talked about him rescuing her and running off to Mexico or something."

The clicking of Madam's heels sounded down the stairs, so we all shut our mouths and continued to eat. "I see you're all getting along nicely."

Chapter Nine

Ric

I still didn't sleep well. How could I? I wasn't certain I would ever sleep again. Frank undoubtedly slept like a baby even though he'd killed two people and trafficked almost fifty women—that I knew of.

He didn't tell me what time I should be at the penthouse, so I made sure to get there by eight. I walked through the lobby, nodding at the doorman sitting at a desk, and walked to the solo elevator. I had no keycard to get up, so I used the buzzer. To my surprise, the elevator opened without me telling them who I was, but when I got up to the penthouse, I realized why. It was the same guard as the day before, and the intercom had a one-way monitor.

"Sir," the guard greeted.

I stuck out my hand. "Ricardo."

"Bobby." I took a step further inside, and he said, "Madam is still sleeping."

"Okay. Should I sit and wait?"

Bobby blinked. "It's up to you. Madam told me you're head of security now."

"Right."

"Great. Nice to meet you."

"How long have you worked here?" I looked around, noting the black domed cameras in the room.

"About a year," he confirmed. "My brother works the streets."