Page 50 of Sainte
“Been here all night. We stayed here last night.”
“Oh fuck, I didn’t realize that. I thought after our meeting, you went home. Just shows how tired I was.”
“Yeah, those sex clubs will take a lot out of you.” He laughs.
“Sex club?” Emma squeals.
I look at Ice.
“Damn you, now she will never let me live this one down.”
He looks over at Emma, kisses her on the cheek, and says, “Club business, darlin’, nothing for you to worry about.”
“But I wanna go to a sex club.” She pouts, and Ice and I laugh.
“Not in your condition. Maybe after my daughter is born, we can go.”
“It’s a boy, Cade,” she says, correcting him.
“You don’t know that for sure. Unless you know something I don’t?”
She shakes her head.
“I’m just saying…” Ice rolls his eyes and turns back toward me.
“So I assume we need to call Michael?” he asks, and I get the impression he’s not looking forward to this phone call.
“Yep, we do. We can’t make a move on one of the five families without his involvement.”
Ice nods. “I get it.” He grabs his coffee and turns toward his office. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Once we get inside his office, I ask, “Where’s Rebel?”
“He left early this morning to get Ari.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Forgot.”
Ice takes out his phone and lays it on the desk. He finds Michael’s number, hits speaker, and dials.
“Hey, Ice.” Michael’s voice comes over the speaker when he answers.
“Hey, Michael. Sorry to bother you, but we’ve got a little problem here in Edinboro.”
“That doesn’t sound good. What’s goin’ on?”
Ice looks at me to explain the whole thing.
“Hey, Mikey.” I say.
“Hey, Sainte.”
“So, on a hunch I did some research into a local massage parlor here in town. When I started digging, I discovered this place is a massage parlor by day but a sex club by night. No big deal there, but I had a strong feeling they were using the business as a front for trafficking women. So last night I decided to check it out, and my suspicions were confirmed. Apparently they have a ‘selection of the week,’ where one girl is chosen—promised to be sent to some fantastic place—so these girls think it is some type of honor. All the while, they are being sold into slavery. They get trained and then are sold off.”
“I’m not following you. What does this have to do with me?”
“The owner is Santino Magnano.”
“Oh, fuck,” Michael says breathlessly into the phone. “I assume, Ice, you want to take them down?”
