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46
SAVANNAH
"Savannah?"
Having scheduled to meet with Grainne Ledger for a preliminary interview tomorrow afternoon, my mind wasn't exactly where it should be.
I'd been trying for three years to get in with Grainne, so I was beyond excited over meeting with her.
And maybe she'd show me the sex club part of Queens of Heart without me having to ask Aidan...
"Savannah?"
"Yes?" I asked absently as I stroked Bupkis. The name was official now; she had a name tag and everything.
"It's me. Cassie."
I blinked. "Cassie? Oh, why are you whispering?"
"I-I need your help."
Not every woman daydreamed about meeting with Manhattan's Madam, but I wasn't every woman. And those daydreams were blown to smithereens at Cassie's words which triggered a waterfall of memories.
All those goddamn snapshots of her beaten up, the domestic violence charges never filed...
"Are you in danger?"
"I'm always in danger," she whispered. "But Harvey justleft. I-I know it's an imposition—"
"An imposition? Are you crazy? Cassie, I saw the state of those bruises on your face last week." I knew I had to be careful here. She couldn’t know I’d looked into her. "How can I help? Please, tell me."
"I'm tied to the bed. H-He didn't realize I had a spare cell phone tucked down the back of the mattress if he did this again."
Having been tied to the bed by my husband, but with a more pleasurable end in mind, it was somehow all the more obscene that she was being restrained there with a different intention.
I bit my lip and, though I already knew, demanded, "Where do you live?"
"I'm in New Jersey. Caldwell." She rattled off the rest of her address. "I know you're in Manhattan. God, I should never have called you. He just... He's really mad, Savvie." She started sobbing, and her sobs damn near broke my heart. "He’s so mad. So mad. I didn’t mean to smile at the delivery guy, I swear!"
Sucking in a breath, I rasped, "I know you didn’t, Cassie. I know you didn’t. This isn’t on you; it’s on him.
"I have friends in West Orange. They could get to you before me. Would you be okay with me calling them?"
"Please." She swallowed audibly. "He's going to kill me, Savvie. I know he is. I think that's why he went out."
"We should call the cops," I started, but her sobs increased.
"No! They don’t listen. He’ll say I’m sick again. They’ll lock me away. I can’t go back to that place—"
Horror filled me. Her husband had had her committed? Why wasn’t that in the notes Conor had sent to me? "Okay, I won’t call the cops, I promise."
"I don’t know who else to call, Savvie. I-I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
"You won't die, honey," I said fiercely as I jumped to my feet and I rushed over to the landline in the kitchen. "Stay on the line with me. Understood?"
"I will. I will."
Her whimpers sounded in my ear, and each one was like a nail in my coffin. My heart started racing as I dialed Conor's number.
