“Did they help you come over?”
“No, all of that was arranged on the island. They gave me a place to arrive and set up a new identity, then I was off and running. A lot of people have escaped the town that I was from for the right price. None of the others have a link to Mylandra specifically. It makes no sense that she would come all this way.”
“Well, she’s dealing in snow now.”
Alarm bells ran in her mind. “No, I don’t believe that for a second. She has all the drug business she wants right there. If anything, the drugs are a front. It always comes down to skin with her.” Her chest grew tight. Mind-numbing drugs were her gateway. She got you hooked until you’d do anything she’d ask. Then, next thing you knew, you were dancing until you graduated to the back room. She stood up straight. “I bet you anything she’s turning girls.”
“Why would she come all this way for that?”
“To prove a point, to cater to the men who like foreigners so much they’ll pay a hefty sum.
There are a number of different reasons. God, this is bad.”
“What point?”
“That no matter where we go, she’ll find us. She’s vindictive like that.”
“You said it was only you.”
She cursed the slip of her tongue. Lying wasn’t an option. She needed his trust. He was seeing the ugliness inside her and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. Clenching her jaw, she pushed aside her need to save face. She wasn’t going to hide it. “I’m the only one who made it.” Her voice shook. She could feel the blood on her hands, sticky and warm. Taffy’s lifeless brown eyes haunted her. “If I hadn’t hesitated, we’d both be here now.” But I did.
“Is that why you named the club Taffy’s?”
She nodded. “For her. It was our dream to live free, own our own business and make our
own decisions. She had the guts. The fire. She should be here enjoying this.”
“Can’t go back and change the past, no matter how many times we re-live it in our minds.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders. “You know that.”
“I know.” She breathed deeply. The understanding in his eyes planted the seed of kinship.
He was blurring the lines between them, bending them to his own will. Lefty was a force that way. Being vice president meant you were ready to take everything on your shoulders at a moment’s notice, and she had no doubts he could handle it. She’d seen him go from laid-back to scary in a matter of heartbeats. “You get it.”
“We all have a past. What’s your last name, Gia?”
“Barett. Jalissa Barett.” She bowed her head. “What else do you want to know?”
“Why she wants you so badly.”
“There were three of us who were top earners—me, Taffy, and Tya. We’d all been there
since we were thirteen and we knew all the tricks.” She felt removed from her body as she
talked, as if she was talking about someone else’s life. “The problem with being the best is you’re constantly in demand. It takes a toll on your body, your mind, and what’s left of your soul. We were all sick to death, exhausted, and ready for something to give. Tya had a client who liked her well enough and he wanted to buy her out. We came up with a plan from there. He paid for her and she started working on a way out. We knew for the right price we could get off the island. The hard part was getting away from Mylandra long enough to escape. Tya set it all up from the outside. She hired men to come in and purchase an evening with us.” Her throat
tightened. Her skin grew heated. She closed her eyes. It was the worst thing she could’ve done.
The images grew more vivid.
“It worked?”
“Almost worked. Something or someone tipped her off. Fear is an amazing motivator. It makes loyalty impossible.”
“So, that’s how you did it,” Lefty contemplated. “And all this time, she left you alone?”
“I came to the United States on the California side and worked my way here slowly. I’ve