Page 9 of Dirty (Chicago Underground 5)
ctor… Is your paycheck there really going to cover all that?”
A tear fell down her cheek. “I don’t know. What can I do?”
“I’m just worried about you. I want to help.” Five thousand dollars wouldn’t last forever, but it would be a good start. Something to comfort her. But what about me? I couldn’t go back. Something had snapped. What does that make you? A pretty bird in a gilded cage, its wings clipped for its own health and safety. “I’ll stay with you. I can help with the baby and with money. You’ll see. We’ll do it together.”
She blinked wetly. “What about your dad?”
I despised my dad. “I’m an adult now. It’s time I left the nest.”
She knew better. “Will he let you go?”
“He doesn’t have a choice. Shh, now. Don’t worry.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.”
And I didn’t have to be alone either.
I placed an ad online and met up with a few average johns before Henri called me up. He was exceedingly polite over the phone and brutal in person. A few weeks later, I was earning four times as much on his payroll.
For two years, I played babysitter by day and prostitute by night. A few times I had tried to leave the life, but something always dragged me back. Usually money. Occasionally the rough hands of Henri’s men. Every time, a small part of me sighed in relief. At least I knew how to do this. This way, I was wanted.
My complacency had been a fool’s gold. I had worked the upper echelon of Chicago’s sex trade and never run into my father. He ran in the same circles as these men, the rich and the cruel, but it was a big city. There were plenty to go around. Or had he been avoiding me? He said I’d always be his little slut.
It spun a silvered web in the shadows of my mind. Henri had targeted Jenny as revenge over her boyfriend’s shady business. He ripped each dime right out of her skin and gained face in the process.
What does this have to do with me?
Maybe nothing.
But it was everything. How had Henri known to contact me? I had always assumed that call had been random. It wasn’t. I knew that now, certain to my bones. For some reason, Henri had contacted me, worked me over, and offered me a job. Payback for some business deal gone wrong with my father? Maybe. Either way, I had never despised him more.
I had been fooling myself that this was about protecting Ella. That was a fringe benefit to what I really wanted: to nail Henri. If I could take down my father in the process, all the better. Both seemed impossible, like trying to touch the twinkling lights above me. But I had never had so many people fighting for the same purpose before. I had never had so little to lose.
Allie and her daughter were away from me now, under Colin’s protection. My obsession with Luke was threadbare, exposed as physical chemistry and a perverse desire to see myself fail. And then there was Ella, whose lower lip trembled in response to my rambled life’s tale.
Chapter Five
I frowned at her. “Don’t cry over me. There are sadder stories every day.”
“But I’m not holding their hands,” she said thickly, tears pooling in damp spots on the silk pillow.
I pulled my hand free and wiped the dampness from my palms. She needed to get herself under control. She needed to calm down. No, I did.
“Tell me about yourself, Ella. I told you about me, things I’ve never told anyone. Now it’s your turn.”
“Is that all this was about? Make me feel guilty so I’ll trust you?”
“Yes.”
She soured. “Sometimes I think you’re the most selfless person I’ve ever met. Other times, I think you’re a manipulative bitch.”
“Why can’t I be both?” I asked mildly.
“Fuck you. I’m not telling you anything.”
“Such language. Come on. Telling you about my dad fucking me has got be worth something. What’s your name? Your real name.”
“Fine. You care so much? Claire. It’s Claire.”
I suppressed a smile. It was too sweet for her and just right. “Claire?”
