Chapter 68

ASHER

Callum and Tyler are in Callum’s office, waiting for us. Callum is engrossed in his laptop, while Tyler gazes out the window that offers a view of the house. I join him, watching the girls just as he had been.

Mama is talking to them, with Maddison standing protectively in front of the other two, as if my mother is a threat. The idea is laughable, but I guess Maddison hasn’t met my mother yet.

Mama seems to be having a hard time persuading them to enter the house, and it’s only when Ella emerges to greet the girls that Maddison steps back a bit and gives in.

The scene is strange to witness, and I can’t help but wonder what Maddison’s issue is.

“She reminds me a lot of your mother at that age,” Tyler comments.

“She does?” I ask, surprised.

“Independent but completely lost in her situation,” he adds, his tone tinged with sadness and understanding.

“So I hear you have some things you need to discuss.” Callum interjects, startling me with his sudden closeness. He’s also looking out the window.

“They all look so different,” he observes, sounding surprised.

His comment confuses me, and I watch him watch them as they walk with Ella toward us. My mother clutches her hands to her chest anxiously, watching the four of them approach while visibly restraining herself from following them.

“I suppose they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Callum quips, moving away from the window to return to his desk.

“You think they’re my girls?” I ask him, turning away as well. I know that if I keep watching, I won’t be able to tear myself away.

“Aren’t they?” He raises an eyebrow, as if expecting me to confess to having a harem like my mother.

“No, well yes… technically, but no. They’re not my girls,” I clarify, feeling anxious.

“Don’t get lost in miscommunication,” Zach advises as he reenters the room, carrying two more chairs. I hadn’t even noticed him leave.

Now there are four chairs, one for each of us. It’s like a man’s meeting.

Zach takes the seat next to me, while Callum settles into his usual chair and Tyler sits next to Callum. This arrangement is unusual. Normally, they would sit on one side and I on the other, but not today.

I’m puzzled by Zach’s decision to sit next to me, but I don’t question it. Instead, I slide the envelope from my hand onto the table. It sits there like a ticking time bomb, all four of us staring at it, waiting for it to detonate.

“This, again?” Callum asks, sounding exasperated.

“Open it,” I insist.

He does, and the first picture of Maddison, her smile stunningly beautiful, stares back at him. It’s a stark contrast to her usual angry expression.

“You didn’t…” Callum begins, his eyes wide with shock as he looks out the window we were just peering through.

“I thought I told you to leave this to the police.”

“You knew but didn’t help him?” Zach interjects, sounding like he’s firmly on my side for once.

I want to revel in this rare moment of solidarity, but the conversation doesn’t allow for it.

“He came to me for help. I told him to let the people who are actually investigating these missing girls handle it, yes.”

“But you didn’t tell us,” Tyler points out, sounding a bit hurt.

A sense of impending doom settles among the three men I consider my fathers. It’s two against one, but this time, it’s Zach and Tyler on the same side.

“This case is a high-profile case. The amount of money they’ve poured into the investigation is…more than you’d like to think. There are people already embedded in the club where these girls work; a good number of them are safe without even knowing it,” Callum explains.

My jaw drops; it literally falls open like a trapdoor with a broken latch. He knows too much not to be involved.

A knowing look passes between us, and I realize that Sense is the one assisting the police.

“How long have you known?” Zach asks.

“I really shouldn’t be sharing this with you; it’s top-secret stuff. But…” He gives me a long, lingering look before swallowing hard.

“Screw it. For about half a year, I’ve had a few teams posing as clients. They purchase the girls’ services, and the girls either live with them freely for a while, or they just get the night off. The cops are trying to figure out where the trafficking transactions take place, but the girls are too terrified or too high to talk. Not a single one has broken, and we have six.”

“I know Maddison will talk; if you just give me some time to earn her trust, I’m sure she’ll help,” I say quietly.

“No, you need to return these girls to the club. Terminate your contract and stay out of grown-up fucking business,” Callum insists.

Zach stiffens next to me, a reaction that echoes deep within me, but I have to hold my own.

“I am a grown-up, Dad. News flash, I’ve been a fucking adult for years now.”

“This isn’t your job; your job is to take over the hotels. To use your damn degree to help the businesses continue to grow,” he lectures me.

“No,” I retort.

“Take it easy,” Zach murmurs to me.

“Why can’t Asher keep doing what he started? He’s only done exactly what you did. He paid for the three girls downstairs, and they live with him, completely happy and free.”

“You paid for them? Oh, for God’s sake, Asher. Do you realize the charges you could face?” he questions me.

“I don’t give a damn what I could be charged with; Maddison needed my help. Addison needed my help; Ebony was the one who needed my help the most. Why is it always like this with the three of you?”

I stand, furious that Callum was so dismissive of me when he knew who these girls were the day I approached him. That day I asked for his help, he could have used me, drawn me in, and trained me to do this much better than I’ve managed on my own.

I could have assisted him in helping these girls, but once again, he thinks I’m useless and worthless.

“Asher,” Tyler calls after me as I storm out of Callum’s office.

“Go fuck yourself,” I yell back, even though I don’t really mean it. Not to Tyler, and certainly not to Zach.

I bump into Daniel at the top of the stairs, our shoulders brushing as he walks toward me and I toward him.

“What happened to your face?” he inquires.

“Go fuck yourself, Daniel.”

I can’t handle any of these unbearable idiots right now. So I storm downstairs, planning to leave Sense and escape my parents’ home by driving off alone.

But then I remember the girls, the ones I brought here to help when I didn’t need to. They were already being helped, helped by people better than me.

I hear Ella talking to them in the stables, her gentle voice coaxing Ebony to pet the horse.

I can’t resist. I walk toward the stable instead of toward my car, and I linger in the doorway as I see Boux in the grooming stall.

Ella has him tied up for once, all four of them grooming him. He’s loving it, of course, ever the fucking charmer of a horse.

But it’s not him or my sister that my gaze is drawn to. It’s Ebony; her eyes are filled with something other than fear and pain.

And even though her skin is still slick with sweat and her movements are small and fragile, she’s alive. She’s the happiest I’ve seen her since she came to me, and something inside of me is drawn to her.

For fuck’s sake. What the hell is wrong with me?

Last night Maddison, today, Ebony… I guess tomorrow it might be Addison.

Despite wanting to join my sister, I walk back through Sense and into the driveway. I need to clear my head.