“To be clear, Jackson doesn’t get to decide this. What do you think would be a good cover story? Do you think it is possible for me to help?” Roxanne asked.
No way, there was no way Roxanne was trying to put herself back into danger with Stephano. She had almost been killed the last time. I watched silently though as the two women talked because I knew enough about women to know that me telling Roxanne she couldn’t do something was a really easy way to push her into doing it.
I had to wonder if she was just doing this because of the money, though. I knew that $250,000 was a lot and to Roxanne, it meant a new start to her life. But I had already told her I would make sure she the full amount. Either Chase would pay her or I would give her the money out of my own accounts.
Just because I was a knuckle-dragging ex-military man didn’t mean I was poor. I had plenty of cash. Not as much as Chase, that was for sure, but Chase took over our father’s corporation and had access to infinite money, while all of the other brothers still held regular jobs. Well, not exactly “regular” jobs. But we all worked in some form or another. Chase, on the other hand, had been moved into the CEO position and had hardly been home enough to even run the company. Although, I was pretty sure running a company could be done while away, but I wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt just yet.
“You could go to Stephano, tell him you wanted his help starting your own dance club or something like that. Maybe say you could bring more girls in and manage the place. Does he trust you? Do you dance for him now?” PJ asked.
Nate, Chase, and I sat back and listened for a moment while the two women talked. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of either one of them and I suspected it was about the same problem that both Chase and Nate were having.
“I’m the top girl at his Feather Kitty Club. He does have another club in South Beach, but it’s a dive and he doesn’t put any of his good girls there. I like that idea, I think it could work.”
“Could one of you guys draw up a business plan? Just something basic that talked about a strip club and some numbers. It doesn’t need to be too legit, just good enough to get Roxanne in the door. It’s all right if Stephano thinks the business plan is horrible.”
“Why? Because I look like the kind of person who isn’t smart enough to
put a business plan together for a strip club?” Roxanne said as her attitude flared up.
“I’m sorry, no, that was a bad generalization. I apologize, Roxanne.”
“Will a hair salon do for a business idea?” Roxanne asked.
“Sure, if you think he would be interested.”
“Well, he knows that I have wanted to start my own salon and was saving up my money. I actually have a business plan on my Google Docs drive, if we could find a place to print it out.”
I was impressed. Roxanne was serious about starting her own salon. I knew I had certainly underestimated her when I first met her, and I could see PJ and Nate as they realized they had also underestimated Roxanne.
“There will be no need to print it off, Roxanne. I’m with Jackson on this one. We can’t have you going in there. PJ, she was almost killed only a couple days ago. I don’t think it would be safe. I don’t see any logical reason that she would decide to ask Stephano to go into business with her after he had her almost killed.”
I shook my head in agreement with Chase and was grateful he had stood up for what he knew I was thinking.
PJ pondered what Chase had said and then sat down in a chair next to me. She seemed defeated by the realization that we weren’t going to be able to send Roxanne into Stephano’s house to help us.
“Okay, hear me out,” Nate started as he stood up and addressed our group. “I’ll go get us some semi-automatic guns. We will approach his house by water and come up slowly. We will start shooting everyone we see until we come across the girl. Bam, problem solved.”
“Really? You don’t think that the police will be there within thirty seconds? Star Island is one of the richest neighborhoods in town. They probably have police officers sitting within eyesight of the island at all times,” I said as I laughed at Nate’s plan.
We all sat quietly as we let our minds think through potential ideas.
The silence was hard, and I looked over at Roxanne as we tried to think about new plans. Finally, I moved over to sit next to her. Not for any particular reason, only because I really liked being next to her.
“What if Nate…sold me to Stephano?” PJ asked with a smile on her face.
She seemed pretty proud of herself for her plan. It was unusual, that was for sure. But she also worked for the CIA, so I knew it wouldn’t get her boss’ approval anytime soon.
“We don’t have a week to wait for approval,” I added.
“No approval. I have full authority to take on projects I deem necessary. I won’t be able to get a team down here, but if Nate could sell me to Stephano, I could get Ana out from the inside.”
“I like it,” Nate added.
“I don’t know; what if they kill you?” I added.
“I’ll go in prepared. They aren’t going to search a poor starving girl from Russia. They won’t see me as a threat, at all.”
“I could do your makeup to make you look sick,” Jordan said as she finally appeared to feel useful. “We could talk about some of the things Stephano said on his profile. I think I still have the one where he called himself Gordon.”