“Because I let her do it without being seen,” he says. “There was a hidden camera in one of her earrings. She was being watched.”
I remember thinking that there was something strange about the way she typed. It seemed haughty. She kept her chin tilted up while discreetly typing the message into his phone.
She was only doing that so she wouldn’t be found out.
“Someone still owns her?” I whisper.
Dante’s jaw tightens. “Yes. They gave her very specific instructions on how to act and what to say. She’s a cash cow for them, bringing in the big bucks because of her skills. She’s successful in her industry, but she still has an invisible collar around her neck. And I’m sure that there are more girls like her.”
His words send a chill down my spine. It seems unbelievable.
But I know from personal experience that monsters hide in plain sight. They walk among us while carrying out heinous acts against other human beings.
"I must admit that I've never seen anything like it before," he says. "These girls are usually whisked off to some deserted location where they're made to..."
There's so much turmoil in his eyes.
He's thinking about his sister, who had a similar fate.
I reach forward to squeeze his hand. I really wish I had some comforting words to say, but it doesn't feel right to say them. Not right now.
Everything about this is abhorrent. Nothing I can say will make it better.
I can’t even imagine what these girls had to go through.
“Why don’t they try to escape or get help?” I ask.
“Because they’ve been conditioned to believe that no matter how hard they try, they’ll never break free,” he says.
I take a deep breath.
I think about the beautiful blonde model. She was only a child when she was uprooted from everything she knew.
I think about Sarah. It was her own flesh and blood who sold her for a profit. Even she had accepted that she would be owned by someone for the rest of her life.
"The people who control them don't leave things up to chance either," Dante continues. "They monitor these girls closely. They watch everything. That's why she kept that earring pointed at my face while she typed the message into my phone. She put her life at risk by giving me any information at all."
“What did she mean by Skylink?" I ask.
"I have a couple of theories, but I won’t know for sure until I look into it further."
"And the address?"
"Enzo's team is looking into it," he says, glancing over at the city.
There's something strange about the way he said that. It's weird that he referred to his own men as “Enzo's team.” But then again, I’m not familiar with what the hierarchy is like in the mafia, so I don't overthink it.
“Will you be sharing this information with the other families tonight?” I ask.
“I don’t have a choice anymore,” he says. “For the longest time, I thought I could handle everything myself. I thought that if Enzo and I just worked hard enough, we could accomplish something. But we need help from the other families.”
He looks so troubled as he stares at the horizon. The sky has darkened to an indigo blue, but Dante remains illuminated in my eyes.
"I'm proud of you, Dante," I say.
He turns to look at me. "I haven't accomplished anything yet."
"It's the intent," I say. "You care enough to put your neck on the line. At the end of the day, it's always people like you who end up making a difference in the world."
