“Should I shove her off the bridge she jumped from and see if she sinks or swims?” It could be arranged, but as much as I hate to admit it, I’d have to jump in after her—again.
“You just can’t even begin to understand her level of ‘damaged,’ can you? You don’t need to know her full story, just look at how she reacts to everything that comes her way,” he pleads with me to understand.
I rub my fingers through my stubble, trying to figure out the best way to have this conversation and not end up being the asshole, per usual. He’s grown attached to her. Ethan’s heart is too big for his own good.
“Bold of you to assume I don’t notice or understand her reactions. I notice everything. But life is cut and dry, you either sinkor swim. There’s no fake it ’til you make it when it comes to success, and I don’t tolerate sloppy.” I refuse to waver on that.
“Can you at least cut her some slack? She’s trying. She stands up to your ass just fine. Don’t count her out, Nick. She might be broken but she’s not irreparable.”
“I know. That’s why I am doing everything I can to help her. Did you forget I’ve hired a therapist and assigned her work on the farm?” More than I’ve ever done for a stranger. He knows that.
Have I helped fund charitable cases like the trafficking victims Vade rescues? Sure. But never, ever, has any of it been done at the place closest to my heart. I don’t bring any of my non-farm employees here. Ever. The girl is the first.
“No, but if she’s going to put the broken pieces of her soul back together, you’ve got to quit knocking them out of her hands every time she picks them up.” He stands, crosses his arms, and stares dead in my eyes.
“Touché. I can’t make any promises, but I will try to…” I rock back in my chair.
“Not be such a huge dick?” Ethan snaps.
Well…if the shoe fits…
“You mean just because I have one, I can’t act like one?” I try to add some humor but he’s not buying my bullshit. “Fine. I will try to be nicer, but I’m not going to take it easy on her. Resistance builds strength. She has to learn to overcome her own obstacles.” She will never learn to be tough if I hand everything to her on a silver platter.
“Is it really necessary to put her undercover since we can’t say for sure The Lucky Rabbit had anything to do with the twominors? You can’t base a mission off a suspicion. You need evidence.” He leans against the porch pillar.
“Do you think I don’t already know that?” I blink at him. His concerns are valid. We can’t prove that whoever Madam LaBell is, didn’t just write her name on a random matchbook.
For that matter, we can’t prove she even has anything to do with the girls, period. I highly doubt that’s the case. Especially if she goes by ‘Madam.’
“Vade has a strong gut feeling about this, so we are going to move forward with our mission.” I take another sip of my drink.
His jaw clenches. “What are you doing about it anyway?”
“We’ve had boats combing the waters, looking for more traffickers, but after we intercepted the last one, they’re either lying low or have found another route. Vade set up a ground team to monitor things at The Lucky Rabbit and inside Cottontails, but nothing seems amiss other than a number of girls who work there appearing to be drugged out of their minds.” I glance down at my phone, the girl is still in bed, sleeping soundly. I wonder if she is going to sleep all night.
“Lots of druggies hang out and work there. They don’t have any quality control when it comes to their strippers. Surely any trick can come off the streets and make a quick buck by giving the manager a blowjob.”
He’s got a point.
“Well, if my best hacker wasn’t stuck here babysitting, you could be digging further into things. We’ve tapped the phone lines, but they’re most likely going to be using burner phones and encrypted personal computers not linked to the casino or club.”
“I could comb through things at night after Rivers goes to bed.” He gives me a hopeful—hopeful we don’t find anything—look.
“The only way we can be certain is to get someone on the inside. It’s going to take weeks, maybe even months, before she’s ready to go undercover. We will continue to monitor everything until then.”
Even if that’s not where trafficking is taking place, Vade will stop at nothing to take them down. He will find them, and she still might have to go undercover somewhere else, but I’m not going to remind Ethan of that right now.
“Just promise me that if you don’t find anything else linking trafficking to that place you won’t send her in.” He paces the length of the porch.
“I promise I won’t send her to Cottontails if we don’t find anything. But until then, she is to continue her therapy and training.” I’m careful to just promise not sending her to Cottontails, and not anywhere else, even though I, too, have concerns about sending her undercover somewhere. I can only prepare her so much and the rest will be up to her to follow through with.
“Are you going to kick her to the curb if you can’t use her?”
I think about that for a long second. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about it. “If I can’t use her, we’ll help her find a place of her own and make sure she’s taken care of until she finishes school if it means that much to you.”
He’s surprised at my answer. That makes two of us.
“Thank you. It’s been a long day. I’m going to bed.” He heads inside.
