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He breathed deeply while he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to process his frustration all the way down to his bones. He glanced at my gun again before he reached into his pocket and withdrew a ring of keys. He threw it at me. “You’d better be right about the money. Because if you’re not, someone’s gonna make you pay for it.”
I went to the first cage and unlocked the door. Inside was a blond woman. She was up against the wall with her arms over her chest, and instead of looking at me like her captor or savior, she just stared like she didn’t know what to do. “You’re the guy who was here a few weeks ago…”
I opened the door. “You’re free to go.”
She didn’t sprint out of there the way Catalina had She stayed in her spot, like it was home to her because she’d been there so long. “You rescued that other girl. She told you to come back for us, didn’t she?”
Yes, Catalina was the only reason these women would go free. I had the muscle to get it done, but she was the one who had the heart to make it happen. I wasn’t the hero. She was. “Yes.”
Eight
Catalina
Once my face had improved enough, I started to go out again. My makeup successfully masked the bruising, so my injuries weren’t visible under the stage lights. Sometimes people asked if there was something wrong, as if they definitely noticed the discoloration around my eyes, but I always said it was a side effect from having the flu.
The girls asked me to go out a few times, but I always said no. I knew I shouldn’t be afraid to live my life, especially after Heath told me nothing like that would ever happen again, but it was just too soon.
I wished I could explain that to my friends.
After being alone in my apartment for a few weeks, I felt more comfortable in my home. My new door was good enough to protect a bank with a vault full of money, and my alarm system was always on, whether I was at work or at home. It gave me the peace of mind I needed so I wouldn’t have to search for another apartment. That was a blessing because I really couldn’t afford much else. My lease had rent control, so until I could afford another place, I was staying put. But that seemed unlikely because I would never make much as a dancer.
Heath’s money got me by so I wouldn’t have to stress about my bills and necessities. It was more than enough for anything I could possibly need, and I hated enjoying all that the cash provided. It did make me feel better, made me grateful he gave it to me. I never took charity from anybody, always stood on my own two feet. My father had offered me money many times, but I always declined. Damien had offered to buy me an apartment that was much nicer than what I had, but I declined that too.
But I held on to Heath’s money. I told myself he didn’t need it, that if he went to every underground organization and collected bags stuffed with cash, he probably had more money than I could even understand. He was probably richer than Damien and Hades combined. He probably found this cash at the bottom of a drawer somewhere.
As weeks passed, I improved enough that I didn’t need makeup at all. My face started to fade back to its original color, olive-toned skin with a slight fairness. All the swelling had gone down, and the darkness around my eyes vanished. Now, I started to look like me again.
Feel like me again.
I wanted to know if Heath had done what I asked, and I considered calling him a few times to check if those girls were free, but I also didn’t want to talk to him again…because I knew what would happen. Now that I’d had space from him, it gave me the opportunity to remember why I’d turned him down in the first place, to remember what was important to me. Even if we just had a short-term fling that lasted a few weeks, it was still a bad decision. That was why I didn’t call, why I had to trust that he’d fulfilled his promise.
“You seem different.” Anna looked at me across the table. She grabbed the folder with her bill at the edge of the table and slipped her card inside.
I’d blanked out for a second, so I hadn’t been paying attention to the last fifteen seconds of our conversation. I picked up my bill and used the money Heath gave me to pay for it. “In what way?”
“I don’t know…more serious?”
It’d been a month since I’d been down in that basement. It was a traumatic experience, being taken from my bed in the middle of the night and placed in a dirty cell. Waking up completely naked was the worst part, knowing someone stripped off all my clothes when I wasn’t even aware of what was going on. Then that bastard stepped into my cage and beat me senseless. My bruises had healed, so I shouldn’t let my emotional scars mark me forever. I needed to carry on, continue to be me. When that man had assaulted me in the bathroom, I’d told myself it was meant to happen because I could handle myself. That attitude changed once I was in the basement. But now, when I looked back on it, I wondered if my first instinct was right. Because if it hadn’t, those girls wouldn’t be free.
