by Claire Adams
I hoped that in the future I would only be doing a dance for my man in the privacy of my own home. Someday, that would be the future I would have. Maybe it would be with Jackson, or maybe it would be with someone else entirely. All I knew was that I didn’t intend to ever go back to the life I used to have. There was so much more in my future, and I was going to go after it with everything I had. I wasn’t going to settle for a life I hated anymore.
Life was too short to live without following your dreams and I knew that. When this job was done, I was going after what I wanted in life.
I saw Ana first in line and gave her a hug. She certainly didn’t look like she was ready to take on the stage. But at least she had done it before and knew what to expect.
“Good luck,” I said.
“Thanks,” she slurred as she walked very unsteadily out to the stage.
It was clear she had taken way too many drugs and I was afraid what her dance was going to look like to Stephano. I just hoped that she could hold herself together.
I stayed close to the stage to watch as she did her dance for Stephano. He seemed particularly fond of her and his eyes intently latched onto her every move. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that Stephano really did want to keep Ana for himself.
Chapter 21
JACKSON
Watching Roxanne slap PJ was an eye opener for me. I saw that Stephano was coming and that PJ had been talking like she wasn’t supposed to have been doing. It was a good thing that Roxanne had slapped her. I had to wonder what PJ would have been doing if Roxanne wasn’t there. She probably would have been talking to the girls and given herself away, but I hoped she wouldn’t have. I also hoped she would be able to keep herself together to finish out the rest of the job. She had to play her part or nothing was going to work out the way we needed it to.
As Roxanne danced on stage, I could see bits and pieces of it through PJ’s camera. It made me feel dirty to watch Roxanne up on that stage, but I also wanted her more than I had the last time I saw her dance. She was such a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I couldn’t wait to make up with her when this was all over.
This time, as she danced, all I could think about was how that was going to be the last time she ever had to dance for men. I would make sure that she wouldn’t have to dance for anyone else ever again. Unless she wanted to dance for me in private, of course.
I wanted her off the stage and it killed me that Chase and Nate got to see her. They were probably loving that they got to see every inch of her, especially Nate. It killed me to think of all the things I knew he was imaging doing with Roxanne.
When Roxanne left the stage, Ana went up. I still didn’t really know why Ana had to dance again, but I could only imagine that maybe her buyer wanted additional footage before he flew over from overseas. Or perhaps the original buyer had backed out and they were trying to sell her to someone else? What I did know was that she was snowed with drugs and could hardly walk.
PJ made sure to look right at Ana during her whole dance and I got to watch much more of it than I had seen of Roxanne. PJ looked into the audience and I noticed both Chase and Nate looked really concerned as they watched. If it had been up to them, I know they would have run up to the stage and rescued her right then and there.
Ana held herself together fairly well as she danced to the music, but she didn’t take any of her clothing off. Perhaps that was what her buyer wanted? I wasn’t sure, but when she finished her dance and walked back past PJ, I saw that her eyes were barely open and she looked like she was going to fall over.
PJ looked back briefly and I saw Roxanne helping Ana down the stairs behind the stage. It made me feel much better to see that Ana was being taken care of by Roxanne. Again, I was happy that Roxanne was there. It was a really good thing and I just wished we had discussed it in person before she had decided to just leave.
As a few other girls took the stage, PJ made a point to look around the back of the club and other areas behind the stage. She did a great job of letting me see what was all around her. I didn’t expect that we were going to be able to get the girls out while they were at the club, though. There were clearly too many security guards around and I suspected they were all carrying guns.
For the time being, Nate and Chase would just have to sell PJ to Stephano and we would have to figure out our next best step. At least once PJ was at Stephano’s house, we would have video of the inside and be able to see who was around. Plus, PJ and Roxanne could talk to us through the video, though we couldn’t talk to them. It was too dangerous to give PJ and ear piece, so we would just have to deal with the one-way video and audio that we had.
The stage went dark and I watched closely as PJ made her way onto the stage. She set her glasses right in front and pointed them toward Stephano, although I could also see Nate and Chase, as well. A little part of me wished she would have turned them around so I could see her dance, but that was just the guy in me. Professionally, it was much better to see Stephano.
When the music started, I saw Nate’s face brighten up. He leaned forward in his seat as he watched the show that PJ was putting on for them. Chase also seemed interested in the show this time and wasn’t hiding his face like he had done when Roxanne was dancing.
The music was rough and had a lot of base to it. In my head, I imagined PJ as she moved around the pole and danced with the beat of the music. Then suddenly, I saw a piece of clothing go flying off the stage toward Stephano. It looked like a bra.
PJ had taken off her top. Well, she sure was going all out for the job. I took back my feeling about her not knowing what she was doing earlier. Obviously, she had much more skills than I had given her credit for.
When the music finally stopped, PJ picked up her glasses and put them back on. Stephano was right up at the stage and held his hand out for PJ to come down. It was impressive how well PJ must have danced to get Stephano up out of his seat and standing there for her.
“I don’t know why on earth you would want to get rid of this beautiful creature,” Stephano said to Nate. “But I will buy her from you for ten thousand dollars.”
“She wasn’t that nice to me, you can have her,” Nate said.
Stephano motioned for one of his men to bring him his money and then whispered to the man how much he needed. PJ turned and watched the man as he opened a briefcase with thousands and thousands of dollars in it.
After handing Nate the money they had agreed on, Stephano pulled PJ toward him and kissed her. From the view of her glasses all I could see was Stephano’s face pressed up against PJ’s and I suddenly felt really bad that I had thought she couldn’t do her job. She was the one standing there naked and kissing Stephano. She was doing a great job.
“Now leave,” Stephano said as he looked at Nate and Chase.
PJ followed them with her eyes as they left the building and then she turned back to Stephano. He suddenly seemed very sweet and nice to her. I could see the grooming process as it started right then and there.
Stephano was going to be nice to Ilsa, or PJ – he wanted her to like him. He also wanted more than just a kiss from her and that made me really nervous. I didn’t know what the hell we were going to do if PJ got stuck alone in a room with Stephano and he tried to have his way with her. We would have to go in and that wasn’t a good idea, at all.
“You are beautiful. I know you don’t speak English, but I think I might keep you for myself since you are so sweet.”
PJ looked down and I saw Stephano’s hands on her breast and massaging it. “Thank you,” she said in her best broken English.
“Oh, you are a sweet little thing. I can’t wait to tie you up to my bed and fuck you until you pass out.”
“Shit,” I said as Chase and Nate made it to my van. “He just told PJ he wants to tie her up to his bed.”
“Should we go back in there?” Nate asked.
“No, let’s see what she does,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said agai
n in broken English.
“Get Roxy out here,” Stephano yelled to one of his guys.
As they waited for Roxanne to come out front, Stephano continued to fondle PJ. She looked down once so I could see what was going on and then she looked back at Stephano.
“Yes,” Roxanne said as she came up next to the stage with PJ and Stephano.
“Feed her, get her in the shower, and tonight I’ll bring her up to my room with me after dinner.”
“Okay,” Roxanne said as she waited for PJ.
“Oh, I’m going to enjoy playing with you so much,” Stephano said as he kissed PJ again and then motioned for Roxanne to take her away.
As Roxanne and PJ made their way into the back room, neither of them talked. I could see there were two guards in the room and it was obvious most of the excitement was over for the evening. At least, for the three women we cared most about.
“So, should we just grab some hardware and go in there with guns blazing?” Chase said as he pretended to have guns in each of his hands.
“No, stupid. There were at least six guys with guns in there. Do you want to get yourself shot?” Nate added.
“We could always notify the local authorities and let them take it from here,” Chase said as he sat down next to me and watched the monitor from PJ’s glasses.
If you would have asked me on day one what I would suggest doing in this situation, I would have said to call the locals. But the problem I was having now was that Roxanne was in there. The local authorities would take forever to decide how they were going to raid the place, if they even decided to raid it. Then the likelihood that there would be casualties was much higher because those guys didn’t know anyone inside and would just be gung-ho to capture Stephano.
Or, the local police would just tip Stephano off that we were trying to have them arrested. Then PJ would be in the most danger since we put her in there, but all the girls would be in danger of being hurt. A man like Stephano wouldn’t bat an eye at killing a group of girls if it meant keeping himself safe. If he didn’t know which girls he could trust, he could just decide to dispose of them all.
“I think our best bet is to watch when the girls get back to Stephano’s home. While there, we can see how many guards stay and how many leave. In the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping, we can try and get in. There should be a lot fewer guards around and we could get the girls out without even having to shoot our guns, if we’re lucky.”
Chase nodded his head in agreement while Nate seemed to ponder what I was saying. He also seemed very interested in the monitor of what PJ was seeing in the locker room behind the stage.
“Do you think all those girls are from overseas?” Nate asked.
“Yeah, probably.”
“Where will they go from here? I mean if we don’t get them out? He sells them back to people overseas?”
“Yeah, like Chase bought his wife from over there. Other guys like to buy their women, too,” I said jokingly.
“I didn’t buy her. It was a dating website!” Chase yelled.
We had teased him about how he met Jordan from the day we found out. It was about the only thing we could tease him about since he was now an upstanding member of society and running our father’s business better than he ever had. It wasn’t like when he was younger and we could pick on him for dressing weird or dating unusual girls. Now he was actually one of the most stable guys in our family.
“Okay, okay, you didn’t buy her. That hot international model girl just likes you for who you are,” Nate continued.
“It looks like they are getting ready to leave,” I said as I watched the girls through the monitor.
PJ continued to do a great job of looking around with her glasses on so we could see who all was going with them. It appeared that only two of the guards actually drove everyone in SUV’s back to Stephano’s house. It was impossible to know if the other guards drove on their own or if they just didn’t come at all, but at that point, I was pretty excited to see that only two of them were with the girls. It would be much easier to overpower two guys than it would have been to take down all six of them.
We kept our distance and followed the SUVs for a few miles until I was positive they were just going to Stephano’s house. PJ was in a vehicle with Roxanne and five other girls, but Ana was in the other SUV.
“Take them downstairs, everyone needs cleaned up and that makeup crap off their faces before dinner,” Stephano yelled as the vehicle PJ was in started to unload in the driveway to his house.
“Why does he care if we have makeup on?” PJ asked Roxanne.
Roxanne shot PJ a stern glare as if to tell her to stop talking. It was obvious that Stephano and his men were very close to them, I couldn’t figure out why PJ kept trying to talk to Roxanne. I could certainly see that it was annoying Roxanne and I just hoped she didn’t slap PJ again. The last thing we needed was our two women on the inside fighting it out; we needed them to work together and get all the girls out safely before Stephano could figure out what was going on.
Ideally, I thought the girls might be able to sneak out in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, we had no way of communicating that plan to PJ or Roxanne so we would have to just observe them and see what might be happening. I hoped once the girls were into the living area, PJ might have a little more freedom to actually talk with Roxanne.
As the girls all settled in at Stephano’s house, Nate, Chase, and I needed to figure out how we could continue to monitor the women, but also get closer to the property. It wasn’t like we could just drive our vehicle into the water or anything.
Then I had a brilliant idea.
“Guys, we need to drive over to the Duck Boat Tours,” I said as I looked at my watch.
It was late afternoon and I didn’t know how late the tours operated, but if we timed things right, I hoped we could enlist my tour friend to help us out. He was the perfect person to help us with the next step of our plan.
When we got to the Duck Boat Tours office, I jumped out of the van and made my way over to George to try and convince him to help us out. I had a good feeling about the guy and I really thought he would help us get closer to Stephano’s house.
“George,” I said as I walked up to my tour boat operator friend.
He knew I looked familiar, but it took him a moment to remember I had been on his tour the other day.
“Oh, hey, how are you?”
“I’m good, but I need a favor. What time do your tours stop?”
“Nine o’clock, why?”
“We need you to drive us on a special operation,” I said as I leaned in close to him.
George had seemed very interested in my military background before, so I thought it might help if I enlisted him in our secret operation. At that point, I was willing to do and say almost anything to convince him to help us. His boat was exactly what we needed to rescue the girls, as well as get us close enough that my surveillance equipment would still work.
“What’s up?” George said as he looked around.
“We need to get close to a house on Star Island tonight. I’ve got to have my tech gear with me and we might have to rescue some people. Do you think you could help?” I asked as I handed him a stack of money.
“Holy shit!” George exclaimed as he glanced at the money and then stuffed it in his pocket. “Yeah, man, I can help. Be here at nine and we can get everything going.”
“Thanks, George. We might be up all night with this mission. Can you handle that?”
“Yes, sir, I can,” he said with excitement.
“See you at nine.”
“That guy seemed overly excited,” Nate commented as we returned to our van.
“He’ll do fine. I think he’s been waiting for some excitement in his life.”
“You think we can sneak up on his property with a giant Duck Tour boat, Jackson?”
“Like I said, he will do fine. The boat will do fine. Everything will be just fine as long as the women ca
n keep their end of things going. We better get back to the monitors and make sure they aren’t beating each other up,” I said as we climbed back into the back of our van.
Luckily, from the Duck Boat Tours office we were still able to get reception on PJ’s video. But we would have to drive around to the other side of the island if we wanted to get to the road that led to the neighborhood. I was happy we had arranged to work with George, because I was certain our signal wouldn’t hold out if we had to go that far on the other side of the island.
The women were all downstairs and PJ was by herself as she walked around the area and looked into each of the rooms so we could see the layout. Although each bedroom had a window in it, when PJ walked up close, the windows appeared to be screwed shut. As far as I could tell, there were only two ways out of the basement. One was through a door to a back patio and the other was through stairs that let up to the main living area. There was a security guard at both those entrances.
“Do you think PJ could take those guys?” Nate asked as we watched PJ walk up near one of the guards.
“Well, if she can take them down and if she should are two different things. Those two guys both have guns and she doesn’t have any backup. None of those other women are going to know how to fight. We need her to wait until we can be in position to help out.”
“Tell me again why you didn’t want her to wear an earpiece?” Nate asked.
“Just because no one checked her for a wire doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have if we had given her some communications. This is what we have – don’t be an ass about it, just work with it.”
Nate liked to give me a hard time, but we had worked together in the military and he knew exactly why I had made the decisions I had so far. The brotherly side of him just insisted on trying to second guess me and make me look bad in front of Chase. But when all was said and done, we were going to work together and get those girls all out safely, including PJ and Roxanne.
