"Why not?"
I heard the door close, and I looked over my shoulder to see that she had come into my room. "Because she thinks something fishy is happening between us. I don't even know what that means."
The bed dipped behind me. "Did she watch you on the cameras?"
"Yes."
"And what happened?"
I told her about Frankie telling me we were going to pretend to have sex, how we got naked and slid under the covers, and how he pulled the sheet up and over us so Madam couldn't see us on the cameras. Then I told her how he kissed me and how magical it was and how we kissed the entire time and how I never wanted it to stop. I finished my story about how Madam came in and scolded me, forbidding me from seeing Frankie anymore.
"I don't think she can do that," Erin stated.
I turned over finally and faced her. "Really?"
"She could if he were any other client, but this is Mr. Russo's son, and Mr. Russo is the boss."
"But she's my mom. Can't she stop him?"
Erin lifted a shoulder. "She couldn't the first night."
I stared at her for a few seconds. Erin was right. Madam had tried to stop it, but Mr. Russo insisted, and she’d given in. She’d sold her virgin daughter to his son. "What's going to happen when he comes back?"
"I don't know."
I didn't either, but I knew that he would return because I trusted him now. He told me the first time that he would be back, and he did come back, so I was certain he would again. It terrified me to think about what Madam would do, though. Could she forbid Frankie from seeing me as she’d threatened? I didn't know how her relationship with Mr. Russo worked, but even Frankie told me that his dad was her boss. That had to mean something, right?
"Is something fishy going on?" Erin asked.
"No, of course not."
She narrowed her eyes. "Zell, I know your heart is breaking, but you can tell me."
"Nothing fishy is going on." I didn't know what that meant, but I said it anyway.
"So, he didn't tell you that he was going to get you out of here?"
I drew my head back a little. "Is that fishy?"
"Of course it is."
"Why?"
"Because you can't leave."
"I can if the boss takes me, right?"
Erin arched a brow. "The boss?"
I sat up and crossed my legs. "Frankie said that he's becoming the boss."
"Really?"
I nodded excitedly. "His dad is teaching him how to take over."
"And then what?"
I shrugged slightly. “Then, he will take me out of here."
"Zell"—she squeezed my knee that was under the covers—"you need to be careful."
"Careful?" I arched a brow.
"I know you think that everything will be okay just because Frankie will become the boss, but Madam is still your mom. You're only seventeen, and you need to abide by her rules."
"I'm almost eighteen," I told her as though she didn't know. The girls were the only ones to remember my birthday, which was in two short weeks.
"I know, sweetie, but we don't live a normal life."
"I know that."
"I'm honestly worried about what will happen when you turn eighteen," Erin admitted.
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared that Madam will think it will be okay for you to see clients."
"As in … as in sex?" I questioned.
"Yes."
"But I'm still a virgin," I reminded her.
"I know, and that makes me even more nervous."
"What do we do?"
She was silent for a few seconds as she stared at the lone window in my room. "I don't know, Zell. The girls and I might need to teach you everything we know."
A tear rolled down my cheek. I didn't want to be with anyone except Frankie. He made me feel comfortable. He made me laugh, and he never once made me do anything I didn't want to do. "Maybe Frankie will come for me on my birthday," I suggested.
"Does he know when that is?"
I shook my head. "I didn't tell him the exact date."
Erin wiped my tear. "Well, just in case, I think we need to teach you more than what's in our textbooks."
When my father told me that I was going to learn the other half of his business, I'd assumed I would stop selling drugs for him. That wasn't the case. I was still selling to people at school whenever they needed something. I tried to leave my stash at home, but my father had stopped me on the way out the door and asked where my bag was. The bag he knew I carried the drugs in.
After school, Dad took me under his wing, so to speak. We went to the warehouse and took in the merchandise. For the past two weeks, a new woman was brought in each day. Selling drugs was more on the down-low but kidnapping? That shit was out in the open, and people had to report the women missing, which would mean the police were involved, and I didn't necessarily mean NYPD. I had learned that the women who were taken were, a lot of the times, tourists, so that got me thinking. I searched on the internet and found out that there were nearly 90,000 missing people cases open in the US alone. How was that possible? It was no wonder my father got away with his shit. Before there could be an investigation, the women were sold and shipped off without a trace.
To make matters worse, I hadn't seen Zell in almost two weeks. I thought about her all the time, and I had planned to go every Saturday night instead of going to parties like I had in the past, but instead, my father had other plans for me.
We were getting ready for another auction, and I was no closer to figuring out how to stop it or get Zell out of the penthouse. I thought about just walking out of the place with Zell by my side, and I was certain I could do that by pulling my weight, but once my father found out, I would have a lot to explain, and he would take her back. It wasn't as though I had a place for us to hide, and I didn't want to hide her. She had been locked away for far too long, and the poor girl needed sunshine.
Dad was out doing his business—or at his club—Mom was still MIA, and I wanted to see Zell, so I did. This time though, Madam was going to turn the fucking cameras off. She would learn that I was going to be her boss, and I should have the same respect as my father.
I got into the town car that I used and instructed my driver to head to the penthouse. It was only a few blocks away, but before we got there, I had an idea. "Nate, pull up to the corner. I need to run into the store for a minute."
"Yes, sir," Nate replied and pulled the car over to the curb.
As I got out of the back of the car, snow fell from the sky, and I hurried inside the store. It wasn't a place I frequented, but I quickly found what I was looking for, paid for it, and headed back to the warm car. Nate drove me the rest of the way to the penthouse.
"I'll be an hour or so," I stated as I opened the door and slid out. "I'll text you when I'm ready."
"Yes, sir."
I hurried into the lobby of the building, and like the time before, I buzzed up to the penthouse floor to let Madam know I was there. When I’d come with my father the first time, he’d used a key to get up to the penthouse. I'd assumed all clients had one, but once I knew he owned the place, I thought differently. When I’d come alone last time, I’d had to be buzzed up after using a one-way monitor to call up.