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Vanessa allowed exactly one ugly laugh to guffaw from the depths of her diaphragm. Like Erica, Vanessa knew what kind of price being an heiress held in their world.People want to hurt us from the time we’re born.In Vanessa’s case, she was targeted because of bad investment decisions her father made. Erica? The kind of crazy that infected her own misogynistic father who believed girls should not – and could not – inherit in a country that disagreed with him.
That was how they had met so long ago. Back when Erica passed as her dead brother Eric, because not even on her birth certificate had she been allowed her own identity. This was the same time when Vanessa was hiding out in one tightly secured compound after another because someone out there wanted her dead. When they met, sparks hadn’t flown, but they were drawn to each other because of the pain they felt in their closed-off hearts. Erica pined after women who didn’t know the real her, and Vanessa was afraid to let anyone know the real her.
Until Mitch, anyway. She had changed everything.
For years, Erica had been talking about turning her family’s country ranch, the same place where her brother died and her own life was turned upside down, into a retreat for women who needed a break from reality. A safe place for women of every income level, subsidized by her wealthy friends renting it for weddings, parties, and honeymoons. The renovations to turn it into Erica’s dream were waylaid by the pandemic and the halting of supply chains. This had suited Erica fine since she preferred to weather the worst of the lockdowns here with her wife Natalie. Even Mitch and Vanessa had joined them for weeks at a time, depending on what was going on in their own lives.
When Mitch had told her partner to focus on her friends for a while, Vanessa took it to heart. It had been way too long since she spent a decent amount of time with one of her oldest confidants, anyway.
Erica sank into the chair next to Vanessa’s.We must look the sight.Vanessa, with her mane of curls and fluttery dress, sitting next to a woman with hair shorter than Mitch’s and a pantsuit fitted to her angular body. Erica had passed for male for so much of her life that it had created a dysphoric experience in her mind. To the point that she still often preferred to dress in masculine clothes, even though she now had a closet of dresses to choose from as well.
“What else do you know about Candace Lister?” Vanessa asked to break the silence.
Erica was already prepared to refill her sparkling water. This time, she added a splash of gin. “Why are you asking me about her? Is she sniffing around you in San Francisco? That’s where I last heard she had taken root. I hear her family is originally from there, going back to great-grandpappy Lister who sold some of the first shovels to the gold panners.”
Vanessa knew better than to tell the whole story. She wasn’t even supposed to talk about how Mitch had been hired at Club Night, let alone as an undercover operative.
What shecouldtalk about? Publicly accessible information.
“She’s in my orbit. I wouldn’t call us friends…” Vanessa rubbed her brow as Erica sat back down beside her. “She has a fondness for Mitch. It doesn’t help that Mitch is playing right into it, as she is wont to do. You know how she is.”
Both of Erica’s brows shot up her forehead as she leaned back to drink. “She sure is. I still remember her antics at my bachelor party.”
“To be fair, I let her do that.”
“Sometimes I wonder how much you reallylether do, Vanessa. You’ve got one of the most stupidly self-confident submissive partners in America, let alone California.”
“All I’ve done is strip away the barriers she had erected around herself over the years. Probably for the best. I’ve introduced her to far safer environments to express her sexuality than what she would have found in college… or the military, for that matter.”
“Good God, don’t even go there.”
Although Erica was dead serious, Vanessa laughed.If only you knew what happened before your bachelor party…Erica was recently married to her wife Natalie in the past year, but it hadn’t gone without extensive planning, including multiple reschedules due to the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns. Yet the one thing the happy couple had agreed on was a no-holds-barred bachelorette party for them both on opposite sides of the country. While Erica stayed here on the west coast, Natalie and her friends flew to the east for a weekend of fun and debauchery. Vanessa and Mitch had attended Erica’s bachelor party – hell, Vanessa had planned most of it – but she had arranged a few things with Natalie before siccing Mitch on the person about to say their vows to the one person they claimed to love more than any other.
So Erica wasquite awareof what Mitch was capable of doing, both in the presence of her Mistress and on the other side of town. If Vanessa could trust anyone with this private information, it was Erica. Like Vanessa, she often dealt with her own secrets that were more locked down than a bank vault.
“I’ve met Candace a few times,” Erica said. “Always got a slightly ‘off’ vibe from her, so I haven’t attended many of her parties. Why do you ask?”
“It’s about her club in town. Club Night. Have you heard of it?”
“Yes. Might have received an invitation once. Have you gone?”
“Oh, yes. It’s quite the tiny thing in the Marina District. Underground. Very posh, but it’s meant for small, invitation-only parties that she doesn’t dare hold in her private dungeon at her house. I’ve been there, too.”
“Sounds exactly like your kind of party.”
Vanessa gazed into the flickering flames of the fireplace. “You’d think so, but like you, I’ve always had a strange feeling around her. I also don’t like the way she looks at Mitch. Some men and women covet my partner, and it doesn’t bother me half as much as Lister plotting something right in front of me.”
“I mean, I highly doubt your partner is the type to run off with another woman.”
“She would never.ThatI am confident about as well. That doesn’t mean Candace might not try, though. Especially if the rumors about her are true.”
“Rumors?”
“I’m sure you know the ones I speak of. If you dig into her at all, it’s obvious that she’s participating in a less-than-legal enterprise that leaves many unhappy victims behind.”
Vanessa played with some of the fire flickering right before her. No, it wasn’t common knowledge that Candace was in underground sex trafficking. The only reason Vanessa was so aware of it was because of the FBI’s allegations and Mitch more or less confirming what she saw behind the scenes at Club Night.While we gather enough evidence to ensure she’s put away for a long time, more women are getting hurt.That was what kept Mitch up at night and had started affecting Vanessa’s sleep as well. Which was why she didn’t care for what Erica implied next.
“I’m guessing there’s a big difference between what she’s doing and what you do.”
