I glare as I follow the pudgy little man.
He opens the door, and I step through to a room I wasn’t expecting to see.
“What’s this?” I ask.
He grins like he’s about to show off the Sistine Chapel instead of his demonic headquarters. “This is where we hold our main event. We only hold an event here twice a year for our biggest clients who spend the most money. It’s an auction of sorts. We parade our best women in front of them, and the highest bidder wins the prize.”
A low growl escapes me as he speaks about selling women, but the asshole is too busy to notice as he gloats about how he turned this part of the warehouse into a fancy showroom filled with tables, bars, and a stage that shows off the women’s best assets.
“Why don’t you hold more frequent events here? That way, you wouldn’t need us to transport and sell your remaining women for you. You would get all the money yourself,” I say, hoping this man is just an idiot, and once I point out the obvious, he will have no need for us. Sure, I’ll fail the task Julian gave me. But maybe he’ll let me try again with a shipment of drugs or weapons, anything but people.
He sighs. “It would make business a lot easier. But it’s just not feasible. The richest people in the world come here for the event. It’s our biggest money earning night of the year. But we hide it under the guise of the weekend-long yachting event. That’s how we keep suspicions low. The men all stay at the Four Seasons, the luxury hotel where the event is held. They all attend, and then we sneak them here under the darkness of the night. Our little island would get too much press and attention if the richest in the world were all flying here on a monthly basis on the same weekend.”
I frown. “But this island is beautiful with plenty of luxury hotels. Why couldn’t you just house the women here, and when one of the buyers comes, bring them here individually to have their pick?”
“It’s too expensive to feed the whores while we wait for the men to come to us. And even though this is one of our most profitable nights, not all of the men can travel to us. Sometimes we need to go to them. Which is why we hire out. You take on all the risk, while we get all the reward.”
Tell me about it.
“So then why would we want to do business with you if we take on all the risk?” I ask.
He raises his eyebrow. “Because we aren’t the only ones who get a reward. If we strike a deal, then we split profits fifty-fifty. And the amount of money we pay is bigger than the petty little drugs and weapons Mr. Reed currently moves. This would put him on a whole new level. Supposedly, Mr. Reed is the best at transporting things while flying under the radar.”
“He is,” I agree.
“Well, that’s why you are here. To prove to me you can handle the job, not question why I run my business the way I do.”
“No, I’m not here to convince you of anything. You know of Julian’s reputation. You can see I mean business.”
He laughs. “I don’t believe anyone who shows up in ripped jeans and a man bun is serious about doing business with me. And I don’t think anyone who calls his boss by his first name respects him.”
I snarl, this time, he hears it. He freezes.
“I’m here to see if we can strike a deal. But I won’t let my boss enter a relationship with a man who is an inadequate business partner. I’m doing my due diligence.
“And if you don’t already think we are a good partnership for you, then you are an idiot. You didn’t choose our island for the scenery. You chose our island because of Julian. You knew he was the best at transportation. You need him; he doesn’t need you. He will be just fine without your business. And I respect Julian greatly. And he respects me, which is why we are on a first-name basis.”
Oscar’s eyes dart side-to-side as he takes me in—how fucking serious I am.
“Then he sent the right man. Because I don’t do business with desperate men, and that’s exactly what I thought Mr. Reed was when he called trying to get my business. You just changed my mind.” He turns to continue the tour.
“We want sixty.”
He pauses, his head swiveling to look at me.
“You heard me. We want sixty percent. And we want half of it upfront.”
He narrows his eyes. “The deal was for fifty-fifty. That’s my final offer. It’s the arrangement I have with all of my partners. I capture the women and hold them for no more than a week. Then you arrange deals with buyers and transport them. It’s a fifty-fifty arrangement.”
“No, it’s not. Finding sellers, vetting them, and then transporting the women takes a lot longer than grabbing them and holding them here for a week. We could have to hold onto the women for weeks, months even. We take on the risk of selling and transporting them to a client who could be working for the cops, while you sit back here protected from everyone.
“If we get caught, we go to jail. We lose everything. While you just lose your partner. We want a bigger cut—sixty,” I say, hoping this will ensure we don’t have a deal. If I push him hard enough, he will back down and say that he won’t do business with us. And if Julian asks, I can tell him I didn’t think it was a good deal because we deserved a bigger cut. And I’ll personally find him a deal that will make up for the lost income—one selling drugs, not people.
“You better be worth it, Zeke,” he says with a frown.
Dammit.
“Come on, let me show you where we store the women. Then I can see if we have a suit that fits you. You aren’t showing up for the biggest night of the year dressed like a bum.”
I frown. I’m not wearing a fucking suit. That is not my style. And I’m tall and bulky enough to know there is no way he will find a suit big enough to fit me.
I follow Oscar behind the stage, trying to prepare myself. But nothing could prepare me to see women in chains. And not the kinky, consenting kind. The kind no woman has the strength to break free from.
I prepare myself to hear begging, to see tears, but these women don’t look at me as their savior. They think I’m just like Oscar. They think I’m a villain that one of them will eventually be sold to. They don’t know I would never buy any of them. If I could, I would set them all free.
Instead, I look at hollow eyes, tight lips, and women trying to hide their bodies from my view.
“They are bewitching, aren’t they?” Oscar says, grabbing one of the women by the chin and lifting her face up to examine her like an animal.
I tense, but don’t react. How can this be real? How can people be this cruel?
“We already have a transporter for this group. But we will have over a hundred women for you in a few weeks.”
A hundred women—fuck.
“And then we will have a new shipment for you in three weeks after that if the first deal works out. So I suggest you move quickly.”
We will get another hundred women in less than a month—fuck, fuck, fuck.
We walk further down the hallway to where there is a large cage filled with twenty women. Each of them is shackled at their arms and legs as if they would have the strength to get through the metal bars holding them in.
“These are the women for tonight. The most beautiful, attractive high priced women we could find. Some are virgins; some are women from high-class families. All will go for more than a million a piece.”