Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Titan
I roll out of bed and glance around my temporary living quarters.
I got to stay in Alaska for a month, enjoying my own bed, my club, and my office before heading to DC.
Hermes and I have been here for more than two months.
It’s frustrating because I have to stay so focused on this case that I can’t do anything about Stormy’s.
I don’t know where she ended up, and I haven’t been able to track Maisy either.
I haven’t even been able to check whether the hacker shadowing them took my bait. Last I knew, they hadn’t.
The case I’ve been contracted for is to help a legislator through his appointment as Deputy Secretary.
The president nominated him, and his background is so shady I’m struggling to find anything to highlight.
All I’ve been able to do is eliminate the bad press he already has.
How this man got elected and why anyone would want him in this office is beyond me.
But I have a job to do, and no matter how deplorable it is, I have no choice.
I walk over to the bank of computers in the condo Cronus set up for us. My eyes land on the cursor blinking in the middle of the latest document I’ve found. I feel like my hands are tied. Something doesn’t feel right. I still can’t believe what I’m seeing.
I grab my cell phone off the desk and dial Cronus, pacing the length of the room while I wait for him to pick up.
“What do you need so early in the fucking morning?” Cronus’s deep voice is gruffer than normal with sleep.
I couldn’t sleep after I found the document. I tried, but I just tossed and turned. If I can’t sleep, neither can he.
“There’s documentation showing this prick is part of the ring with Ahriman.
There’s also evidence someone in Nashville is going to sell an nineteen-year-old virgin to him.
And her sister will be sold to Ahriman personally.
It says she’s perfect for him. The women work at a strip club in your fucking backyard.
We need to stop this. How am I supposed to make this shit go away for the confirmation committee if we could use it to bring them all down?
I won’t do it. I’ve hidden a bunch of shit for you in the past. I’ve done things I regret, but I won’t do this.
Put my ass in prison. I won’t let two girls get trafficked.
” I spill the words without taking a breath.
I have to stand up for myself. I won’t do it.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa now, Titan. Stop talking. Take a breath and start over.”
“No, fuck that. I’m walking.”
“Atlas, enough.” He uses my real name, and it stops me. We don’t use each other’s real names.
“Fuck.” The word bursts from my lips, and Hermes’s door slams shut as he moves through the condo. Normally, he’s silent for as big as he is.
“What’s going on?” He’s shirtless, and I see for the first time the ink he keeps hidden.
Hermes and his brother, Typhon, were both in the military before they were recruited by Cronus.
But I know that ink. We’ve all dealt with enough mafia and bratva organizations to recognize it.
I don’t acknowledge it because we all have our secrets.
“This.” I point at the file containing the documents and conversations I found.
“Oh fuck.”
“I want you here by morning. Figure out the location in Nashville,” Cronus says.
“What about the contract?” I drop my ass into my chair and bury my head in my hands. This is awful. A ping sounds from the speakers, and I look up as a new message appears in the senator’s direct messages.
Exhibitor
I’ll take a partridge in a pear tree. Would you like a maiden milking?
The message goes to both the senator and another contact, Culler, who responds immediately.
Culler
I’ll acquire the wares by the 1st of the month. You’ll have them for the celebration.
“Son of a bitch. Cronus, we only have a couple of weeks to figure this out. He just promised the girls would be available by December first.”
“Get here tomorrow. We need to use a secure network for you to find the information.”
“What about the contract?” I remind him.
Another ping goes off before he can respond.
Lawmaker
I have my hearing and won’t be able to get there if they’re still investigating me.
Exhibitor
I’ve been told you have help. Make sure they don’t find this chat, or I’ll have to end them too. I have a joker in the deck. Another congressman. The one named the same as a grandmaster.
“Cronus?” I pause, worry itching through my body.
“What?” he asks, but I can’t answer him. It’s too much. I screenshot everything and save it to my file.
“Cronus, we have major problems. Titan’s life is being threatened, and it looks like there might be a conflict of interest for you,” Hermes answers for me.
“Pack up and get out of there. Now! Blast everything, Hermes.”
“On it.” Hermes walks over to the wall and lifts the box covering a switch that will decimate my gear. “You know what to do.” He looks at me.
I make sure everything is remotely saved, then nod. He flips the switch. A hiss sounds, followed by sparks. I grab my go bag and the picture of Stormy from my bedside table, throwing on a shirt as I go. Hermes steps out of the room, and I know he’s getting his gear.
The computers and monitors fry before my eyes.
As I leave the room, I hit another switch that will obscure my fingerprints and destroy any DNA left behind.
We can never leave a trace of who we are.
From the message, I know our covers could have been blown.
The name they suggested hits too close to home.
By the time I exit the building, Hermes is beside me. He flips the next switch, igniting the entire condo atop an abandoned building on the outskirts of the Capitol in an extremely hot, aggressive fire. In one moment, we erase every potential link.
The SUV roars through the streets, Hermes at the wheel, as we begin the more than ten-hour drive to Chapelville, Tennessee.
Stormy
No matter how good the tips are or that we have a contract, I want to quit this job.
When we first arrived in September, Javier was difficult, but he at least allowed us to be on the same schedule.
Now, two months later, he’s even worse and still ignores that we’ve told him we have to work the same days since we only have one car.
He's started scheduling us on the same days but hours apart. Today I started three hours ago. I was here for the early dinner rush and will have to stay until eleven, while Maisy is working the closing shift. She started at seven and won’t get off until three in the morning.
He thinks he can deter me from sticking around, but I’m not letting him get his dirty hands on Maisy.
It's not all bad here, though. We found out from some of the dancers that Syndall did work here, and just like Maisy, Javier took a shine to her too. She disappeared a couple of months after she started and hasn’t been seen since.
Some of the girls asked about her and were told not to worry about it, that she quit for a better life.
I doubt that.
I’ve had my days struggling with the fact that these women are being exploited, or that’s what I felt when we first started.
I’ve spent time with each of the dancers, talked to them, and learned their reasons for stripping.
Most of them see it as a means to an end.
They make good money, and they set their own boundaries.
They aren’t sex workers. They’re just dancers.
They make the rules for themselves… until Javier decides to try to change them, as he usually does.
I’ve talked to my counselor in Montana. I call her for telemedicine appointments to continue my therapy.
She was concerned about me working here at first, but she understands why I chose to do it.
She helps me process the fact that I’ve been thinking about Atlas a lot.
She’s the only one I speak to about him. I don’t talk to Maisy about it.
I still don’t know much about Maisy’s past, but I’ve opened up to her about mine.
Atlas isn’t part of those conversations, though.
He’s all mine. I keep him in that maybe someday box.
Someday, I’m going to explore those feelings.
Someday, I want it to be him. Sometimes I wake at night with my body consumed by an overwhelming need for release.
It scared me at first because I didn’t expect to want that kind of intimacy ever again.
But with Atlas, I could. There is something about him that my body trusts.
My counselor says it’s perfectly normal to doubt my feelings, and she’s glad I’m experiencing desire again.
We talked about my body and whether I found it repulsive.
I confirmed that I no longer feel that way.
I love my new body. My face has changed, but I no longer look in the mirror and see a stranger.
My scars are still present, and unfortunately, today Javier is pushing the issues regarding them.
Javier insisted on the outfit I’m wearing.
I normally wear leather pants or low-rise jeans with a vest top.
But he personally gave me tonight’s outfit.
Told me if I didn’t wear it, I would be fired, and that would leave Maisy here by herself.
I’ve taken her under my wing and won’t let anything happen to her.
When he saw my scars that are normally covered, or he doesn’t focus on, he got upset.
“I guess I can’t fucking change that. Stay behind the bar and don’t let them see your lower back. You’ll be a private bartender for an important meeting I have this evening,” he barked at me earlier.
Stepping through the beaded curtain to the back of the club, I walk into the dressing room, where Maisy is changing.
Javier had an outfit for her too. I stand in front of one of the mirrors and check out my hair.
I’ve put the front, except for a strand on each side of my forehead and part of the sides, up in two cute buns on top of my head, leaving the rest hanging down my back.
I was so happy when I found a salon that could help me with my new style.
My hair is still growing out and getting healthier, but I’m going to keep doing the braids and dreadlocks for a bit.
Maybe later I’ll try Viking braids or something different.
I look down at my short leather shorts with lace legs that reach my ankles, then at the leather vest with a deep scoop neck showing off my breasts while barely reaching my naval. It isn’t exactly appropriate for working behind the bar, but I had no choice.
A curtain flutters behind me, and Maisy steps out.
“Look what he’s making me wear tonight. He said something about important men are coming and he wants to impress them. What am I going to do? I can’t bend over.”
Maisy twists around. She’s wearing the tiniest shorts that practically reveal her vajayjay, and they’re so low at the hips you can see the crack of her ass.
Her top is a skimpy vest that ties with leather straps across her D cup breasts.
It would only take a customer getting too handsy to expose her.
“Let me guess. If you don’t wear that, he’ll fire me?” I shake my head as anger hits me hard.
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“How do you think he got me in this?” I wave my hand down my body.
“Diamond helped me put an adhesive bra on to hold the girls in place.”
I peek into her vest when she pulls it away from her chest for me to see.
I nod and flatten my lips, impressed. “That’s cool. I didn’t know they made those big enough for your girls.”
Maisy chuckles. She’s constantly saying she wishes she didn’t have them. That her girls are what attract men’s attention, and she wants a guy to look her in the eye instead of at her boobs.
“Hello, ladies.” Javier steps into the dressing room without announcing himself first. “Maisy, you’ll be taking Diamond’s set in the private room. She isn’t feeling well.”
Diamond squeezes past us with her head down, her long hair covering her face. I know he hit her. This is exactly what happened to Syndall, according to another dancer. She wasn’t dancing for him until that night.
“No.” I turn and stand up to him. I’m not afraid of him, even if he’s taller than me.
He grabs my upper arm, and I don’t fight him yet, not with his bouncers standing behind him.
“You don’t tell me no. You’re nothing but a bossy puta. I’m in charge here, and she will do as I say, or she can watch my guards beat and rape you.”
He squeezes my arm, and I lean up into his face. “You’ll want to let me go now. I don’t care about our contract. I’ll drop you on your ass. And never threaten me again.” My voice is cold as ice. I’m ready for whatever consequences come from this.
He drops my arm and steps back as his guards move forward, but he holds up his hand, stopping them.
“Sir, they’re here.” His manager steps into the room, diffusing the situation instantly.
“Get behind the bar and act right, or I’ll make you sorry. No bitch is worth this much shit,” Javier says before turning toward Maisy. I cock my head, trying to decipher what he means. “Maisy, you’ll deliver the drinks. Go, both of you, now.”
I turn to leave, but before I do, I glance back at Diamond.
She has a smirk on her bruised face. She starts caking on makeup to cover it and gets ready for her set.
The guards step up to Maisy and me. One takes her arm and drags her from the room, and I take off to follow, but the other guard grabs my arm, further bruising the flesh Javier already injured.
Taking a deep breath, I prepare for what’s about to happen. I remember everything Shadow and Riddler taught me. I’m stronger of mind and body than this asshole, and I’ll take him out.
As we move closer to the private room, Javier stops just inside the doorway. I look over to see several men sitting around a table with two giants standing behind them. They can’t see us yet as the guards block Maisy and me from their view.
“Last chance, Little Maisy. You dance, or she dies.” In that moment, I feel the gun press into my side. Instead of freaking out, I take on Shadow’s persona and chuckle.
“Couldn’t get your way back there when we were alone, so now you’re going to push it here in front of your friends. Fuck you. I’ll dance. My sister won’t.”
“Fine.” Javier smirks as if he got his wish, but he doesn’t realize the powder keg he just lit.
Screw this job. We are out of here. We can find another way to help find Syndall.