Page 40 of Taking Adalisa

He smiles. “You know me too well.”

“You insult me by thinking that I don’t.”

We fall into silence for a few moments before Ren and Jason walk into the room.

“Have the girls given you any trouble?” Ethan inquires.

I look at Jason, studying his face to see if he is going to tell us the truth. Ethan trusts him and has known him for years, but this is unlike Jason to wait several days to give a report about the girls. This time is critical, which he knows.

“Just the usual couple of girls who haven’t been in long. They’ll soon figure out they don’t need to act out,” he replies.

“And you couldn’t have come to me with that information yesterday?” Ethan asks.

“Yeah, Jason. Tell him why you couldn’t have come yesterday or the day before,” Ren chuckles.

I look between the two. What has been going on? Why is Ren laughing and pushing Jason to the wolf?

Jason glares at Ren before turning to Ethan. “I got carried away.”

I whistle. Oh, that is not going to fly with Ethan. Ethan likes to know everything that is going on with his operations. He likes to be in the know and be in control of everything.

“Doing what exactly?” Ethan asks.

Jason’s cheeks go red. “With one of the women who came in the shipment.”

My eyebrows lift as I look at him. He has taken an interest in one of them women?

“How?”

“She knew my sister, and we hit it off. We talked about my sister,” Jason says quietly.

“That’s not the only thing you talked about,” Ren chimes in.

“You were there?” Ethan asks.

“Not the whole time, but toward the end, I was. Our boy has found somebody he is interested in. The girl is interested in him. Pretty, too. If she doesn’t go for him, I might go for her,” Ren teases.

“Don’t fucking talk about her like that! She’s a human being! Show her some respect! Over my dead body are you getting with her!” Jason roars.

Ethan whistles and shakes his head. Jason is definitely more interested in this girl than he is letting on. By that reaction, he isreallyinterested in her.

“See, he likes her.” Ren shrugs and laughs.

“Have you put her in a different room to the others?” Ethan asks.

Silence fills the room as we all think about what happened years ago. Poor Bellamy.

“Not yet. I haven’t asked her whether she would like that,” Jason replies.

“I know I can’t stop you, and I’m not going to. But just be careful. We don’t know how long she has been trafficked. Just be careful,” Ethan tells him.

I hope Jason knows what he is doing. I don’t want him to go through the same thing Bellamy did all those years ago. He hasn’t been the same since, and I don’t think he’s ever going to be okay.

“I know. You don’t have to preach to me. I was there when Bellamy found her body.” Jason waves his hand in the air. “I’m going to check in with her daily because I don’t want that to happen.”

I hope it doesn’t for his sake. We don’t need him retreating into himself.

I still can’t stop thinkingabout Jason finding his girl. We don’t know how long she was trafficked for and how much mental damage has been done.

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