A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away with the tips
of her fingers. “Whatever they tell us.”
I felt my teeth grate against each other. I knew exactly what that meant.
“If you were sold, how did you end up working in Vegas?”
She shrugged slightly. “I don’t know. I just went where they took me and did
what I was told. I didn’t want to end up like the other girls.”
I lost the will to remain passive after that and looked directly at her. She was
pretty. Long dark brown hair, slight traces of Asian facial features, and beautiful
olive-toned skin.
“What happened to the other girls?”
“After they were beaten? I don’t know. Sometimes, we never saw them again.”
She suddenly shook her head and sighed. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”
Right. Silence equaled obedience.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Miss Dalia,” Owen had said, obviously interrupting us and moving closer.
“Please remove yourself from the table. Your conversation is over.”
Dalia gasped at the mention of her name and quickly shot up from her chair.
“I’m so sorry,” she said without looking at me. “Excuse me.” She hurried away
from the table and was gone within moments. I turned my head in annoyance only
to connect with the dark gaze of the man responsible for the interruption. I glared
at him something fierce, and all he did was shake his head in warning.
Anger rising in my gut, I couldn’t stop myself from slamming my hand down on
the table and shooting off from my seat. Fully intending to engross myself in
distraction, I found the band to be the only thing qualified. And it wasn’t fifteen
minutes later, an even better distraction engaged me.
Thinking back to my encounter with Regina, she was lucky I hadn’t busted her
already Botox injected lips. Her mouth was her most annoying feature, and I
thought that maybe if her lips were a little bit more swollen than they already were,
she’d be incapable of moving them. I had never met a more blissfully ignorant, vain
as hell, bimbo bitch in my entire life. The urge to reach across the table and slap the
stupid out of her was stronger than ever, but Darren’s influence over my self-
control was somehow stronger at that moment. I could tell he found my distaste for
her amusing.
When discussions of Darren’s unborn niece came up, I’d grown nervous, the pit
of my stomach twisting away with too much anxiety to bear. I refused to look at
Darren during those conversations, not wanting to give him the idea I was
interested in becoming something I was not ready for.
I did NOT want to have kids with him. I wanted kids eventually, but my
reproductive system was reserved for one man, and he was currently hiding away in
Germany, protecting the only family I had left. I had never been more grateful that
the birth control implant in my arm was still active. I hoped it remained there for a
very long time. At least until I could figure a way out of my situation.
Aside from the rest of the painfully materialistic mafia bitches there, the only
exception was Katherine. She was a serious mystery to me. Something didn’t sit
right with her, and it had me on edge. She was quiet, meek, but the look in her eyes
was something I could only describe as haunted, especially when she looked at
Darren. I wanted to ask about her, but I didn’t want Darren to think I was snooping.
When he refused to elaborate on the fact that Katherine’s younger sister had
been referred to in the past tense, it gave light to something that had obviously
been kept in the dark; and it obviously brought misery for Katherine. Something
awful had happened to her sister and giving her daughter her sister’s middle name
in her honor was definitely something to note.
I had a new puzzle on the table before me, and eventually, I was going to put
those damn pieces together and discover the picture hiding behind it all. For all I
knew, it held the key to Darren’s destruction.
Besides Anchorage, the baby shower had been the only thing to interrupt my
routine, so now I was back to being bored again except for when Darren was around.
He had somehow finally become somewhat good company when he wasn't an
asshole. Camaro kept me company and made me smile, but I still longed for more. I
tried engaging in conversation with Clive and Owen simply for the
