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Even beyond her obvious mask of friendliness and warmth, there’s a calculated sociopath under those eyes. I’m curious to find out if she knows that I’m on to her, but I doubt she would question her own abilities to consider it. Something I learned about sociopaths during my time with the documentary crew is that they always believe that they’re the smartest person in the room.
Sometimes, that delusion is all you need to get what you want.
But not today.
If I weren’t about to dive into the most dangerous role of my career to date, I would be interested in studying Amy. She strikes me as the kind of person who is so self-involved that she believes that she’s actually a good person due to her unwillingness to believe otherwise. I’m sure she’s pleasant with everybody she meets until they cross her. Then she’ll unleash an inhuman evil onto them.
As she continues to talk just to hear her own voice, I’m reminded of just how repugnant she is as a living being among her fellow humans.
Human trafficking?
The title itself is grotesque, rivaling some of the terms used in science fiction novels to represent the desolate hellscape that is life on earth. Despite how awful the name itself is, it doesn’t even begin to encompass how much horror goes on behind the scenes of such organizations. The fact that there are people evil enough to get rich off human suffering makes the rest of the world seem like a vast, dark wasteland.
“So! I’m going to take you down to the clinic so we can get some bloodwork done. After that, we’ll have it sent out to our doctor on staff for the day and have you started on treatments in no time at all!” Amy chirps, suspiciously excited to be getting a random woman off heroin. Even if she were being genuine about wanting to save my life, I wouldn’t trust her on the sole basis of how happy she is about it. Even your own family is going through the motions when they have you checked into a program. Not a single soul on earth is going to be as excited about you getting clean as you or your mother.
Whoever coached her did a bad job, and her façade is cracking the longer we interact. I think she’s starting to pick up on the fact that I’m sharper in the mind than someone who is constantly nodding off. I know for a fact that she meets a lot of addicts, so I should have studied their behaviors closer.
“Uh, are you sure? It’s pretty sudden. My mom is waiting for me at her house to pick up the kids,” I lie, hoping to save myself at least one extra day to prepare before I’m unwittingly tossed into the underworld of sex trafficking.
A tracker and a wire are starting to feel pretty insufficient for my safety.
She takes my hand from across the table, a disingenuous, overfamiliar gesture meant to mimic empathy from a close friend. She’s fucking up in closer intervals now, losing her persona as she realizes that she’s running out of time to get me locked up and shipped across the world.
“Melanie, you need to think about your kids now more than ever. What if today is your last chance to get clean? Could you look them in the eyes and tell them that you gave it up?” she asks, attempting to stare into my eyes meaningfully and failing. All she can manage is a wall-eyed, empty gaze.
I know she’s expecting me to cave now. I might lose the chance to prove Matteo’s innocence if I turn this down, and that’s what this was all for. What was the point of doing this if he’s going to get locked up, anyway? I need him here with me. I can’t give up what we had a month ago. I need to preserve every chance I get to keep him.
“Okay, let’s go,” I reply.
She squeals again, losing her composure as if she’s about to announce the gender of her baby at an ostentatious, masturbatory reveal party.
She takes me by the wrist, which sends chills down my spine and red flags up in my vision. She really can’t relax just for a few minutes to spare her performance from losing credibility?
I can’t get into contact with Matteo from in here. I just have to trust that he’s got his eyes on me like he said he would. I trust him more than anyone at this point. Not only does he need me to be okay to exonerate him, he needs me to be okay because hewantsme around. I don’t think he’s connected with someone like this in a long time, and he doesn’t want to risk losing it by allowing me to die a tragic, preventable death.
Since the restaurant is a few floors above ground, I’m forced to be in an elevator with Amy. Her falsely effervescent demeanor has shifted into a humorless, calculating brick wall of an aura.
Now I’m getting nervous.
17
Matteo
Ithink I might have underestimated just how big Vitale’s operation was to begin with.
I knew that Amy was his most trusted recruiter, but I had no idea that she had so much skin in the game. She’s trying to wash her money to avoid prison, both for tax fraud and human trafficking. She has a lot of stake in making sure that Vitale himself makes his money first, which means I’ve placed Iris right in the jaws of a cold-blooded killer.
If Amy is anything like any of the other people Vitale has worked with, she’s greedy as fuck and has come from a long line of equally greedy people. I’m not sure how Vitale managed to get into a room with her to begin with, but somehow he got her on his side. No wonder he has so much more money than I expected him to have. He needed her involvement unless he wanted to become flat broke because of his habits.
The scope of the mission has changed dramatically. I should have killed Vitale when I had the chance, and now I’m realizing that it’s my responsibility to keep Iris away from further harm. I had myself convinced that she was making informed choices as an adult, but there’s no way she knew what she was getting herself into. I intentionally misled her in order to get her to work for me, and now I might be responsible for her suffering.
I take a break outside to smoke a cigar and drink some coffee, watching the sun set on the horizon over the pool in my backyard.
As my gaze drifts down into the undulating orange glimmers of light across the water, all I can think about is seeing Iris’s beautiful body splayed out for me to enjoy. I had never seen a more natural, ethereal scene before then as the sun spread over her body like a blanket from the universe. I know she would have acted differently if she knew I was watching her, so the fact that I’ve seen her behave so intimately has stuck with me since the day it happened.
I knew I’d like her for her looks the minute I met her – that was no surprise to me. What I didn’t know is that she was going to sneak her way into my subconscious and stay there, weighing heavier on my mind every day until she’s become too loud to ignore. The way I feel about her might be undefined, complicated even. But right now, I just want her back.
If I get the chance to bring her back here unscathed and in one piece, I would hold her for hours in my bed while I stroke her hair. The idea of her being in danger makes me sick to my stomach and knowing that I’ve put her in this position to begin with makes it so much worse. There isn’t even a greater evil to blame here. It was all my selfishness and lack of foresight.
