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“I’m fine.” I straighten my spine and roll my neck to release some of my tension. He comes to rest his butt on the desk next to me, crossing his impressive biceps over his impressive chest and looking down at me, unconvinced by my answer. I groan. “We’ve been speaking to the men all day and have come up with nothing.”
He looks forward, chewing around some thought and taking a big breath before exhaling it out slowly. “If they were travelling for so long, they could have crossed over territory lines, right?”
“It’s a distinct possibility.”
He looks back at me. “What would that mean exactly? What could we do if this was happening outside of Talon ground?”
I sigh. This has been plaguing me since I first learnt about what the girls have endured. “Nothing. I could do nothing. Like I said, we’re in an alliance with The Daos and I doubt very much that Preston would allow something like this in his territory. Even if it was, The Daos are the largest syndicate in the city and making an enemy of them would be suicide. The Tantos are disbanded, so if it was happening in that sector of the city, there’s more I could do but it means going up against an unknown adversary. And The Kukri, well, I have no friends there.”
“You’re scared of them.” It’s not a question, he saw me the other night at the benefit. He obviously felt my discomfort. My instinct is to snap at him, deny it and threaten him again, but I’m tired of hiding behind a veil of ice and anger and something whispers in the back of my mind to trust Harvey with the truth.
“Yes, I’m scared of him,” I admit, although I can’t look him in the eye when I do.
He crooks his finger and uses it to tilt my chin, forcing me to look at him. “We’ll figure it out,rainha. And when we do, no matter where this has been happening, we’ll do all we can to keep those girls protected and help anyone else who needs it. You’ll trust me to help you and I’ll follow you into the fire. Right?”
Shit, I want to kiss him. I want him to kiss me. My body is battling my mind, my heart waking after a lengthy slumber and I don’t understand it. My head is swimming and before I can get my head around a response, there’s a tap at the door. Harvey releases me and steps back to his place behind me.
“Enter.”
Diamond opens the door with a smile and leans on the door frame with her arms crossed. She’s wearing a skirt far shorter than most women her age would dare today, with a matching jacket in royal blue, a white shirt showing off her impressive boob job. “I’ve called the next lot, they’re on their way here.”
“Good.” I nod.
“You going to tell me what’s going on?” she asks.
“What do you mean?” I feign innocence.
Her dark brow arches. “You’ve told me to get all of your generals to come in today, not to accept any excuses, not to give them any information—not that I had any to give them— and they’ve all run out of here looking scared shitless. So, what’s going on?”
I sigh. I trust Diamond as much as Stuart or Lee, and she’s been with me from the beginning. When she had a brief affair with my father between husbands twenty years ago, she was always very nice to me. She was always the one who looked after me when my father brought me to the club as a child, and she’s been the closest thing I had to a mother since I last saw my own.Because of that, Diamond is probably the one person I should be talking to about this. “Come in, have a seat.”
Sensing something, Harvey steps up behind me and places a hand on my shoulder, squeezing slightly. The contact makes me flinch; a reassuring touch so foreign to me. “I’ll give you guys a minute,” he says before walking out and from the smirk Diamond gives him, I imagine he’s winked at her as he passes. My eyes roll.
Over the next ten minutes, I explain all about the girls, how we found them, what they told us, how they’ve been staying with me. Diamond’s colour drains and tears fill her eyes as I speak.
“Oh, Anni,” she sobs. “How awful.”
I nod. “That’s why I’m getting the men in, I need to know if this has been happening under my nose.”
“There are a couple dipshits in your ranks, but I can’t imagine any of them doing this, can you?”
My lips quirk up. “Dipshits?”
“Well, that Bradley Trent for one. You know he made a pass at me on his way in, like I didn’t know that he has a pregnant wife and a twenty-something-year-old on the side.”
I grimace. “Yes, well, I can’t disagree with you there.” I rub at my temples, feeling a headache building. “I’d like to think that my judgement was sound enough not to have the kind of people working for me who would run such an operation. Or who would know about something like that running in my territory and not report it to me. But with no real leads, I don’t know what to think.” A ball of emotion rises in my throat and makes me swallow a couple of time before I succumb to tears. I do not cry.
“Honey,” Diamond says gently, placing a hand on top of mine on the desk. “You’ll figure this out. I have every faith in you, you’re an extraordinary woman, and I haven’t seen you fail in anything. This will be no different.”
I look at where our hands touch. I usually discourage any physical contact from anyone but her warm palm against my knuckles is comforting, if not a little strange. I take the small amount of comfort it offers and use it to fuel myself to share more. “I’m sacred for those girls, Diamond.” She looks at me with kindness and concern, waiting patiently for me to explain. “They’ve come from unspeakable trauma and have only ever known disappointment and cruelty. They need nurturing and love, kindness and gentleness. That’s not me.” Unbidden and unexpected, a tear rolls down my cheek at the realisation that I am in fact alone and unable to provide basic human companionship. I bat the offending wetness away and sniff rather inelegantly. “I will find them somewhere else to go but I don’t know how long it’ll be until I find somewhere suitable. And until then, I don’t know how to give them what they need.”
“Sweet girl.” She smiles and I huff out a laugh.
“No one has ever called me sweet.”
“Oh, but you are. You’re absolutely right, Anni. What those girls have been through is terrible and unimaginable and they need extra consideration, patience, and understanding right now. Just the fact that you’re so worried about providing that for them tells me that you’re exactly the right person to be responsible for them right now.” She pats my hand offering me a bright smile. “You’ve got this, honey.”
Diamond leaves shortly after that to give me a moment to compose myself before I head out to find Harvey. I see him in the hall speaking to Den the barman, the two of them smiling easily and conversing as friends. Harvey is holding a large leather duffle bag and a plastic box. I approach them, frowning at the box resting on Harvey’s upturned palm.
