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And now he saw the shrewdness in her gaze. He couldn’t blame her. Neighborhoods like Omonia weren’t easy to live in — and they were even harder to grow upin.
The girl had balls. He felt a hell of a lot better giving her money than people who remained loyal to someone who was obviously terrorizingthem.
He pulled a thick stack of bills from his pocket and divided it in half. He handed her one of thestacks.
“Tell me,” he said. “Then you get therest.”
She took the money and stuffed it into the pocket of her skirt. “My cousin works as dancer for him,” she said. “He is a bad man. A meanman.”
Dancer was code for stripper. Damian didn’t care or judge. People — and women in particular — had been doing what they had to do to survive for millennia. Any asshole who wanted to criticize a stripper instead of the men who paid to drool over them needed to check their moral outrage at thedoor.
“Where?” Damian asked. “Where is theclub?”
“It is called Skin,” she said. “You can findit.”
She held out her hand for moremoney.
“Not so fast,” he said. “Is he there? Stefano Anastos? When is the last time he wasseen?”
Her eyes flashed. “My cousin has bruise on her wrist last night,” shesaid.
“How do I know it was him?” Damian felt like a bastard pushing the issue, but he had toknow.
“Only Stefano gets to hurt his girls,” she said bitterly. “Is what hesays.”
Damian tried to suffocate the anger that sprang to life inside him. Watching his father abuse his mother hadn’t made Damian the most even-keeled person on thesubject.
He gave her the rest of the money. “Don’t tell anyone you talked to me.” He hesitated. “Wait a few days, then use this money to get out ofhere.”
He hated the warning in his voice. Hated that women still needed those kinds of warnings. That humanity hadn’t moved past exploitingthem.
But he knew what happened to girls who stayed in places like Omonia, knew what happened to people who got caught snitching on someone like StefanoAnastos.
She nodded and waved at the street beyond the alley. “Yougo.”
He sauntered casually out of the alley like he might have been in there taking a leak, then hurried for the SUV, hoping the girl would wait a few minutes before she exited the alley behindhim.
When he got to the car, he pulled out his phone and calledLocke.
“I have a tip,” he said. “I think it’sgood.”
