Chapter 364 Sharing Her Horrible Secret
Chapter 364 Sharing Her Horrible Secret
“Um, guys…I just got a weird message from Lou.”
Valerie, Lucian, Bernardo, and Nat’s all perked up. Everyone was invested in Dominic’s love life at this point, whether they knew about the soul mate thing or not.
“And?”
Nat’s said, her Russian accent making it sound harsh. Dominic didn’t look up as he read the message out loud.
Lou: Hey Cowboy, thanks for lunch, I was hungrier than a tick on a teddy bear. I’ve got something I need to talk to y’all about. Can I swing by tonight on my way home from the hospital?
“She used y’all…does that mean she wants to talk to us, too?”
Valerie pointed out.
“Ask her what it’s about, first.”
Lucian said, everyone else nodded in agreement, their stacks of Morrow’s papers temporarily forgotten.
Dominic: Sure. What about?
Lou answered almost immediately.
Lou: Best talk in person. Is the Penthouse or office better for everyone?
“Hm, that’s…interesting. Tell her to come to the office, Domi. It’s only a few blocks from the hospital anyways.”
“Okay, she responded, said she should be here by 6:30 PM if she doesn’t get pulled into a surgery before she leaves.”
Dominic looked at the clock, only four hours to go, which he knew would feel like four days thanks for his anxiety about feeling unprepared for whatever this was going to be.
—————————————
Lou took a deep breath and fidgeted with the drawstring on her scrubs as she dialed Kirstin.
“Hey, gettin’ off the elevator at their office now.”
“Proud of you, friend. We could be helping a lot of people.”
“Yea, but it’s costin’ us somethin’, too.”
“I already paid that cost, and I’d readily do it again. It wasn’t so bad as you think it is. These are men who own nightclubs and Lou let me tell you, the shit that goes down in those VIP rooms…”
“So I’ve heard from some of our sisters…I know you’re right. But you also know I’d rather slide naked down a razor blade slide into a pool of rubbing alcohol than do this.”
“Woah, sounds gruesome, Dragon Lady.”
Lou jumped, she hadn’t noticed Dominic leaning against the front desk as she got off of the elevator on their floor. Lou caught her phone before it fell and then clutched her chest.
“Damnit, Cowboy, you scared the gizzard out of me!”
“Sorry, Dragon Lady.”
Dominic began walking next to her down the hall. Lou kept stealing glances out of the corner of her eyes as Kirstin and Nial talked to Dominic over the speaker phone she still held. He was wearing a white button down shirt, the top two buttons open, showing off his tanned skin and tattoos. His dark dress slacks fit him so well they were sinful. Lou hadn’t realized they were at the end of the hall and she almost ran into the closed door.
“Liking what you see, Dragon Lady?”
Dominic asked, his eye brow raised, but she still noted the slight blush on his cheeks at the fact she’d been obviously checking him out.
“You clean up nice, Cowboy.”
Kirstin’s voice cut off whatever retort Dominic had on his tongue.
“You’re both adorable. See, Nial, soul mate shenanigans!”
Dominic’s cheeks turned an even deeper red while Lou went very pale. They looked at each other for a split second before Valerie opened the door in front of them to Lucian’s office. Lucian called over Valerie’s shoulder from his desk.
“You better get in here before my wife paces a hole in the carpet.”
Dominic nodded for Lou to walk in and he shut the door behind them as he followed. Lou looked around taking in familiar faces and exchanged greetings with Bernardo and Nats, having met them after Dominic got shot at the gala.
“I ordered dinner, figured you’d be hungry after work.”
Valerie said as Luca came in carrying bags from the steakhouse down the street. Lou didn’t make a move to eat, she was too nervous. Lucian took a sip of his whiskey as Dominic handed Lou a glass of bourbon.
“So, Lou, what did you need to discuss with us?”
She took a long swig of her glass and took a deep breath, setting her phone, still on speaker, on the table in front of her.
“Kirstin informed me you’re lookin’ into a potential sex traffickin’ ring in town.”
“We are.”
“She also told me you think it’s at the sex club in the basement of the Industrial Park.”
“We do.”
Lou looked around nervously. No one in the room looked confused or shocked by the topic she was bringing up. Maybe Kirstin was right, maybe belonging to a sex club or even talking about one was small peanuts for a Tuesday evening with this group.
“Well, I think maybe I can help ya,”
She was dancing around it and she knew it.
“How could you help us, Lou?”
Lucian asked, not rudely, but in a more encouraging way.
“Well, they ain’t acceptin' new members because of security and if you need to go in lookin’ natural, I can bring a guest with me next time I go. But you can’t get in without me and my membership card.”
She looked down at her hands, not wanting to meet anyone’s judgmental eyes.
“I told you it was weird you hadn’t heard back in over a week on my membership status.”
Dominic said to Lucian as if Lou hadn’t just revealed some horribly shameful secret. Her eyes snapped up to Lucian who had his fingers steepled under his chin.
“We appreciate that, Lou. But we don’t want to jeopardize your membership.”
She looked from Lucian to Dominic.
“You’re biggest concern right now is me losin' my membership there?”
Both men nodded their heads.
“You shouldn’t suffer for offering to help us…Though I won’t turn down your invitation.”
Dominic said, matter of factly before winking at her.
“Don’t worry Dominic, if you act like yourself you’ll fit right in.”
Kirstin quipped from the phone, causing everyone to laugh. Lou was still sitting there, jaw slack in shock at how well he was taking her confession. Nial spoke up then.
“L-L-L-Lou, Kirstin filled me in-in-in earlier. C-C-Can you tell e-everyone about the changes you’ve s-s-s-seen since the own-own-ownership change?”
Lou nodded her head and told everyone what she’d told Kirstin earlier.
“The more I hear about it, the sketchier it sounds.”
Nat’s said.
“How many guests per visit, Lou?”
Lucian asked, tapping a pen against his desk.
“Just one.”
Dominic jumped up before anyone else could say anything.
“If you think about sending anyone but me I will give Rueben apple juice and take off his diaper in your penthouse, Lucian.”
The women all laughed while the men all mumbled “gross.”
“Of course it’ll be you, Dominic. Now, Lou, tell me about security. Could we get away with small cameras and wires?”
“Potentially. If you can get them through a pat down and a metal detector, I think so.”
Lucian nodded and looked pointedly at Dominic.
“Get Aleksei on it. When do you plan on going back, Lou?”
She glanced around, nervously chewing her bottom lip but saw only professional and caring faces from everyone except Dominic who just looked like a kid about to be told Santa came and its Christmas morning.
“Um…I haven’t really thought about that. The last few times I went were more…spontaneous decisions.”
“You should p-p-pick a busier n-night. Better for bl-bl-blending into the cr-cr-crowd.”
Nial said and everyone nodded their head, agreeing.
“Surprisingly, their busiest nights are always Thursdays.”
“We already had dinner plans for Thursday, so why don’t go after that this week, Lou? That gives us all day to get ready and gives Aleksei two days to figure out how best to wire us up.”
Lou nodded her head, unsure of what to say and feeling overwhelmed. If what they suspected was true, she’d be helping people in a very meaningful way. If it wasn’t, she’d already told Dominic about her horrible deep dark secret and he not only didn’t hate her, but he seemed excited to learn more about it. This wasn’t at all what she convinced herself would happen as she rode up the elevator that evening. Suddenly, Lou’s stomach gave a loud rumble. She really was starving. Dominic leaned forward and whispered into her ear, seeming to read her thoughts.
“You’re okay. Everything’s okay. I promise no one here gives a shit about belonging to a sex club, tesoro.”
Lou looked at him and nodded, a grateful smile on her face as she began cutting into her steak, joining everyone as they changed subjects to the wedding in Italy in April.
‘My treasure’, she thought. She was still unsure if Dominic knew she spoke Italian or not. She was actually fluent in both French and Italian. She learned them after her dad hired some immigrant staff members, one from France, the other from Italy. They barely spoke English and Lou wanted them to have someone to talk to so she started borrowing books from the local library, eventually becoming conversational in both languages. She always enjoyed when the women would cuss out others in the house in their native tongues, knowing only Lou and the woman knew what they were saying. She wondered if it could be the same with Dominic. If he didn't know she spoke the language, would he say things in Italian thinking she didn’t know what he was saying? Lou smirked to herself between sips of bourbon and looked at the blonde menace out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at her with a wistful expression.
‘Definitely not tellin’ him. This could be more fun than a barn dance.’