Chapter 78
1812words
There's a stranger in the house.
I lean over the railing near the staircase to get a better look. Blonde hair down to her hips, a fur-lined ivory coat that doesn't hide how thin she is. She's shorter than me; I can tell because she's standing next to Mila and barely reaches her shoulder. Small. That's the word I'd use to describe her. Not only in stature, but also in how she presents herself.
I've seen beaten dogs who shake less.
'Come on, Madison," Mila says, her tone gentler than normal. 'Asher is upstairs."
She's here to see Asher? Intrigued, I remain where I am on the stairs as the pair get closer. Mila sees me, her eyes going from wide to narrow. Madison, who has been pressing close to Mila like she's a source of comfort, stops short at the sight of me. The young woman can't be older than eighteen. Her face, unlike her thin body, has the roundness of youth.
'Did you need something?" Mila asks me with an edge.
Ignoring her, I smile kindly at Madison. 'Hi there, I'm Camila."
Madison shuffles her ankles together and doesn't smile back. 'Hi." Her voice is light as air. I glance down at her feet on the stairs. Her shoes are old and chewed up, one of them missing a part of the shoelace so the tongue flops loosely.
Mila coughs in a clearly fake way. 'Excuse us, we've got business to get to."
'Yes. To meet with Asher," I call out, following them as they move past me to the landing above. From behind, Mila's shoulders stiffen until they're as still as a wall. Madison peers back at me while Mila stays looking forward. 'Why?"
'This doesn't concern you," she replies coldly.
Except everything concerns me. And she knows that. More curious than ever, I squeeze by them, standing in the hallway—not quite blocking them with my body, but not letting them escape easily either. I offer Madison another sweet smile. But she looks terrified.
'How do you know Asher?"
'I don't," she whispers.
Puzzled, I check Mila's expression. For a second, I catch her looking at Madison with the immense, loving concern I saw earlier. But when she turns to me, her face grows cold again.
'Mila, do you know this girl?" I ask warily.
'No, but in a way," she snaps. Her neck tightens. 'I do."
Both of them turn their gazes away from me toward the floor, as if they're somehow able to see the same thing. Something that I can't.
'Why are you taking her to see Asher?" I ask.
Madison speaks up before Mila can. Her big brown eyes fix on me. 'He's going to help me."
'How?"
'Madison …" Mila whispers, but she doesn't interfere.
The blonde girl rubs her hands up and down the outsides of her frail arms. 'I escaped a brothel owned by a terrible man."
The pieces click into place as I look between Mila and Madison. There's only one type of person Mila would be this protective of. 'You're one of the girls that he …"
Madison pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. 'Yes."
Mila's posture has shifted into someone ready to go to war. The tiny hairs on my neck prickle upward as she glares at me. I know I'm not why she's upset, but being on the opposite end of her fury is terrifying.
'I found Madison staggering in the dark. When she told me where she'd come from, I knew she had to speak with Asher."
I nod. Mila's horrific past is only bearable because there is a distance between her and the tragedy. But Madison? Her trauma is fresh. Whatever hell she escaped still haunts her.
Asher informed me that the business had been brought back to life. But there's a world of difference between knowing about the business and seeing the terrible scars that it leaves behind in person.
'Come on," I urge, motioning down the hall. 'Let's go talk to him."
Madison manages something close to a smile.
As we walk, I drop beside Mila, letting her lead the way.
Mila shoots me a quick glance. 'You don't have to be a part of this."
'Yes," I say solemnly, 'I do."
Asher is waiting for us in his office. The lack of surprise in his eyes tells me Mila let him know ahead of time that she was coming and who she was bringing. He surveys all three of us, lingering on me with a look I can't discern.
Finally, he focuses on Madison. 'You know who I am?"
She swallows. 'Yes."
'Why are you here?"
His gruffness leaves me confused. I try to catch his eye, but he ignores me. Mila, though, seems to be on the verge of speaking up. Her lips are pressed into a line so taut it could snap.
Madison trembles as she rubs her elbows through her coat. She can't be cold. It's not possible.
Asher is the source of her shaking.
I glare harder at him. He still ignores me. Madison says in a reedy voice, 'I need protection."
'From Yannick?" he asks.
'He's going to look for me," she whispers, sounding miserable. 'He told all of us that escaping was pointless. If we tried, he'd drag us back and beat us until we couldn't move. Then he'd kill us." She covers her mouth like she's going to throw up. 'I saw him do it to another girl. I know he isn't lying."
'Yes," Asher muses in a growl. 'But I wonder if you are."
Mila steps forward, ready to challenge him. 'There are no lies here. I believe her."
He holds her in an emotionless gaze. 'That's not for you to decide, Mila."
She scowls as she flicks her eyes meaningfully at Madison. 'There could be other girls like her."
'Which is why I need you out there," he says flatly. 'In case there are more."
The gears in her head begin to turn. She's placated by this suggestion, but her voice comes out strained and clipped as she heads for the door. 'Remember what I went through."
It's crystal clear what she's trying to say.
Treat the poor girl with kindness.
Someone has to.
I'm glad that Mila has taken such a big-sister position with Madison. I know Asher respects Mila deeply. I'm sure he'll keep her trauma in mind while talking with Madison.
Or that's what I think until the door shuts and he squares up with the frail blonde girl.
Looming over her, his face a mass of shadows from how hooded his brows are, he talks in a tone above reproach.
'Who are you?"
She balks, shrinking where she stands. 'I'm … I'm Madison."
'No last name?" he demands.
'Pelante," she blurts. 'But does it even matter? Nobody called me by that name. Sometimes they didn't even bother to call me Madison either."
My heart breaks for the girl all over again.
'Who else have you seen?" he demands. 'In the brothels."
Madison shivers with such intensity that her joints could pop from their sockets. This is more like an inquisition than a safe zone. It's upsetting me to see him be so harsh with her. 'Just men. Tattooed men. Rough men. Men that like to hurt." She pauses a beat, her eyebrows twisting as she takes a shuddering breath. 'No, there was someone else. An older woman."
My attention peaks.
Asher looks more irritated. 'Who?"
'I don't know," she insists. 'She came around to teach some of the girls how to dance."
Dance.
Mamochka.
The air goes out of me. I stare openly at Madison before whipping my eyes around to look at Asher. 'Do you think that it's her?"
His frown melts at the corners. He's no longer angry; he's worried. He doesn't like how hopeful I'm getting. 'There's too little detail. Plenty of older women teach dancing, and besides, the type they'd learn at a brothel isn't ballet."
'But it's possible!" I hiss, my excitement boiling over. We can do it! We can find out where she is!
'Madison!" Now it's my turn to demand. 'Where is the brothel you worked at?"
Her skin drains of all color. If I held her to the window, I'm sure I'd be able to see through her skin. 'I can't remember."
'Did it have a name?"
'I … I don't know. I never heard one."
My hope is snuffed out like a candle in the wind. 'Then you can't guide us there."
Mom … no …
Each time I get close, the taste of success is snatched away.
She exhales. 'I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you. But there were guards everywhere so we couldn't get away. I got lucky only because the ones on watch got too drunk. They were passed out, and I ran through the back door. I sprinted down so many alleys and side streets I couldn't find my way back if I tried."
Asher drums his fingers on his biceps. Walking to the office window, he peers out of it. 'I don't like it."
'What do you mean?" I ask nervously.
'This is too convenient." He shoots daggers at Madison. 'She could be a spy for Yannick. Sent to get close to me."
'That's …" I trail off, torn between his reasoning and the gut feeling I get from Madison. She's loitering by the couch, not sitting in it, though she should—her legs look ready to buckle. A spy? Asher, she looks like a frightened child! The details she gave are too clear for me to think she made it all up.
'Mila believed her," I say bluntly.
'Because Mila wants to believe her," he replies bluntly. Folding his hands behind his back, he approaches Madison. She bends into herself the closer he gets. At this rate, she'll vanish.
'There's one way to know the truth."
'What's that?" she whimpers, her chin wobbling.
His shadow slides over her, turning the white of her outfit, the white of her skin, black as old blood. Madison's eyes are ready to fall from her skull. I know what is about to happen before it happens.
I remember the way Mila ripped open her own clothes to show me the chained fox forcibly inked on her shoulder.
'No!" I shout, holding up my hand to intervene. 'Let me handle this."
He eyeballs me curiously. 'Handle what?"
'I'll search her."
I look at Madison with a new swell of sympathy. The poor thing probably had plenty of terrifying men looking over her body. If Asher were to do it … it would break her after all that she's been through.
Asher stands taller, his eyes becoming suspicious slits. 'You don't know what to look for."
I face him without fear. 'A fox on its haunches surrounded by chains."
