I walk over to Bella, grabbing her attention as she bites into her bagel.
“Everything okay?” she asks around a mouthful.
“What the hell do you want?” Mark growls.
I put the call on speaker phone, so I’m able to hear the conversation.
“Mark?” Bella tosses her bagel on the plate on the bed and jumps up, causing it to flip over onto the, was-clean, comforter.
She grabs the phone from my hand and I let her. Holding it up to her face, she talks into the speaker. “Mark, is it you?”
“Bella. You gotta run. You gotta do whatever it takes. Get away from that Ellis guy or you’ll end up dead. I mean it—”
Bella looks at me as she tries to calm her brother down. “Mark, I’m okay. I promise Cal would never hurt me.”
“That’s what he wants you to believe. Listen, that Byron guy and Trent, I heard them talking and Ellis is bad news. Lures young girls to work at some club and promises them the world only to—”
I cut him off by snatching the phone away and shutting the speaker off. “Listen here, you nitwit. Did it ever occur to you that those guys let you hear what they wanted you to hear?”
His response is just heavy breaths.
“That’s what I thought. I’d never hurt Bella. In fact, I can ensure your safety, too, if you’d quit being a jackass and listen to what I have to say.”
“Give me the phone back, Cal. I wanna hear what he has to say.”
Ignoring her pleas, I finish up the call with Mark. “A guard will be outside your hospital room. Seems you’re gonna be there for a while.”
I tap End and stick my phone in my pocket, preparing for the wrath of Bella.
She looks past me, lost in thought. When she speaks, it’s like she’s talking to thin air. “I’m glad to hear he’s going to be okay. Thank you for setting that call up for me.”
“Of course. Everything is going to be okay, baby. I promise you.”
Bella laughs condescendingly. “Okay? Everything is not okay, Cal. Everything is a mess.”
I position myself on the end of the bed where she’s kneeling. Bagel crumbs coat the white comforter and cream cheese has smeared on the pillowcase. “Eventually, it will be okay.”
She drops onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “What did Mark mean when he was talking about young girls working for you?”
“Bella, I swear he’s lying. It wasn’t me, it was—”
Her head shoots up. “I believe you.”
I give her a sideways glance, finding it hard to believe that I don’t have to go to great depths to explain myself. “You do?”
Bella sits up, crawls across the bed until her arms are around me. “Of course, I do. I wish I could believe that everything is going to be okay, but when you tell me you didn’t do something, I believe you now.”
I pull her onto my lap, burying my face in her hair. “Byron has pretty much always run things at the clubs. I’m still in charge, but I let him do his thing, thinking he was doing a good job. A few years ago, during the recession, we had a hard time finding girls to work at the club. He said he had it under control and I assumed he did. It wasn’t until shortly before you arrived that I did some research on the employees and realized they were young girls. All of consensual age, but eighteen, nineteen-year-old girls straight outta high school. Do you remember me telling you that he was doing some shady business?”
“Yeah. I think so. It was the night you told me about the contract and how I’d basically agreed to marrying you without my knowledge.”
One of my many fuck-ups with Bella. “Yeah. Yeah, I did do that,” I admit.
“Hey,” she turns my face toward hers, “in the past, remember?”
“Yeah. In the past.” For now. “Anyways, he basically had men go out and find these girls who were living in poverty or needed some extra cash. Lured them in and promised them the world. Once they were in, he gave them no choice but to stay.”
“I mean, if they agreed to it and they were old enough to make the decision, I don’t see how it’s that bad.”
“It’s the way he treats them that’s wrong. A couple nights after you arrived at Cori Cove, I found him slapping a girl around and belittling her. A minute later, he was consoling her and apologizing, behaving like the sociopath that he is. He uses his narcissistic behavior to manipulate these women. Makes them think they need him and the job.”
“So, what are you gonna do about it?”
“Well,” I drawl, rubbing my thumb across my chin. “Once Byron is no longer a problem, I’m hoping to find someone to help these girls. Rehabilitate them and find them jobs that will help them in the long run, maybe even help them with schooling.”
Bella’s eyes light up as if she’s had an epiphany. “Let me help. Please, Cal. If these girls are in trouble, then I want to help them.”
“I think we could work something out. I think I’m shutting the clubs down, so a lot of employees are going to be out on their asses. I might offer a small severance, but I’m not sure what more I can do.”
She looks surprised. “You’re shutting the clubs down?”
“It was never my thing. It was always Vincent’s and Byron’s. Sure, I enjoyed them from time to time, but it’s no loss to the company if I close up shop.”
Bella doesn’t say anything, just gives me that voided look as if her wheels are spinning. “What if I help run the clubs? If the girls choose to stay, then I can be their boss.”
That warrants a laugh on my part. “Not a chance. Those men have grubby hands that like to touch every ass that walks by. I’d have to sit in a corner with brass knuckles and a shotgun in my hand.” I crane my neck to get a better look at her. “Why is it so important to you?”
“It’s not…important to me. I just kind of like the environment and I can tell others do, too.”
“Of course they do. It’s sex. Everyone loves sex.”
Bella shakes her head. “No, it’s more than that. For the employees, it’s a job. For the members, it’s an escape. A chance to be more than a spouse or a parent or a businessman. It’s a place where you can be and do whatever you want without judgment.”
“All right. I’ll put this on the list of things to revisit once we’re out of this damn suite.”
Bella grins, then softly kisses my lips. “Deal.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
I can’t stop thinking about Cherry. She doesn’t look a day over twenty. I get the feeling that Byron is using manipulation tactics and abuse to keep her there, the same way Cal said he was doing to the other girls.
I have to talk to her. I know we’re not friends, but she’s such a sweet girl, and if there is anything I can do to help her, I have to at least try.
“Do you trust me, Cal?”
Concern sweeps across his face. “Of course I do. Why do you ask?”
“Just making sure.” I kiss his lips, knowing that I’ll be asking for forgiveness later.
Cal falls asleep only minutes later with me in his arms. I close my eyes, trying like hell to do the same, but my mind keeps wandering back to Cherry and all the girls who were victimized by Byron.