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“With a client downtown.”
“All day?”
Sweat gathers on my palms as I nod. He rarely ever asks where I’ve been as long as I bring him back the money. “Yes, sir.”
“You talk to anyone else while you were there?”
My stomach knots as I try to think up the answer most likely to keep Parker safe. The answer most likely to keep Jack alive. “I-I’m not sure. Some people came by.”
“You talk to anyone about me?” Tony presses. “Because someone’s been searching for you online since last night.”
It shouldn’t surprise me that Tony is tracking my information online, but it does a little. When Tony put this collar around my neck, I thought maybe I’d have a little bit of freedom, even if I was still in a cage. But I was clearly mistaken.
“It was just someone who came by while I was there,” I say. “He asked for my name, wanted to know who you were. I thought he was looking to set up a job with me. I didn’t tell him anything that can’t be found easily.”
Tony keeps staring at me, studying my face. I don’t look away from him even though I desperately want to. “He give you a name?”
“No, sir.” That’s not totally unbelievable. Lots of times, I don’t know anything about my clients. Even their names. They like it that way.
Tony steps forward and grabs my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “With the search terms whoever it is was using, they weren’t looking to set up a job.”
Terror skitters down my spine, but I do my best to lock it away and keep my expression impassive. “I don’t know what they were looking for.”
“Hmm.” He releases my chin. “Maybe they were looking for Jack. Maybe I can help them find him.”
“Tony, I—”
He pulls his hand back and slaps me hard across the face, effectively cutting off my apology. “I don’t fucking believe you,” he snarls. “What did you say to them?”
“I didn’t say anything, I swear.” My jaw is throbbing. He hits so much harder than Phil. It’s been a while since I’ve made him angry enough to smack me.
“I’ve obviously been giving you too much freedom,” Tony growls.
“No. No, I’m sorry—”
He grabs my chin to cut off my apology, his fingers digging in tight. “You’re not sorry.”
His gaze shifts to the men behind me, and I realize they’re my punishment. It doesn’t matter what I say, or how hard I try to convince him. He’s already decided.
So I keep my mouth shut. Fighting him will only result in Jack getting hurt. And if I survived those months alone when Tony was first training me when I was fifteen, I can survive anything.
***
I don’t leave Tony’s house for a week. He keeps me handcuffed to the bed and only lets me go when I swear I learned my lesson. Promise not to ever give someone too much information again.
When I finally leave his place, the sun is so bright to my eyes that I have to blink several times before I can even step outside. My body feels like one giant bruise, and all I want to do is find somewhere away from Tony so I can process everything.
But I don’t have that option.
Three days pass in a blur of clients. I’m pulled into cheap motel rooms and taken violently. And I’m invited inside lush hotel rooms where they whisper about how beautiful I am while they fuck me. Neither one matters.
The only thing I can force myself to care about is Parker. The bruises and blood on my body barely register in my mind. And every morning when Tony smirks when I bring him money, I’m barely embarrassed by the knowing look in his eye anymore.
I brought all of this on myself. I never should’ve gotten so carried away with Parker. Never should’ve let myself start to fall in love with him. I’d known it would end in nothing but pain, yet I kept going back to him. Because it was nice to be with someone who cared.
Still, I do my best to purge my mind of him the longer I’m away from him. This was probably for the best. A clean break. At least that’s what I tell myself as I stand on my usual street corner in the red-light district.
It doesn’t take long for a sleek black car to pull up to the curb and roll the window down.
