Page 36 of Attraction (Mobsters + Billionaires 3)
Jesus fucking Christ.
“I hear you. Would you like to get out of here?”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
Anthony steps forward. “People call me Edgerton. I run security for Luca and his people. You will be safe.”
Stoic, tight-lipped Anthony says more with his confident stance than anyone else could with a week’s worth of talking. Shane looks up at Anthony, and the tension around his shoulders lessens.
“And the girls? They’ll be safe too?”
I nod, wondering how Charlie can get people out of these situations again and again. “I never hurt my employees or force them to do anything. Not that you have to work for me. If you wanted to do something else, we’d help with that too.”
Shane considers us for a moment.
“Let me see if they want to come.”
He shuts the door, and Anthony and I share a look. Anthony’s mom worked for my father, and he wasn’t good to her. He wanted to put Anthony on the streets too, but I did what I could to keep him out of this exact situation.
Hopper pats Anthony’s cheek. I saved Anthony. Anthony saved Hopper. Eh, maybe we’ve been doing this good-guy thing for longer than we give ourselves credit for.
After a few moments of whispered conversations filtering through the door, Shane returns with the other two women.
“I know who you are,” one of them says, narrowing her eyes at me. “Word on the street is that you’re good with your girls.”
“I am. But they’re not my girls. They’re my employees and are free to leave whenever they’d like.”
The trio looks at each other, each undernourished and under cared for, rough where they should be beautiful and shiny.
“We need to pack fast because Frankie’s coming back.”
I nod, and they turn toward a hallway in the back, leaving the front door open. I check with Anthony, and he shrugs. This is the desired result, but we are so out of our depth.
We let ourselves in, and the house is nicer than I thought it would be. It’s clean, everything seems to be in its own specific place, but it’s not bright or welcoming.
I gesture in a circle, and Hopper takes the directive. He begins looking for information on this Frankie guy, maybe a notebook or a summons. Anything that lets us know if he’s got other people, a record, anything.
Hopper broke into a lot of houses as a kid, so he knows where all the valuable things are. He reaches into the kitchen cabinet and pulls off something taped to the bottom of the shelf, holding up what looks to be a burner phone still encased in duct tape.
“Bring it. We need to see who his associates are.”
Hopper looks in the freezer and comes out with what looks to be a large block of ice. He sets it under hot water in the sink.
“Looks like the licenses are in here.”
Holding on to important government documents is a sure sign of human trafficking. Anthony stiffens beside me, Charlie’s words no doubt ringing in his ears.
As the block of ice breaks apart, Hopper scoops up the IDs and joins us in the living room. The trio doesn’t take very long, though I’m guessing they don’t have much to their names. When they walk into the living room, they carry half-empty trash bags.
More exchanged glances between Hopper and Anthony. When Anthony grabbed Hopper from that halfway house, a black trash bag was the only thing he had to carry his stuff. Who knew that doing good would make you remember all the bad?
“What the fuck is going on here?”
I turn to find my ex-employee looking at me with wide eyes.
“Moving up in the world, Frankie?”
Noticing Anthony and Hopper, he pulls up short as they hustle the trio into the hallway. “You steal my goods or put a hand on me, and the Byrne brothers will take exception.”
