DARCY MARCHANT FOUND ALIVE – SECRET LIFE AS HOOKER EXPOSED
The headline shocked me.
Another.
MISSING HEIRESS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT – SEX WORK SCANDAL
And another.
HALF OF DEADWATER ALREADY KNOWS DIXIE
Yeah, that fucked me up.
“They’ve got everything,” Lovelyn said, her tone pained like this was hurting her. “Name, aliases, your work. They’re linking you to the clubs.”
I scrolled, swiping faster.
Mila showed up, let in by Lovelyn. I didn’t stop reading.
It only got worse.
Comments. Threads. Speculation. Women throwing shade. Men joking. Claiming what they’d done to me.
Some of them were guessing. Some of them weren’t.
My skin crawled.
They didn’t just find me. They’d stripped me bare.
The door opened again, this time Cassie entering, a terrified-looking Molly ahead of her.
Cassie escorted the pink-haired bartender into the lounge and up to me. “Was it ye?”
Molly stared. “Was what me?”
“Shared Dixie’s identity with someone? Maybe by accident? Talk. Tell us what happened.”
“Nothing happened. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Molly swung her head to take all the women in, settling on me. “I swear it. Dixie, if you’ve got a secret identity, that’s impressive, but it’s a mystery to me.”
Cassie’s arms stayed firmly folded. “So ye didn’t see the Marchant paperwork on the table then overhear Mila talk about an uncle?”
Sweat beaded on Molly’s brow. “Yes? I mean, I did see and hear that, but if it was a clue to something, I didn’t guess it. I’m not all that smart.” She wrung her hands together. “You’ve gotta believe me. Whatever has happened, it isn’t on me. I’m good at keeping secrets. I hear them all the time at the bar, but I mind my own.”
Mila exchanged an expression of pity with Lovelyn. “I believe her.”
“They’re saying I was hiding out with my mother,” I whispered, my throat so tight. “On Torlum. No one knew that apart from a handful of people here.”
Cassie’s hostility simmered. “That’s in there?” She leaned over my shoulder to see the article then took a breath. “This has only just broken, which means whoever sold you out gave them that, too.”
Molly mock-swept her brow. “See? I have no idea what Torlum even is, apart from it sounding like a place with more sheep than people, so it can’t be me.”
Cassie sagged, then cupped the woman’s elbow. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I jumped to a conclusion.”
Molly’s expression softened, the poor woman apparently still shaken but less frozen in terror. “Honestly? Fair. If I were you, I’d assume I’d done it, too. I was in all the wrong places at convenient times.” A faint, nervous smile tugged at her mouth. “I’ll go back to pouring drinks and pretending none of this is happening, deal?”
Cassie let her out, stomping back. “Well, that’s a mistake I’ll need to offer a big raise to make up for. I was so sure. But if not Molly, then who? It can’t have been anyone on the crew. Only we knew.”
Lovelyn lifted a hand. “And one other. The person you stayed with on that island.”
