I felt tears start to well up in my eyes. But there was no way I was letting Jackson see me cry again. I was tired of being the weak girl who couldn’t take care of herself around him. That wasn’t me. That had never been me. I knew how to take care of myself better than any girl my age. I didn’t need a man to do it for me.
For the last five years, I had successfully avoided crying around any man. Now in the span of only a few days, I had broken down twice in front of Jackson. I didn’t know what was going on with my emotions, but I couldn’t risk it and tried damn hard to put my emotional wall back up and stop crying.
“Come on, now. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Can I have the room key, please?” I said as I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.
Jackson grabbed my hand and I felt the tears leaving my eyes. There was no way I could avoid it now.
“Stay, we can talk about it.”
“Key. Please.”
He reached into his pocket and grabbed the room key. I took it from his hand and made my way back to the room as fast as I could. I hated how out of control I felt. It wasn’t me. It was some weak girl who I didn’t want to be. My whole life, I had avoided being that weak girl around men, but there I was crying over something stupid.
As I got to the room, I rushed in and shut the door behind me. Finally, I gave into the tears that had been filling my eyes. I needed to figure something out. I couldn’t lose this job. I couldn’t lose the opportunity to change my life.
I grabbed the landline in the room and dialed one of my old friends from the club.
“Michaela, it’s Roxanne, I need your help.”
I knew I had been lucky to get her to answer the phone and I held my breath to see if she would stay on the line with me or hang up. Michaela had gotten out of the business after almost being killed by a John. I hadn’t been a good friend after that incident and wished I had. I was afraid of Stephano and I didn’t want to reach out to Michaela, but now it had been several years and I felt safe talking to her.
“What do you want, Roxanne? Is this a safe phone?”
“Yes, I’m at a motel. I’m trying to help a girl who Stephano is trying to sell. Is there any way into his house without him seeing me?”
“Roxanne, I know you’re not stupid enough to think that you can outsmart Stephano. Just let the girl go. If she was dumb enough to get trapped in his web, then she deserves to get sold off. You know that’s not a bad life. Those guys overseas treat their girls really good.”
“Any doors he leaves unlocked? Time of day that is best to get in there? Come on, Michaela, help me out a little.”
There was a long pause while she decided whether I was worthy enough of her help. She had dated Stephano after her assault and he had treated her well, but she just never felt well enough to dance again.
“He goes to the club on Fridays and Saturdays. There are guards still at his house and they will have no problem killing you, but you might be able to sweet talk one of them. Don’t call me again.”
Michaela hung up the phone without another word.
I could tell Jackson about the information I had just received and maybe it would help him. But deep down, I knew I needed to try and rescue Ana myself. None of those guards were going to let a guy like Jackson onto the property. But I knew most of them, they might be willing to say that Ana escaped if I was sweet enough to them. It was worth a chance. I couldn’t risk Jackson and Chase thinking that I hadn’t done enough to earn the money I had been promised.
Only about a minute after I hung up the phone, Jackson was at the door. He knocked first and then came in. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t locked the door. I needed to do better in protecting myself. It could have been Stephano’s goons again, instead of Jackson.
“I’ll call my brother Nathan and see if he can come and help. He does private security for celebrities and diplomats. He’s got the muscle that I might need if I’m stuck dealing with Stephano. He’s also got access to some firepower. Would that make you feel better about the plan?”
“I don’t like any of this, Jackson. I like you. I don’t want you to get killed.”
He came and sat next to me on the bed and let his hand rest on mine. He thought this was all about me and wanting to get the money. But it wasn’t just about that, it was also about Stephano being willing to kill anyone he didn’t like. My heart hurt with the idea that Jackson could get killed by going to deal with Stephano and trying to buy Ana. It wasn’t a good plan.
“I like you, too. I’m not going to get killed, but I can’t risk having you out there with me. I watched you get strangled. It’s too dangerous. Can you please not fight me on this?”
I took in a deep breath and thought about my own plans for saving Ana. I was going to have to agree to stay in the room so that Jackson would just leave me alone. I felt much more confident with me going into Stephano’s home than I did with Jackson trying to deal with him. I had five years of a relationship with Stephano, he wouldn’t suspect that I would now try to go against him.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?” Jackson said as he looked concerned about what it was I had to say.
“I did something. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“What did you do, Roxanne?” He stood up and looked out the window. “You didn’t tell Stephano where we are, did you?”