Page 85 of Sapphire Storm

“Who wrote it?” Ethan asked. “You or her?”

The question brought a sudden silence down on them all.

“Who wrote the text?”

After an interminable silence, Hank said, “Her orders wereto make it a clean break. She left the wording up to me.”

“Jesus Christ, dude,” Donnie whispered.

“All right, look,” Hank barked. “None of us would be here ifyou hadn’t decided to engage in a little human trafficking back when you wereyoung and hot. And I just want to add that—”

Then suddenly Hank had gone abruptly silent and Rachel hadlet out a high, sharp cry. And that’s when Ethan realized he’d closed thedistance between him and Roman’s abductor and his fist had connected cleanlywith the man’s jaw, sending him stumbling backward into the edge of the picnictable. He skittered sideways then his ass landed on the bench hard enough tocreak the wood.

“That’s for making Roman cry,” Ethan growled.

There were a few seconds of dazed silence.

“So much for keeping things Orange County,” Donnie mumbled,but it sounded like there was admiration in his voice.

Hank heaved with pained breaths, rubbing his jaw. “You’rejust going to let him do that, Rachel?” Hank asked between coughs.

“Yes,” Rachel answered.

Donnie’s hand came to rest firmly on Ethan’s shoulder, nodoubt to avert a fight he thought was about to break out. Ethan held hisground, but not his tongue.

“Human trafficking?” Ethan shouted. “Really, asshole? Youand your rich boss kidnapped someone this morning. You strong-armed his phoneaway and you used blackmail to put him on a plane to the other side of the world,and you have the nerve to lecture me about what I did with my body and otherconsenting adults eighteen years ago when I was a grown man?”

Nobody said anything for a while. Donnie rubbed the spacebetween Ethan’s shoulder blades, but his own breaths suggested he was almost asangry as Ethan was.

“Look,” Hank finally croaked. “I’m not saying I support anyof this. I mean, it hasn’t been easy with her these last few years. She’s notexactly aging gracefully, okay? On the inside, anyway. She’s being forgotten,and it’s making her kinda nuts.”

Donnie cackled. “Well,we’llalways remember her,that’s for damn sure.”

Rachel said, “Go wait in the car please, Hank.”

“I can’t leave you out here with these—”

“Please go wait in the car.” Her tone was that of a wise andconfident princess who was uninterested in further discussion on the matter.

The three of them listened silently as Hank’s retreatingfootsteps crunched dirt and twigs. Once he was gone, Donnie said, “How much ofa threat is this really? I mean, Logan’s got three of my old models workingsecurity in his department.”

“Porn’s different,” Ethan said. “It’s legal. And it was aunique situation, Donnie. They were desperate for staff, so the bank looked theother way.”

“And they’ve been looking the other way ever since,” Donniesaid. “J.T, Brandon, Scott—they’re all still there. And their old vids are allonline for anyone to see. I mean, I don’t think Connor and Logan would fireyou.”

“The problem wouldn’t be them. It would be the bank thatmanages the trust that owns the hotel. If Connor and Logan don’t react, shecould send it to the press and then it’s a PR issue and the bank’s raisingobjections. Then guests raise objections. It starts with a few wedding couplesasking to work with a junior chef instead of me, then maybe it turns into awhole conference because they do some kind of activism that makes them opposed tosex work.”

“And then after a while it dies down because everyoneforgets,” Donnie said.

“Maybe,” Ethan said.

Rachel had her back to them now, arms crossed over herchest, staring out at the lake water glistening in the moonlight. “When Mom wastwelve,” she said softly, “her mom drove her to her agent’s house and left herthere. Forever. Never came back. He was a grown man, in his forties. But mostof his clients lived with him, and most of them were kids. It never would beallowed today, but it was a different time. The kids were always at eachother’s throats. That was his strategy, you see. Teach them how to compete.Teach them at a young age that in this business everyone’s out for themselves.”

Ethan tried to hide his impatience. “Clearly, we all haveour pasts, Rachel. I’m not really interested in—”

“I’m not trying to make you feel sorry for her, Ethan. Justlet me finish, please.”

Ethan gestured for her to continue.

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