Page 18 of Paved in Venom

“What made you pick her?” Roman asks. “Last I heard you couldn’t decide.”

I sit down across from him and scrub a hand over the stubble I need to shave. “She wasn’t in the photos that David sent me. I saw her after I got there. The man assigned to me gave me a tablet with all their photos. Hers was the last. She must’ve been added on late or something. I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head. “I just knew she was the one.”

I try not to think about the faces of all the women I had to leave behind and continue with the story. “Before I was allowed to leave the room, I had to transfer the money, and then they brought me to her. Ernst, the ugly motherfucker in charge of her tattoo, was already waiting for us. They tattooed her, and then lead us to the underground parking garage where my car was waiting. I asked if I could personally thank the man in charge, but I was told that wasn’t possible. I still don’t know who the fuck is behind all this.”

“I think I saw him.”

We all turn at the sound of Simona’s voice, watching her come up the stairs where she’s obviously been hiding and listening in to our conversation. Her face is scrubbed clean, her hair still damp, the sweatpants a couple of inches too short, and she’s so damn beautiful it makes it hard to think. I stand and motion for her to take my seat. Her blue eyes are still wary when she looks at me, but she slowly walks into the room and takes the seat I offer.

“Simona, these are my brothers.” I point them out, telling her their names and then point to Emily, who’s giving her a friendly smile from Roman’s lap. “And this is Emily, Roman’s wife.”

“I know you must be terrified,” Emily says, “but I promise they’re not going to hurt you.”

Simona gives a soft laugh. “So they just buy trafficked women out of the goodness of their hearts?”

“No,” Roman says, tightening his arms around his wife. “We’re not good guys, Simona, but we’re not involved in sex trafficking.”

“Then why buy me?”

I sit down close to Simona, being careful to leave a cushion between us so I don’t make her uncomfortable. She looks over at me, but doesn’t say anything. She also doesn’t scoot further down the couch, which I’m counting as a win.

“My sister was taken over a year ago,” Roman tells her, “and we’ve been trying to get her back ever since. We think the organization that took you is probably the one that took her. We need to find out who they are so we can rescue her.”

“Can you tell us what happened to you?” I ask her.

She sits back further on the couch and puts her socked feet on the edge of the cushion, wrapping her arms around her legs. She looks so small and helpless, and my first instinct is to pull her into my lap. I fight the urge, knowing she wouldn’t welcome it right now.

“My parents died in a car wreck last year,” she says, and her voice is low but steady. “They were from Romania but moved to America when my mom was pregnant with me. After they died, I decided to travel to Romania. I thought it might make me feel close to them, but it took me a while to actually work up the courage to do it.”

Her fingers play a tune along the top of her foot that only she can hear while she says, “I was so stupid.”

She lets out a harsh laugh and looks around the room, eyeing my brothers who are all quiet, hanging on every word she’s saying for some clue that can help us. Her eyes settle on Emily.

“I ran into a woman on my first day there. I thought she was so sweet and friendly. I looked like the scared, lost tourist, and she kind of took me under her wing. We had lunch, and then she said she wanted to take me to a club, to show me the real Romania.”

“What was her name?” Matvey asks.

Simona looks up at the sound of his raspy voice. “Adriana. She was taller than me, long blonde hair, brown eyes, very beautiful, and she had that air about her, you know? Like she was just used to getting her way. We had lunch at this really fancy restaurant, and even though I know I wasn’t up to their dress code, she just walked us in like she owned the place, like she knew there was no way in hell they’d turn us away.”

She shakes her head, disbelief written all over her face. “I was so stupid. I just wanted to try something new, I guess, come out of my shell a little bit.”

“You’re not stupid,” I tell her. “That’s why they chose a woman. They wanted to make you feel safe. If a man had approached you, would you have reacted differently?”

“Well, yeah, I wouldn’t have just gone off to some strange club with him.”

“Every step of this was orchestrated perfectly, and the goal was always for you to lose. If you’d told her no at any point, she would’ve tried something else. She would’ve told you she wanted to take you sightseeing, led you to an unpopulated area, and then they would’ve just grabbed you off the street.” I keep my eyes on hers. “You were never going to win, Simona. As soon as she saw you, it was already a done deal. They don’t stop once they have a target picked out.”

She gives me a slow nod and then turns back to the others. “They put something in my drink at the club, and before I passed out, one of the men told me that he was going to take some pictures and that I would regret being so trusting.” She lets out a soft laugh. “He was right.”

“Can you tell us anything about him?” Roman asks.

“He was a handsome man in a suit, the same as just about every other guy in that place. Dark hair, dark eyes, a bit of dark stubble on his face, nothing that really stood out except for the cold, dead look in his eyes. I begged him to let me go, and there was just nothing there. I knew that there was nothing I could do to convince him to see me as anything other than a possession, something he could use to make money.”

“Did you hear any names?” Lev asks.

We’re all trying to not bombard her with questions, but we’ve waited so damn long for this. We’re desperate for a clue that could lead us to Alina.

“I asked him his name, but he said it wasn’t important. I didn’t hear any names being said. I thought that he was the boss, but when they lined all the women up, two men came in, and you could just tell,” she says, looking at me. “The whole room felt different when they walked in. You could tell they were the ones who were really in charge. They walked down the line, and I kept my head held high. I shouldn’t have. It was stupid, but I was pissed and scared, and I didn’t want to give them anything else.”

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