Page 50 of Deliverance
I thought for a moment. I had to tell her the truth. She was almost eighteen, and once she turned eighteen, I feared Madam was going to make her work like the rest of the women. After all, she thought Zell had lost her virginity to a VIP. "Okay. Let's pretend we're still doing our coursework, but I will tell you what I think you need to know."
"Okay."
I pulled my chair closer. "Follow along in your book like you usually do." She nodded. "Frank Russo owns the brothel."
"Brothel?" She knew what a brothel was because I'd had her read the bookCannery Rowlike I had in high school.
"Yes, but the difference is, none of us chose to do this."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for me …" I frowned, scrunching my forehead. "I went out with friends after work for drinks, and afterward, I got into a taxi to go home. But the taxi didn't take me home."
Zell's blue eyes widened. "Where did it take you?"
"To a warehouse where there were cages of other women."
"What?" she gasped.
I frowned while looking down at my book, thinking about everyone I hadn't seen in ten years. "I never saw my friends or family again."
"I'm sorry," Zell whispered. "The other girls are Leanne and—"
"No." I shook my head. "The other girls in the cages never came here."
"Where did they go?"
I lifted a shoulder. "I don't know for certain, but they were probably sold to men as sex slaves."
"What does that mean?"
"Kinda like what we do here, but maybe not so—glamorous."
"How so?"
"I know that you've only known this penthouse as your home, but not every home is like this."
"Okay?"
"There are places that are dirty, smell bad, have no heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. And then there are places that have no windows, where women are chained up until they are used for sex." Ironically, our bedrooms—except Zell's—didn't have windows, and most of the girls stayed in their rooms until they were used for sex.
"That's horrible."
I nodded. "It is. I hate to use this word, but the girls and I wereluckyto get sent here and not sold off." I did hate to use the word that Frank had said to me multiple times. Lucky was not being kidnapped in the first place.
Zell thought for a few moments. "So, Mr. Russo is a bad guy, but are you saying that Frankie's a bad guy too?"
I shrugged again. "That was the first time Frankie has ever come here, but his dad does own the place."
"I thought Madam was the boss?"
"She's the boss of us, but Mr. Russo is her boss."
"Oh." She was silent again, still looking at the book in front of her. "Do you like it here?"
I tilted my head slightly and furrowed a brow. "No one likes doing this, Zell."
"But you have to," Zell stated.
