Page 44 of The Apprentice
“Sex workers,” Daire replied simply. “Sloan calls them whores, and I respect that he’s the boss and he can do what he wants, but trust me. These men and women are as important as drug runners or money launderers. Sex sells, boy. If you respect them, they’ll show you their loyalty.”
I pressed my lips together. “Do you have a lover in one of our brothels, Daire?” A weird feeling clenched my stomach, and I rubbed the area where it hurt.Fuck.
Moving on!Did my body not know what that meant?
“No—” His expression turned serious again and he clamped his lips into a thin line. “—but if you’re going to be boss one day, you need to understand that every part of your company makesit a whole. If one piece of the puzzle is missing, then it’s not complete.” He turned his head to stare out the window.
After a long moment, I sighed. “Tell me about the Amatory and why it’s important.”
He sent me a small, proud smile. “Because, boy, it’s a hub. It’s fronted by a real business, unlike the Exotic Virtue, which is only real on paper. The Amatory is a private hospital.”
“Right. I remember Sloan telling me about that one. He said it brought us the most money.”
The hospital took years to build, and Sloan had been excited about the new venture. It’d opened up seven months ago. He hadn’t moved any of the criminal parts into it until recently, which made sense because he needed the legal portion to run smoothly before adding more variables. He kept me up to date with what was happening, but I’d never been there yet. Sloan always let me know when it was the right time to get involved.
“Yes, because of what it includes. This business is exclusively for the upper crust. You need to be a member to even walk through the front doors, and that membership costs you three hundred grand a year.”
I whistled. “That’s a pretty chunk of change.”
“Exactly. Once they’re in those doors, they have access to top tier doctors and surgeons. Our products range from general practitioners to plastic surgeons to any other specialty you can think of, including holistic and mental health, and the privacy is immaculate.Then, behind the legitimate front are our exclusive services—private hands-on care forallyour physical needs. Only members we trust are allowed in there, and they pay for the privilege of top-notch services.”
“How do we know they won’t go to the cops?”
“Because, if they do, we have dirt on them. And you know how Sloan works.”
“He’d kill them or their families if they opened their mouths.”
“You got it, boy.”
“Okay, so the brothel’s hidden behind the hospital, but the drugs work because it’s a medical clinic. The fedscouldsearch the business, but they’d need some good proof to do it.”
“See, that big brain of yours does work.”
It helped that Sloan gave me a small rundown of the idea already, but I liked that I was getting more knowledge about it. The Killough Company was huge when it came to our legal businesses, and Sloan hired trusted men to manage them. One boss couldn’t keep an eye on all of them.
“Shut up.” My cheeks burned and I chuckled in embarrassment.
Daire grinned widely. “All our books and data are in the Amatory. You could call it our own little research facility. For the rich, going into a private hospital for drugs makes things a lot easier. No one knows what someone’s in there for and it’s impolite to ask why they’re seeing a doctor.”
I whistled. “Wow. Thatissmart.”
“Thank you.”
“It was your idea,” I guessed, laughing.
“Yes, it was.” He pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek, and this was the smuggest I’d ever seen Daire, who never took credit for anything. “And on top of that, we get our percentage of medical fees, and the doctors won’t say a word because they’re just happy to get paid a lot more than anywhere else.”
“I’m impressed. Why wasn’t I let in on this sooner?”
“Because it’s our golden project. You needed to be ready for it.” He stared at me for a long, silent moment. “And now you are.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Daire confirmed. “To make the clinic more untouchable, Sloan’s got a bit of a bleeding heart. We do charity work through the clinic. We do a free chemo clinic four timesa month. We give out twenty free transition surgeries per year, based on a raffle, and offer free psychological sessions for up to one hundred members of the LGBTQ community a year. Now, imagine if the feds tried to investigate us.”
“The people would rally.”
His eyes sparkled. “Exactly. We might cater to the rich, which has its own benefits because who wants to take on people with money and power, but we also help those who need that extra bit of support.”
