AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I have the terrible feeling it might be Stef, and the guilt gnaws at my stomach.
“Look,” I say, desperately trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. “You can use this to your advantage. You obviously know about Victor Corvi in Benton City. He wants me. You could trade me to him.” Would that make the situation even worse? I don’t even know anymore.
“That’s cute,” Slayer says. “But what kind of man do you take me for? I’d never trade a woman for favors.” He glances up at the clock. “If you aren’t going to give me your report, we can just cut this interview short.”
“I’ll tell,” I say wildly, scrambling to my feet before he can catch me. “I’ll tell everyone if you drag me back there. I’ll tell them all you’re a cop.”
His eyebrows rise. “O… kay? Then what?”
“Mobsters don’t like cops,” I say, much more weakly, as I look at the door. He gets up as well, blocking my path.
“And what mobsters are you going to tell? Giulio? Damien?” He laughs at me.
The despair that’s been threatening to overwhelm me since the moment I sawDetective Ryan Grahammakes my shoulders slump.
“You think the girls would care? They don’t trust cops any more than they trust any of the guys. They already hate me,” he says, grinning widely at that. “Maybe it would be fun if they knew I could arrest them at any given second. Maybe give some favors to my friends on the force.”
Slayer sets the clipboard and pen down and shoves the handcuffs into his back pocket.
“Come on. Giulio and Damien are waiting for you.”
He expects me to just go quietly. I can see that much. And there’s a part of me that knows I should. I don’t want to make things worse for everyone else… for Stef. But if I can help them, if I can expose Slayer for what he is, maybe I can change something.
He ushers me toward the door, like he’s a polite gentleman escorting a lady, but the hand on the small of my back is a silent threat.
“I’ll shout,” I say weakly. “The… the other cops here…”
“Do you want me to throw you in a jail cell? I think Davidson is on staff right now, and he loves giving girls cavity searches.” Slayer laughs. “Maybe that’s something we could roleplay next.”
“Not everyone here can be corrupt,” I protest, but I’m starting to wonder. “Someone will listen and look into it. There was that undercover cop at Ntimacy, and you didn’t even know he was going to be there. Someone tipped him off.”
His expression darkens, and he glowers at me. “You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about that,” he says flatly. “But I can tell you for a fact that not one person here is going to believe a whore over a respected detective.”
“But—”
“I’m done with this conversation,” he cuts me off, and this time he grabs my wrist to pull me toward the door. He unlocks it. “I really hope you aren’t stupid enough to try to run your mouth, Vanessa. Because Giulio’s already pissed off enough at you, and you really don’t want to make this worse for yourself. Or Stef.”
I stare at him. “No. No, I’ll behave. How…”
“Yeah, you think I wouldn’t know about that? Giulio’s got a buyer lined up for her if you don’t cooperate. Guess I should’ve just told you that from the beginning. Would’ve saved us both a lot of time, but I didn’t really think you’d care more about someone else than yourself. That’s really sweet. A good quality in a mother-to-be. Now shut the fuck up and let me take you home.” Slayer unlocks the door and pushes it open, nudging me out ahead of him.
At least I know Stef is safe, at least for now. But that means I can’t even try to get out of this. I can’t even speak up because I don’t know who can be trusted or who will make everything that much worse.
“Hey, Davidson! I’m gonna go check out this lady’s story,” he calls out to one of the uniformed officers on the floor. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Davidson looks me up and down, and his smirk tells me everything I need to know. He’s no ally of mine, and I can’t risk trying to speak up to the wrong person.
I can’t risk Stef being sold to someone far worse than Giulio because of my mistakes. As it is, I’m going to have to begratefulhe didn’t just do it.
“Yeah, sure,” Davidson replies. “We’ll hold your phone calls.” He smirks at Slayer, like he knows what’s going to happen.
And who knows? He might.
I have to choke back the urge to sob.
Slayer leads me through the room, passing the receptionist without a word. The man doesn’t even look up at me, obviously not caring about the idea of human trafficking, especially now that their detective is on the case. If he ever cared at all.
When we’re out in the open, I think about running. There are civilians around. Witnesses. He can’t hurt me in front of normal citizens.
