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“Oh, I found something.” I turned my laptop so he could see. “Do you want the details or the overview?”
“Overview,” Gavin said. “If I have questions, I’ll ask.”
“The company Dalton’s working with, Pendragon Holdings, is connected to a foreign group known for human trafficking.”
“Fuck.” Gavin ran his hand through his hair. “Trafficking.”
“Indeed. I didn’t go deep, but I checked it out to make sure it wasn't merely a handful of isolated rumors," I clarified. “It took me less than fifteen minutes to find enough to be fairly confident that it’s not mere hearsay.”
“Did I ever tell you that trafficking played a role in Skylar’s mother’s death?” Gavin asked quietly.
“What? No?”
“The guy I used to work for, the one who originally owned Club Privé, used it as one of his many fronts for one of the biggest trafficking rings in the country. He nearly trafficked Carrie.”
I let out a low whistle.
“You said Dalton is shady, so chances are he knows about this company’s reputation,” Gavin continued. “I won’t sell my club to someone who has no scruples about working with traffickers.”
“I can’t say I disagree,” I said. “And I should warn you. As I have said before, I know Arthur Dalton will not be happy to hear he won’t get what he wants.”
My breath caught as I watched Gavin’s eyes darken. “I don’t give a damn if he’s happy or not. He just needs to keep his hands off my club.”
His phone rang, and I glimpsed the name on the screen. Laila Chiles. She was the new manager at the club. Gavin had told me he’d hired her so he could have more flexibility in his schedule now that they had another baby on the way.
Gavin put the call on speaker. “Hey, Laila.”
“Gavin, I’m sorry to bug you, but there’s an issue with a private party at the club.”
The worry in Laila’s voice put us both immediately on alert.
“We’ve got a couple of our girls in there and... I didn’t want to call the cops, but...”
“I’m on my way,” Gavin said as he ended the call.
“I’m coming with you.”
I didn’t know if Sienna was one of the women involved, but if she was, I wanted to be there. If she wasn’t, well, Gavin might need some extra muscle. No way was I going to let my friend walk into an unknown situation alone.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sienna
I mostly enjoyed managing the private parties at the club. The clientele were usually wealthy and generous tippers. It was typically quieter than the main area, and sometimes the guests were fascinating. At worst, they’d be dull and stingy with gratuities.
Occasionally, though, even Gavin’s thorough vetting couldn’t keep out the jerks, and tonight seemed to be one of those times.
It had begun normally. I was in the room with my performers when Laila texted that the party had arrived. Since they’d requested the routine start immediately, Darcy cued the music, and I positioned everyone. The moment I spotted the first guest in the doorway, I signaled for the dancers to begin.
Five minutes in, I realized this wouldn’t be a good night. It wasn’t because the men were loudly chatting during the second run-through of the routine. No, it was their crude rating of my dancers’ physical attributes and their use of offensive language about both the women and men performing. Their vulgar comments had me itching to call Laila to eject these jerks, but as long as their hands didn’t wander too much, I’d let it slide. For now, anyway. I told myself if things escalated, I would take action.
As the routine finished, I quickly motioned for the dancers to exit the stage and went to the front to announce our ‘special’ performance would start in fifteen minutes. The hungry way the men eyed me now made my guard go up.
“Are you gonna be part of our special performance?” one man near the front asked as I walked away.
When I didn’t answer, I heard him call me a stuck-up bitch, but I let the words roll off me. I had more important things to do, like warning the trio who actually were part of the special performance that our audience was... unpleasant.
Before entering the compact dressing room adjacent to the stage, I gently knocked. Waiting inside were JJ and Liza, the female performers scheduled for the evening, and Dodd, our head of security who normally worked behind the scenes but tonight was making his debut as a performer. I’d been skeptical about his follow-through when he’d said he wanted to do this, but aside from his initial flirting, he’d been professional, completing paperwork and medical clearances. The women hadn’t complained about him either, which made me decide to give him a real chance.
