Page 28

Max

Cara pauses as she steps out of the car, and as she looks up at the building in front of us, I can tell she is second-guessing her decision to come here.

"Hey," I murmur to her, reaching over to give her hand a squeeze. "It’s alright. You don’t have to do this if you?—"

She steels herself, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I want to do it," she replies firmly.

And, with that, she makes her way towards the door where Maya is waiting for us.

This place is grim enough that her reaction would make sense even without all the baggage she happens to be carrying. This is the first time she has seen any of her father’s brothels up-close and personal.

Though we have already found new accommodations for most of the women, there are a few who remain as they wait for family or friends to come pick them up, and we’re stopping by to check on them and see if they have any more information to share with us about what remains of the Leone empire.

"Thought you guys were never going to make it," Maya remarks as she looks between us.

Cara stiffens at once, and I shoot my sister a look.

It’s not that I don’t understand where she is coming from with all of this, having her doubts about Cara, but the last thing we need is for her to feel unwelcome.

This is a big moment for her, coming here, contending face-to-face with everything that her father has done, and I am not going to let my sister’s second-guessing get in the way of that.

"Yeah, sorry, I held us up leaving," I tell Maya firmly, before Cara can jump in and make an excuse for it. I don’t want to give Maya anything else to blame Cara for, and God knows that she is looking for it right now.

"Mhm," Maya replies, as she steps aside to let us in. "Anyway. One of the girls wanted to talk with you, Max. Said she had information about one of the other brothels in the city..."

I nod to her, and Cara hangs back for a moment. I glance over at her, confused.

"I— I don’t think I should be here for that," she mutters.

I can tell she is freaking out at the thought of it. She might have a point, but that doesn’t mean that I am just going to leave her standing here, wondering if she should even have come at all.

"I think you should be," I reply, slipping my hand into hers. "Might make her feel more comfortable, knowing that there’s another woman there. Someone she can relate to."

Cara hesitates for another second, but then, with a nod, she agrees to come with me. We head through the long, gray corridors that lead to the room we have turned into a hub for the women still staying here.

None of them will even set foot in the rooms they worked in upstairs, and I can’t say I blame them. I checked them out myself to ensure there was no remaining evidence, and they were filthy, almost as though Lucio was intent on degrading them in any way he could.

A woman is sitting on the edge of a long bench, her hands clasped in her lap, her eyes downcast. She glances up as soon as she hears me drawing closer. I go to sit beside her, but she recoils at once, almost on instinct.

"I’m— I’m sorry," she blurts out. I shake my head.

"You have nothing to apologize for," I promise her. "My sister said you had some information you wanted to share with us?”

"Right, yes," she replies, fiddling with her long, bleached-out hair.

She looks to be around my age, but there is something both so vulnerable and so heavy about the way she holds herself—as though she has lived a million years and none at the same time.

"I was... I was speaking with one of the other girls.

Millie," she continues. "And she told me about this place on the other side of the city that was attached to a casino... I’m not sure what it was called, but a few of my regulars mentioned it to me. I think there might still be girls there, and I just couldn’t stand the thought of… "

Her words catch in her throat abruptly, and her hand flies to her mouth. I grimace. I wish there was more I could do, but I feel like any move I make will just throw her back into that dark place again.

And then, to my surprise, Cara pushes past me. She sinks down on her heels in front of the woman—not speaking, not moving to touch her, just being there with her. When the woman finally lifts her head again, she looks at Cara, and something in her seems to settle.

"What’s your name?" Cara asks her softly. The woman takes a deep, shuddering breath before she replies.

"Rose. Rosie."

"Rosie," Cara repeats. "You have to understand, you’re not responsible for anything that’s happened to any of the other women who were trapped here, or anywhere, for that matter. What you’re doing is amazing, telling us everything you know, but you don’t have to carry that weight. It’s not yours to carry."

She pauses for a moment, her jaw tightening. I can see a flash of realization crossing her face, but she quickly focuses back on Rosie.

"Trust me, I know how hard it is to believe that," she murmurs to her. "But it’s true."

Rosie sniffles slightly, still staring at Cara, as though she is trying to figure out just where this leaves her.

"You went through something similar?"

Cara hesitates for a moment. I know that she doesn’t want to equate what happened to her to the living hell these women were put through, but she does understand it, on some level, what it’s like to be pushed and pulled and forced to do what was demanded of you.

And besides, Rosie is looking for a thread of connection right now, anything to drag her out of that place she currently finds herself in.

She needs to know that there are other people out there who have been through something like her ordeal, and come out the other side alive.

"Yeah," she replies, with a nod. "Yeah, I did."

The two women smile at each other for a moment, and Cara reaches for her hands. She gives them a squeeze, and then rises wordlessly to her feet. Rosie takes another breath, then turns her attention to me.

"So, here’s everything I know about that place..."

She fills me in on all the details that she has picked up from her regulars over the years with complete clarity.

By the time she is done, I’m certain that my men will have no trouble tracking this place down.

I thank her, and we turn to leave, but I notice that Cara is shaking slightly as we head to the door.

I place my hand on the small of her back, and she stops.

"You alright?" I ask her. She presses her lips together for a second and closes her eyes, as though bringing herself back down to earth.

"Yeah," she replies. "Yeah, I... I’m fine."

"You did great back there," I murmur to her. She glances at me, clearly not entirely believing it.

"I just talked to her. After what she’s been through?—"

"You have no idea how important talking can be for these women," I cut her off. "They haven’t been spoken to like people in a long time. Even besides the information we get from them, it’s important for them to figure themselves out."

That seems to get through to her.

"I guess so," she mutters, and we continue towards the door. "Just hope that your sister is going to be able to forgive me one of these days, too..."

"Don’t pay any attention to her," I reply, waving my hand slightly. "She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She just likes to hold a grudge, trust me."

As we walk, she falls silent again, as though something has just crossed her mind.

"Didn’t you mention having another sister?"

I tense slightly. This is really not the thing that I want to be talking about right now. Everything that happened with Melinda is in the past. It has to be, or I know it’s going to drive us all even more crazy than it already has.

"I’ll tell you about her some other time," I promise her.

She takes my hand, and I can tell that she’s still curious—still wants to get to the bottom of this, whatever is going on inside my head.

But she is willing to wait. At least she seems to realize that we have time now.

With her father gone, we are not running against the clock.

We’re finally able to relax and focus on just being a couple.

Even if I know I’ve got a whole stack of baggage left for my family to unravel yet.

We reach the door, and Maya is still standing there, almost like she’s on lookout.

No doubt she just wanted to keep her distance from Cara, as she tries to figure out whether she likes her or not.

When I say that Maya loves to hold a grudge, I mean I’d list it among her most notable attributes, and Cara is a Leone, even after turning her dad in to us.

Cara makes her way to the car and Maya catches my arm before I can follow her. I glance around to look at my sister, eyebrows raised.

"What is it?”

"What was she talking to Rosie about back there?”

"You saw that?”

She deflates slightly.

"I followed you in," she admits. "I wanted to see what she was doing up there."

"What she was doing?” I hiss back. "You think she’s going to hurt them or something?”

She glares back at me. She doesn’t have to say what is truly on her mind, I can tell, as much as it pisses me off.

"What was she saying?”

"She was helping her," I reply bluntly. "Told her not to blame herself for everything that happened."

Maya’s face softens for a moment. She throws this sharp exterior out there, but the truth is, beneath it all, there is a girl who worries about the people closest to her, and that includes me.

"She’s treating you well?”

I press my lips together to contain a smirk.

"Oh, yeah. She’s treating me well."

"Oh, shut up," she exclaims, pushing me slightly.

I laugh, leaning against the doorframe. "You going to let me go now?”

"I guess so. You coming to Dad’s this weekend for dinner?”

"I sure am."

My father had insisted on all of us getting together to celebrate our recent victory, though I got the feeling that there was also something of a plan to scope out Cara at the same time, too.

My father had been insistent on his acceptance of her, but he still wants to see how she’s going to fit into the family.

Though, of course, only I know that she is going to be a part of the family like never before after that night. I haven’t even told my sister about it. Call me selfish, but I want to see the looks on everyone’s faces when it happens—especially Cara’s.

"See you then."

Maya leans up to give me a quick hug and I return it; afterwards, I make my way over to the car. Cara is leaning against the door, and her face lights up as I get closer.

"You ready to go home?" she asks, and I nod, pulling the door open for her. She climbs inside, the scent of her hair filling the air for a moment.

"Yeah," I reply. "Ready to get home, Cara."