Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 102184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“When we got to the hotel, Ginger said she was too upset to go inside. Said something happened at work. So, Derek and I took her back to her car in the Club Greed parking lot.”
Kurt looks at me with what I like to call “honest eyes.” This man has a way about him that makes you believe every word he has to say. Besides, why would he lie about his father? This information could bury his father’s career.
Ledger and Roman both stare at me and I nod. “I know why she was upset that night.” I hate things turned out the way they did. Maybe if I hadn’t upset her she would have gone to the senator’s place and would still be alive.
I can’t think like that.
The world is full of what if’s and if I only, and I can’t let them control me.
“I don’t know where Ginger went after we dropped her off,” Kurt says. “She sounded like she wanted to go home, so I figured she did.”
“What time did you drop her off at her car?” I ask.
“Probably close to one in the morning.” Kurt stands like there’s nothing else to add to the story.
When I question him about who is running this ring, he’s clueless. I believe him. And I believe him when he says he found out about it through Ginger. We thank him, letting him know we won’t breathe a word about the involvement of his father with the Greedy Girls.
“What do you think?” Roman asks once we’re all in his SUV and driving back to the club.
“I think I want to know who’s running a prostitution ring out of my fucking club.”
“Are you going to call the number?” Ledger asks from the backseat.
“Fuck yeah, I am. I just don’t know what I’m going to say yet.”
“Yeah, I get it, man, but it needs to be done. For all you know, there’s a ton of illegal shit going on in your club,” Ledger says.
“That might be true.”
Roman pulls up to the club, and we head inside, going straight to my office.
The club’s packed tonight, and I didn’t see Swan when we came in, but I know she’s here.
I walk to my bar and pour myself more whiskey. The amount at Kurt’s just wasn’t enough. I grab the glass and sit behind my desk, staring at the phone on my desk. “Here goes nothing,” I say before I dial the number on the card. The line beeps and then a recording plays, saying the line is no longer valid. I hang up. “Dead line,” I say.
“Probably with everything going on, they’ve shut the line down,” Roman says.
“I don’t know.” This all makes zero sense. “It’s obviously someone who works here.”
“Why do you say that?” Ledger asks.
“Because it’s the best place to control the girls.”
Roman runs his fingertip over his lips, thinking. “Wonder if some girls wanted out? Maybe Ginger ditching the senator upset whoever is behind all of this shit, and he killed her.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” I say again, my head is all over the place, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. I stand. “I’m heading downstairs to make sure everything’s running smoothly.” I have to escape my thoughts.
And I can’t avoid Swan all night.
“I saw she’s here tonight,” Roman says with a smirk.
“Who?”
Ledger and Roman share a look. “Swan,” Ledger says. “We know, man.”
I move to the door, not bothering to look at them as I leave. “There’s nothing to know,” I say before I hightail it out of my office.
I move through the club on autopilot, thinking over the past few days. The past few weeks. The mess that my life has become.
Last month, I was on top of the world. Not a fuck to give. I was relatively content.
Now, I’m anything but those things.
Whoever’s killing the girls of my club has ruined any chance of that. The worst part is not knowing if more will die.
I stare at Swan across the tiled floor. I’m entranced by the way she floats through the area, smiling at customers, brushing an arm against a patron at the bar while he says something to her. She’s hypnotic, the way her head cocks back when she laughs, blonde hair tumbling down her back.
What I wouldn’t give for one night with her.
One fucking night.
“She’d make a great Greedy Girl,” Adele says, coming up beside me.
“No, she wouldn’t.” I turn to face her, staring into her blue eyes. “I don’t want her becoming one of them.”
Adele gives me a speculative glance. “Why not? The men of the club love her.”
“That’s the problem.”
It’s selfish of me to keep Swan all to myself, but the thought of any other man in this club looking at her—touching her, kissing her soft skin—makes the violent part of me surface. I won’t let her become a Greedy Girl. I just won’t.