Page 48 of First Touch

Joe closed his eyes and circled his neck around, stretching the muscles. Then he cracked his knuckles and said, “Actually, I think it might be relevant too.”

“You do?”

“There’s some information that says Vilanakis might be involved in trafficking.”

“Trafficking women?” I felt sick.

“Yes.”

He gave me a second to process that, but he could have given me an hour and it wouldn’t have been enough time. How could it be? The things that Amber did, the way she was – call her a whore or a slut and it would be offensive and also not far from the truth. She sold sex. There was no denying that. But it was at her discretion. It didn’t mean she deserved to be pushed into anything against her will. It didn’t mean she deserved to be a slave.

“It takes a huge network to run an operation like that,” Joe said, tentatively. “I wonder if Sallis isn’t involved.”

“God. No!” This time I had to cover my mouth. I hadn’t taken that leap yet. Hadn’t put Reeve into the Vilanakis/trafficking equation and the thought of it now repulsed me.

I tested the idea carefully. Reeve was cold and dominating, and I suspected that he could be rather cruel in the bedroom if he wanted to be, but did I think he sold other women to men who would do much worse?

“No,” I said again, firmly. “That’s not what this is.” My own submission had been with consent. He demanded it from me but he’d never forced it.

“Are you sure?” Joe let the question settle. “Maybe he isn’t involved with the worst of it. Maybe he simply provides financing. Maybe Amber found out. Tried to let someone know, called you. And when Sallis discovered it he turned her over to his partner.”

I shook my head, unwilling to believe it. Was that naïve? Bile gathered in the back of my throat and I pushed my salad away. It was a horrible thought, but wasn’t it the first scenario that made sense?

There was no way I could accuse Reeve without the proof, but defending him was equally out of my reach. I took a shaky breath. “Reeve’s personal staff, the ones closest to him – they seem to all be Greek. They have the accents. They speak the language. Does that mean anything?”

“It could.”

“One of them, a driver named Filip, has a tattoo on his neck that looks like the ring in the picture with Amber. Vilanakis’s ring.”

“Emily —”

I didn’t want to hear his warning. “Maybe it’s Reeve’s people that work for Michelis. Did you consider that? Maybe it’s his staff that turned Amber over to their boss. Maybe Reeve has nothing to do with it at all.”

He reached his hand out toward me, his palm flat on the table. “Emily, you have to extricate yourself from this man.”

“I…” He was right. Of course he was right. But. “I can’t, Joe.”

“Why? Has he threatened you? Tell me and I can help you.” Joe stood and came around the table to sit next to me. He lowered his voice, and said, “Whatever threat he’s made, Emily, if he told you not to tell anyone, you can tell me. I’ll get help without jeopardizing you. I know people. We can take care of this.”

“I thought you couldn’t protect me,” I sneered, uncomfortable with his closeness and his show of concern. Both were unexpected and unfamiliar.

“More like I don’t want to have to.”

“You don’t have to. Reeve didn’t threaten me.” Not in any way I didn’t want him to. “And I can’t leave him. Can we just leave it at that and please, don’t ask me to again?”

He seemed to wrestle with himself for a moment. “Okay. I won’t. But tell me you’ll be careful.”

I forced a smile and met his eyes to reassure him. “I will.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it certainly was an impossible thing to agree to. Being with Reeve at all was, by the very nature of him, not careful.

It was better not to remind Joe of that. I changed the subject. “So what are you doing now? About Amber?”

“With the Greek mafia in the mix, it’s an even bigger investigation than I first guessed.”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?” Until that very moment, I hadn’t realized how much I was relying on Joe even as I conducted my own investigation.

“No. I can do it. It’s just going to take a little more time to get the leads we need. If Amber’s been pulled into trafficking —” He caught himself, realized it was too gruesome for me to consider. “Well. Anyway. It might take a while to find her. But I will. We will.”

“Thank you.” I meant it so much that I said it again. “Thank you.”