Maisy told me a friend of hers went missing from a club near Nashville. She wants to go in and find out if she was trafficked or what happened to her. She said she owes her that. I didn’t want her to go into that alone, so we’re going together. Her new uncle’s motorcycle club, the one he hacks for, helped get us jobs at the club. The club owner even offered to arrange a place for us to stay. I don’t like it, but we’re doing it.
Maisy’s Uncle Fury isn’t happy either, but she was going to do it without our help, so onward we go. Fury wanted to get us a place and set us up with the motorcycle club there, but we don’t want to involve more people than necessary. We are heading to Nashville, Tennessee. I’ll be bartending at the club, and Maisy will be a server. Fury’s MC set us up with backgrounds. We’re using our real first names but alias last names, and we’re pretending to be sisters.
When we finally climb into the truck that Maisy acquired from her uncle, we set off to drive across the country. I’ve traveled a bit with my family, but nothing like this. We have five days to get there and already picked out a few places we want to stop and check out. It will be like a mini vacation before we dive into our investigation.
I’m glad I’m still with Maisy. I always say I don’t need anyone, but I’m finding I have to ask for help once in a while. When my counselor asked me what I wanted for my future, I was honest with her.
I want to see my family. I’d like to get married someday and have a normal relationship with a man. I’m not sure I want children, though. I figure with the right man, he’d understand and not pressure me. It’s a fear of losing them like my father and brother lost me. Plus, I don’t know how good I’d be at being a parent. I struggle with anxiety attacks and hate being in crowds, unknown places, and the dark. I’m a twenty-four-year-old woman who is scared to go to sleep in the dark.
Gurgi nudges his head over the back seat and lays it on my shoulder as if he knows I’m deep in my head. He has the whole backseat of the crew cab after we folded up the seats.
I pat his head, then turn to wave at some of the club members I’ve grown close to. I hate leaving them, but I know the longer I stay, the closer I put them to danger. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to any of them because of me.
“Ready?” Maisy asks, and I turn to look at her with a soft smile on my face.
“As I’ll ever be.”
After five days on the road, we follow the GPS as it tells us to turn off the freeway. I’m not very keen on the area we’re heading into. As we pull into the apartment complex parking lot, I realize we might have been duped.
“Shoot, I knew I should have had Fury check this out for us. It sounded too good to be true,” I grumble. To keep our cover, though, we had to act like naive young girls. The good thing is Fury knows where we are and will come help if necessary.
“I can’t believe he lied to us like this. He already took our deposit.” Maisy gets upset.
We didn’t want to send the money without seeing it in person, but when we got the rental agreement, we knew it was partially legit. We are now signed to a six-month lease, and getting out of it is going to cause issues. This is all part of what we have to do. According to what Maisy found out about her friend, she did the same thing.
“We can do this with Gurgi. He won’t let anyone into the apartment.”
As we park, I see a dark-haired man in a suit step out of a car. What the hell did we get ourselves into? I recognize him from the pictures he sent me. He’s maybe in his late twenties, with wavy hair slicked back. He has a mustache that can only be described as a porn stache.
I climb out and open the back door for Gurgi. This man won’t try any funny business with my dog on guard. Maisy makes her way around the truck, and the man eyes her up and down. He dismissed me as soon as he saw her. I know that look. It’s predatory. He’ll do anything to get her.
“You must be Mr. Diego,” I say.
“What do you call that? A bear? And yes, I’m Armond Diego.” He points at Gurgi.
“He’s my dog.” I pause for only a moment. “I think there’s been a mistake. You told us this was a nice neighborhood.” I wave my hand around.
“This is a good neighborhood. Walk a block that way and it isn’t.” Armond laughs at me.
“I have a feeling your club isn’t the kind of place we would normally work at.” I don’t want him to know we’re on to him. He manipulates young girls by promising them jobs at his hopping club, and they don’t realize it’s a strip club. Thank goodness we were prepared for this. We need to find out what happened to Syndall.
“Too late. You can’t get out of the lease. You owe me at least six months.” He still hasn’t taken his eyes off Maisy.
“I don’t want to work in whatever club you own.” I play up our surprise.
He steps toward me, and Gurgi steps between us, growling.
“Get control of your beast. You signed contracts. You’ll work for me, or I’ll make you both sorry.”
Maisy reaches out and touches my arm. She leans in close. “It’s only six months. We can do that for a short time until we find something better.” She’s acting, but I can see the fear in her.
When she found me, she was just out searching for someone to save, and it so happened to be me that night. But this is way different. Neither of us have done this before. I’ve helped with a couple of rescues back in Fairbanks, but never undercover like we are now. Have we gotten in over our heads?
I turn to look at her. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine. Six months.” I turn back to Armond and reach for the keys he’s holding out to me.