Chapter 38 Grace #2
And then I start noticing the unusual things.
The smiles of the staff members linger a beat too long. Their eyes look dead, like they sold their soul a long time ago. A server carrying a bottle of champagne passes before me. He’s wearing a forty-thousand-dollar Rolex watch.
The beach club is a front. Something more sinister lurks underneath. Literally.
Every so often, I spot people disappearing down a hallway. They don't return.
An outsider wouldn't notice this, but we know that this isn't any ordinary club.
"Do you want to dance?" Dante asks.
"Right now?" I ask.
"Just for a little while," he says.
“Okay.” I smile, letting him lead me to the dance floor.
He pulls me close, and I rest my head against his broad chest. He wraps his arms around me, and it feels like the safest place in the world.
Music swirls around us as we sway. I try to push all other thoughts out of my head and focus just on this. I let him twirl me and move me to the rhythm.
“I’ve never done this before,” I say. “I never had a reason to dance.”
He looks at me. There’s understanding in his eyes.
He leans down to press his lips against mine. No matter how many times we have each other, we're always left wanting more. It's a hunger that I feel inside every cell of my body.
Dante breaks the kiss reluctantly.
My head fills with white noise as he leads me down the corridor. I'm tipsy from the alcohol, but I'm drunk on this man. But I sober up quickly when we stop in front of a black door.
It has a red-and-white sign that reads Staff Only.
Dante scans a barcode on his phone that unlocks the door. A hostess greets us inside and guides us toward an elevator. She accompanies us as we descend to the basement.
When the door opens, my eyes widen.
Dancers are twirling on poles in barely a stitch of clothing. Girls dance in cages that extend all the way to the ceiling. The music is loud, pulsing with a sensual beat.
It's money, power, and beauty.
And like the main portion of the club, everything looks normal on the surface, but a sickly scent lingers in the air. I get the sense that there's more to the basement than what meets the eye.
Dante has already briefed us about everything. The club is divided into sections catering to specific kinks, from orgies to exhibitionism to BDSM. But that’s not what’s problematic about this club.
The illegal activity happens behind closed doors.
There are fetishes that aren’t even advertised.
He leans down to whisper in my ear. "Are you okay?"
My heart is lodged in my throat as I nod. I should be the one asking him that question.
I see my sisters in the crowd, but we pretend not to know one another.
Dante and I tour the various segments of the club.
Minutes bleed into hours. So many women work here that it's nearly impossible to look at every single one of them.
They also seem to be changing shifts every few hours, especially the dancers.
A few hours in, the adrenaline fades, leaving me feeling tired to the bone.
"I need to go to the ladies’ room," I say.
"I'll come with you," Dante says.
“Please don’t,” I say. “I’ll be back in a minute. I just want to splash some water on my face.”
He still accompanies me to the restroom and stands outside.
Just as I step inside, I see someone leaving through a door at the other end of the bathroom.
She turns around to look at me. She's wearing a full face of makeup, but she's not fooling me.
This girl barely looks to be twelve. She quickly shuts the door behind her.
My heart is racing inside my chest as I walk toward that door. I hesitate before placing my hand over the handle. When I try to open it, a red light flashes.
It's locked.
I try again, harder this time. Red flickers over the handle once again.
I finally caught a glimpse of what actually happens at this club. It caters to devious tastes. I feel numb as I continue trying to open the door. It triggers one of the memories I try to keep buried inside my head.
It dislodges from my memory, painting me in shame.
I didn't do anything before.
When I saw those kids being kept in my mother's dungeon, I didn't do a thing. All I ever do is run. I don't even have the backbone to stand up for myself, let alone anyone else.
I drop to my knees and sob as helplessness washes over me.
I've never felt more pathetic.
The door opens behind me. And the next thing I know, I'm lifted and held against a strong chest. He's asking me something, but I can't hear him over my sobbing.
"I shouldn't have asked you to come here with me," he says. "I'm so sorry, Grace. We'll leave immediately."
I shake my head, but I don't tell him that I just saw a child here. It's what we expected to find, but seeing that young girl here made it all the more real.
I take a deep breath. I need to pull myself together.
"I'm okay," I tell him. "I can stay."
"Why are you crying?" he asks, wiping the last of my tears from my cheeks. He still looks concerned.
"It just hit me that this is all real. All of the evil is real," I say. "I'm sorry. I know it sounds stupid."
“It’s not stupid,” he says. “You’re just too sweet for this wretched world.”
He holds me until my heart stops hurting.
"It's almost four in the morning,” he says. "Are you sure you want to stay until closing time?"
I take a deep breath. “Yes, but I want a moment alone.”
Reluctantly, he steps outside. I stare at myself in the mirror. My cheeks are splotchy, and my eyes are red from crying.
Pathetic. Undesirable. Ugly.
My mother's voice never left, but it's weaker now. Almost a whisper that I can drown out. Instead, I'm starting to see myself the way Dante sees me.
Strong. Beautiful. Brave.
All the things I wanted to be. Dante made me realize that it was always inside me. I was just listening to the wrong voice.
I make a silent vow to myself.
I will never let anyone tell me my worth ever again. I will never be weak again.
When I step back outside, Dante doesn’t even turn to look at me. He’s still as a statue.
And I know.
They found her.
Hope fills my being like a bolt of lightning. I rush to his side. He looks up from his phone.
“Where is she?” I ask.
He takes a deep, shuddering breath. He can’t bring himself to even say a word.
I wrap my arms around him in a hug. His heart is beating like a drum against my ear. I kiss his chest. I’m about to pull away, but he cups the back of my head, holding me close to him.
My heart fractures for this man.
When I glance up at him, I see so much pain and hope in his eyes.
“It’s going to be okay,” I reassure him. “Let’s go see her.”
He nods and leads me back to the main hall—the one with the strippers and cages. I spot Nico and my sisters in the crowd.
Nico glances up at one of the cages. It's about forty feet off the ground on the far left. We already looked at all the girls in the cages before, but they must have changed shifts. I can’t make out their faces now because the spotlight keeps moving.
"We should probably sit down," I suggest, glancing at the nearest couch.
Dante doesn't move. He doesn't take his eyes off the cage. We still can't see her. All I see is dark hair and a figure dancing in the shadows.
And when the spotlight falls on her, I freeze too.
Even from a distance, it's unmistakable. She's tall, slender, and has the same eyes as the man I love. Most of her face is hidden behind a veil. She’s dressed in a shimmery gold-and-beige outfit.
"Ida," Dante whispers. And to my horror, he raises his voice. "Ida."
"Dante, you can't call out her name," I say urgently. "It will look suspicious.”
"I need to get her out of that cage,” he says.
"What about the plan?" I ask.
"She's trapped," he says. "I need to get her out."
I glance at the group for help. Nico raises his eyebrows, about to intervene. I shake my head at him.
This is something I need to handle on my own. I cup Dante's face and force him to look at me.
“Listen to me,” I say. “I know you want nothing more right now than to take your sister away from this horrible place.
I know you waited your whole life for this.
And it's cruel to ask you to wait longer, but we have to stick to the plan, Dante.
If you do something now, it's only going to make it harder for us to save the others. "
He blinks slowly. Just when I think he's going to agree, he looks up at the cage again.
His sister has stopped dancing.
And she's looking right at him. She doesn't even blink as she stares at her brother.
"Fuck it," Dante says, going straight to Nico. "I don't want to wait anymore. We’re changing the plan.”
Max steps toward him. "Let's not make any rash decisions. It can backfire.”
Dante ignores him entirely. "I have my tech team on standby. They can unlock every door inside the club remotely, and that includes the cages. All we need to do is create a diversion and then call the police.”
"Leave the diversion to me," Nico says, his eyes lighting up.
"Nico, don't encourage him," Max says. And then he turns to face Dante. "This isn't what we agreed on."
Dante glares at Max. "You have a little sister yourself, don't you? Imagine some assholes stole her away as a child. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Tell me just how patient you would be."
Max grinds his teeth but doesn't say anything else.
Nico snaps his fingers. “I’m going to start a fire."
"Please don't," Max says. "People can get hurt."
"It’ll be a harmless fire," Nico says, already walking toward the kitchen.
"I don't even know why we brought him along," Max says.
"Because he has the guts to do the things other people don't," Chloe says, watching Nico disappear. "He's built different."
Dante spends the next few minutes communicating with his tech team. They have already hacked into the security system, so they're prepared for an order like this one. I sit next to my sisters and wait.