Page 23 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

I sit on the edge of the bed.

He comes over and puts the phone in my hand. “The password isgreen. You staying in the Bronx or Manhattan or what?”

“W-why?”

“Answer the question.”

“Manhattan.”

“What’s your name?”

“Honey.”

“Real name.”

I hesitate a second before blurting out, “Edie.”

He gives me a hard look. Does he want my full name? He goes to another drawer and takes out a stack of money that looks like fifties. It’s a lot of money.

“Two weeks,” he says, setting it in my hands.

Shivers flow over me. I’m almost afraid to close my fingers around the stack. It’s thousands of dollars. So much.

“This is double your full-night rate and some extra. For the next two weeks, you belong to me. When I want, where I want. I text, you come. There’s nobody else. You understand?”

“Y-you’re hiring me for two weeks?”

“Yes.”

Frantically, I think about my school schedule. I have classes. Exams. Shifts on the Stafford cleaning crew.

“But I was just passing through to Vegas and… I have places to be...”

“Customers?”

“More like... obligations.”

“In Vegas?”

“Obligations,” I repeat.

“Break them.”

“I can’t.”

“Is it the money? I’ll buy you out of them.”

“It’s not a money issue.”

“Is it a people issue? Your handler?”

“Nothing like that.”

“What is it, then?”

“I don’t know if I can always be available. That’s all.”

He takes a step toward me. “I’m not playing here. You belong to me now. Like I said, I text, you come. Don’t make me send somebody to hunt you down. You and yours won’t like it. And trust me, I will find you.”

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