Page 17 of White Rabbit
I lifted her chin and brought her gaze back to me.
“Then what happened?” I asked gently.
“Well, you know what they say…” She shrugged. “We’re all one bad turn from being homeless. After I was fired, I had a hard time getting a job, even as a waitress. I ended up evicted and I was out on the street by January. Living in the city, I didn’t have a car. I didn’t really have friends and the casual ones I had at the hospital cut me off. I couldn’t go back to my family. When I called my parents, my oldest sister told me I’d made my bed and hung up on me. In their defense, I guess, I hadn’t talked to any of them since I’d left for college.”
And fuck, their behavior was unacceptable, too. No one would treat my Brecklyn so poorly ever again.
“And so you took a job at the Rusty Spike?” I asked, keeping any judgment far from my voice. Murder ran through me and I wanted to go on a rampage on her behalf.
“Well…” she blew out a breath. “Not the one Rad found me in. I applied for a waitress job there, and I was desperate, so when they offered an apartment in the building to go with the job, I jumped at it. I should have realized it was fishy.”
“And you found yourself stuck.” I’d heard that story before. These club owners preyed on desperate women…and men.
“Not right away. I mean, it was January, I was homeless, and I’d come to the interview in the middle of a blizzard. They hired me to waitress, and I did that for three weeks, until…”
She looked away again.
Until they’d forced her to spread her legs for customers.
My fists turned white knuckled on my thighs.
“Rad was the first,” she whispered. “He paid for more than the night. I don’t know what he paid—or how, because he’s not rolling in cash—but next thing I knew, I was installed at his place. Until I ended up in the hospital.”
There was a lot missing from that story, but I didn’t press her.
“Brecklyn…”
“I’m not a whore,” she whispered.
“No, you’re not.”
“I don’t know what you expect of me, but please—”
“Moya kokhána, not that. I won’t ask anything of you that you don’t want to give.
“You paid the hospital a lot.”
“Pocket change to me. I did not purchase you. I want you. I want to keep you. But I will help you to get up on your feet. My family doesn’t abuse and prey on women. I would never.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just…”
“I know.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then I surged to my feet, needing to leave this room before my rage seeped through my pores and she saw the monster I kept leashed around her.
“I must go to my office.” I indicated to the small box with three buttons on the bedside table. “Press the third button on there, and it will call me. I’ll set you up with a cell phone tomorrow, but for now, this will summon me or my assistant—she is thesecond button. The first will call Cook for anything you want to eat or drink. Use any of them whenever you need to.”
Though I knew I shouldn’t just run, I pivoted away and left the room. Only with the door firmly closed behind me did I let my anger show. I might not kill people but I had a list of individuals who were about to have a very difficult time and get a taste of their own medicine—perhaps literally in the doctor’s case.
Fuck!Blyat!I didn’t have the doctor’s name. I had the hospital, though. The rest should be easy enough. With a mission in mind, I jogged downstairs to my office. Anyone I encountered, steered clear, the expression on my face telling them they didn’t want to be with a few feet of me right then.
Even Nikita didn’t say a word as I stormed past her desk on my way to my office.
“Call for Aslan and for Kaz,” I demanded then slammed my office door behind me.
I went directly to my desk and the paperwork sitting there—financial reports from my brother [name]. Pushing it aside, I booted my PC and started making a list.
I was printingRetribution for Brecklynwhen Kaz and Aslan both arrived. I handed them both a copy.
“What’s this?” Kaz asked. “What do you need to know about Core Medical?”
