An inside job all the way.
A few days later my father told me she was in a car accident, even though she wasn’t allowed to leave the mansion any more than I was. She certainly wasn’t allowed to drive herself. It was clearly a lie, but what was he hiding? Her murder? Or her escape?
A man with his pride might have said that to save face. I’m here because of simple, stupid hope. Maybe she did use that ticket to leave Las Vegas. Maybe she’s still alive. Maybe she’s living in a cute little house with her lover—with spare bedrooms for me and Clara.
Okay, that last part is just a fantasy. But there’s something here in this city. The jewels? The truth? I need to find out if my mother made it here. I need to find out what happened to her.
“My mother?” I ask.
He shakes his head. No. Not yet.
And I need to keep stripping if I want him to keep looking.
“Can I go now?” I whisper. It’s a weakness, I know that. If I were stronger, I could bluff. I’d pretend I didn’t care and walk out with a flick of my hair, like Candy can do.
I’m not bluffing though. I can’t. My whole body is a tell—tense and terrified.
“Why would I keep you?” The question isn’t innocent. He doesn’t mean I’d never keep a woman against her will. He means, You’re valuable to me. I can use you. His casual tone is a block of cheese set inside a trap, something to lure me inside. I’m a mouse in a lion’s den. He’s playing with me. It’s only a matter of time until he pounces. But if I leave the cave, I give up any chance of keeping Clara safe.
We’d be found eventually, but we wouldn’t have the leverage to fight my father.
My chest is tight. “I’m doing what you asked me to. Dancing.” Fucking.
In that, he’s just like Byron. Just like my father. They want my body. They want vacant eyes and a small clay smile. They want a doll.
He nods, accepting my obedience as if it’s his due. “And I’ll keep looking for information on your mother. But I want you to stay away from Kip.”
What? I stare back, silent. It’s bad enough to have to dance for these men at the flick of his fingers. Now I have to stop. There’s something deeper going on here. Why does he know Kip but dislike him? He seems almost afraid… and yet, he’s the most dangerous man here.
So what does that make Kip?
Ivan smiles, predatory. “It’s interesting that he’s here at all, but then you’re an interesting woman. I knew that the first time I saw you, when you showed up desperate for a job and much too thin
. But you certainly know how to make the customers hard, don’t you, Honor?”
I flinch, more because he uses my real name than anything else.
I can’t deny that I was desperate. I’d have done anything for this job, but Ivan’s never fucked me, never touched me. He’s never watched me dance beyond the initial interview I did for him. In that respect I’ve been lucky to be here. But I know male appreciation when I see it. If I have to use that to stay off the grid, I will. If I have to use it to save Clara, I will.
After all, that’s what I’ve been doing all this time.
“I’ll do anything.” I’m not even sure what I’m begging for. Answers? Sanctuary?
But he seems to know. His eyebrows rise. “How about giving me your sister?” A beat. “No? I didn’t think so.”
I swallow hard. He doesn’t want my sister, not really. He wants me desperate.
And that’s what he’ll get.
I can do this. Hadn’t I just done the same thing last night? But it feels different, when I stand up. It feels different because when I did this to Kip, I wanted to. No matter what I told myself, it hadn’t been fear I’d felt behind that velvet curtain. Not fear of him, anyway. I’d felt desire, and that was the scariest thing of all.
I don’t feel desire now, but I still know how to move my hips, how to kneel in front of him, how to run a hand across his thigh. His legs part to give me access, but I need more permission before I can continue. Overstepping my bounds with a man like him can be fatal.
“Let me,” I whisper.
Let me touch him, suck him. Let me go.
He catches my chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing me to look him in the eye—in a similar position to what Kip had been in last night. But Kip’s dark eyes had been hungry and warm and concerned.