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She looked at the time. It was a little after nine, so after ten in Oklahoma. Too late to call. But then she heard Tricia’s and Anthony’s raucous laughter in the living room, and she dialed the number. She held her breath until a woman’s soft voice answered.
CHAPTER 48
RAE
2024
Thursday brought another hellacious heat wave, something that used to be uncommon for May in Oklahoma, but now it seemed like the norm. Rae finished her long day of clients and sat in her car blasting the A/C, happy she’d been too busy before to think much about the decision she’d made.
After thinking it over, Rae had called Dayton that morning to tell him no on his idea. It was too risky, and she’d already gambled a lot when she went to the party with him. She had to think about Lily and Angel and how everything could affect them. All she could do was trust Dayton to abide by her decision and not send the footage to the media.
Lily got a ride after school with a friend, so she was already home eating a snack in front of the TV when Rae arrived.
“Hey, Mom.” Lily’s face appeared worried.
“Hi, honey. Everything okay?” God, she hoped it wasn’t another viral TikTok about her.
“I don’t know. Something weird happened today at school during lunch.”
Rae set her things down in the entryway and sat next to Lily on the couch. “What happened?”
“Well, my friends and I were all outside eating in the courtyard, the one by the student parking, and this lady came up to us and said I could make a lot of money by modeling at some fancy party.”
Rae’s blood turned cold. She tried to keep her voice level because she didn’t want to freak out her daughter. “So, she wasn’t a student?”
“No. She was young, though, and really pretty, and my friends thought she maybe worked for a modeling agency, but something about her was ... off.”
“In what way?” Rae said, uneasiness worming into her stomach.
“I don’t really know how to describe it. She just kept staring at me all creepy and said I was exactly who they were looking for. Then she gave me this.” Lily handed Rae a card with a phone number handwritten across it. “She said to call if I was interested. I was the only one she gave a card to.”
“You didn’t call, right?”
“No,” Lily said, her eyes wide.
“Good. Can you describe what she looked like?”
“I took a pic of her when she wasn’t looking. I was pretending to check my phone.”
She handed Rae her cell phone, and Rae had to fight to stay calm. The woman in the photo looked like the submissive Rae had whipped at the Coulter mansion’s party. She felt a bit of relief that the woman wasn’t dead.
“Will you send this photo to me, honey?”
“Yeah.”
“And if you see her again, don’t talk to her and call me right away.”
“Okay, but you’re scaring me,” Lily said, her chin doing the trembling thing she did when she was upset.
“No, it’s okay. You did the right thing by telling me. I only want you to stay aware. Not everyone has good intentions, even if they’re a young, pretty woman.” Rae hugged her tight. “Now no more snacks. I’m making dinner in a bit.”
Rae went to her office and shut the door. With shaking hands, she looked at the photo Lily had texted to her. Petite brunette with a dancer’s figure. Yes, it was definitely the sub. She had no doubts. She looked at the card in her hand. There was no way it was a coincidence the woman gave the number to Lily.
Before she could think it through too much, she called it.
The dial tone was odd, and she thought about hanging up, but someone answered.
“Hello, Echo.”
