66. Leona
LEONA
B efore we left Fallon’s house, I kissed each of my guys and gave them the fiercest of hugs. They looked physically pained at the idea of separating, but this was the better plan.
I’d asked them to trust me, and this was the first step.
We drove to The Obsidian in separate cars.
All the girls piled into a van that looked like the vehicles used to transport the victims to the club every night, approved by the men Fallon had casing the club and also Ximena herself.
The guys were in our armored SUVs and, along with Fallon’s men and Max’s men, going to place themselves strategically around the club and the surrounding area.
The girls weren’t wearing earpieces tonight.
Ximena thought it would be too obvious and too dangerous if someone got close enough to see it, and she warned us all that the club’s customers would do anything they could to get close.
But Ciel and Finn had instructed each of us how to set up our individual cameras for our basement rooms, and they could connect to them.
Before that, though, we were flying blind.
The van pulled up in the back alley of a black brick building.
It loomed two stories into the sky, looking sinister in the darkness.
There were barely any windows, and the windows it had were covered by panels and painted with a giant white O.
The Obsidian. I could hear the thumping music from the alleyway almost immediately.
The eight of us exited the van, keeping our chatter to a minimum. We had to get inside without being seen, and then we had to hand off the girls we rescued to Wynn with no one noticing the switch. He’d get them to Willow’s crew. It would be tricky, so we had to time everything right.
“Here,” Ximena whispered. She waved at a Black man with braids who poked his head out of the back door entrance. He waved back, and we hurried over. “This is Justin, my bartender friend.”
Justin ushered us all inside to a small employee break room—thankfully empty—while giving us an overview of the night so far.
There were ten girls brought in about twenty minutes ago.
They were mingling around the private lobby on the second floor right now, spending time amongst the high-priority guests that had already gathered there for the evening’s festivities.
He’d been pouring drinks extra strong tonight to loosen them up and blur their memories, so we could make the switch easier.
“This is Brian,” Justin said as he introduced us to a white man with short-cropped hair, wearing an all black suit with a concealed gun in the holster on his belt. “He’s a security guard. We can trust him.”
Ximena gave him a once over and when she nodded, the rest of us decided us followed her lead. If she trusted him and Justin, we’d have to as well.
“Brian will distract anyone who looks like they’re catching on,” Justin said. “He’ll also make sure that you girls get placed in the right rooms in the basement.”
I nodded. That was the second phase of the plan.
Once we got all the regular girls out, we’d have to take their places in the private rooms in the basement.
We were going to put the cameras there to record video evidence of each customer, which we’d use to later blackmail them.
We knew the MTA director was going to be here tonight, along with some other powerful businessmen, and each of them could provide us with something specific in the future.
“What about the liquor we requested?” Fallon asked.
“I put the bottles of wine in each room, along with a glass,” Justin answered. “They’re high in alcohol content.”
“Drug the wine as soon as ya can,” Fallon said to all of us. “The pill we have will dissolve quickly, but it’ll be visible in the liquid until it does. We need them to drink a whole glass to knock them out.”
That was our plan to capture Arion Vokshi without creating a massive firefight and turf war.
He’d be assigned to my room. I’d drug him and tie him up.
Then, once the other girls had knocked out their buyers, the guys would come in and do their part.
We’d turn over Arion Vokshi to the Camorra, and hopefully, get them to leave us the fuck alone.
“We’ll go two at a time,” Ximena said. “Two of us will go up to the second floor; one of us will bring a girl down. Then two more go up and bring another girl down. Try to mingle on the other side of the room from the staircase so we can keep attention away from the stairs.”
“I’ll go first,” Ludmila said.
“I’ll go with ya,” Fallon answered.
“The music and lights will change when they’re ready to bring you all down to the basement,” Justin said. “Look for Brian. He’ll lead you down there.” Justin took a deep breath and glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Okay. We have fifteen minutes. Everyone ready?”
We all nodded. My fingers brushed against the weapons strapped to my thigh, just out of sight of the slit on the dress. I saw Fallon do the same. Willow, Zoya, Ludmila, Ximena, Claire, and Penny all took deep breaths, and squeezed each other’s hands.
“Aye, let’s go,” Fallon said.
Justin led her and Ludmila out first. The rest of us waited until he came back, and then I went next with Willow.
When we left the employee break room, we first walked through the main floor of the nightclub.
I saw multiple poles with dancers, a floor full of gyrating bodies, and tables throughout the room.
The lights were low and intimate, but I caught flashes of leather couches and booths in the flickering light show, which was matched to the beat of the music.
It thumped in my chest, and while it looked so similar to Ryuji’s clubs, the vibe was different.
This felt predatory and exploitative, in a way that Ryu’s never did. This felt like the men here were only here to consume the women. As we walked up the stairs, I watched their faces and saw a desperate hunger.
When we reached the second floor landing, a silk curtain hanging from the ceiling met us. Justin pointed inside, and when Willow and I nodded, he gave us a thumbs up before descending back down the stairs.
Willow swallowed, and I squeezed her hand. Then, we both pushed through the silk and walked into the lion’s den.
If the below floor was all about sleek luxury, this was about privacy and intimacy.
Silk hung from the ceiling in different areas, creating little private rooms. The music from the below dance floor was just a distant echo up here.
Instead, there was softer, more relaxed music fit for a cocktail party.
My eyes locked on Fallon and Ludmila speaking with two well-dressed men across the room, as planned.
In their red dresses, they stood out like beacons, and I understood instantly that this color was chosen with careful purpose.
They were distinct from every other person in this room wearing black or white.
Other girls wearing the same red dresses were scattered around the room, some more lucid than others.
A few laughed hollowly, smiling tightly with the customers in front of them.
Some were seated, struggling to keep their eyes open.
Men crowded around them, grabbing their arms or legs.
My eyes scanned the room for Arion Vokshi, but I didn’t see him.
I straightened my back. “Let’s go,” I whispered as I pushed forward. “You get a girl, I’ll distract.”
“Got it.” She nodded toward the girl sitting on the closest leather couch, partially hidden behind a silk drape. Her head lolled back behind her, but a man sat next to her with his hand creeping inside the slit of her dress. “Her.”
“Okay,” I murmured.
I strolled through the room, feeling the gazes of multiple men brush uncomfortably across my body.
Waitresses wearing black pants and a black shirt blended into the darkness of the room.
They carried trays full of champagne, and the men ignored them unless they were plucking a glass from a tray.
Instead, the men kept all their attention on us: the women wearing red dresses, the products on display.
Slowly, I walked over to the man next to Willow’s mark.
My heart pounded in my chest, but I slid onto his lap and drew his attention to me.
I had no idea who this man was, but as soon as his gaze locked on me, it left the poor girl practically passed out beside him.
Willow helped her stand and walk away while I dragged my pointer finger under the man’s chin.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said. His hand came around my back, and he leaned forward to kiss me, but I turned my head with a laugh.
By now I’d already drawn the attention of a few other men in the room.
I stood, letting the giggle bubble up from my chest. Ximena said to act drugged, so I was going for the out-of-it-but-hopefully-a-good-time look.
The men followed me like little ducklings as I stumbled around.
I caught a glance of Penny and Claire angling toward another girl with eyes almost completely glazed over.
Three men fought over getting her onto their laps.
I changed direction, and I pretended to trip over my heels into the back of one of them.
He turned, upset at first, but his frown melted away into a predatory smile when he saw me giggling up at him.
With their attention on me, Penny could distract another, so Claire could usher the drugged girl away.
I did the same move three more times, flitting about the room, trying to draw the attention away from the staircase, where the rest of my girls were escorting the victims out one at a time.
I still scanned for Armir Vokshi, but he was nowhere to be found.
Anxiety churned in my chest. What if Vokshi never showed?
I did, however, see the MTA director, and he was one of the men caught under my spell. I laughed and fell into him, and his hands clasped my waist far harder than I liked. I had to pull myself free.