The next day, Ezekiel was back. He wanted me dressed and ready and in his office by ten o’clock, where I assumed he was meeting with someone. I dressed in a silk black number I’d bought the day before and slipped my feet into a pair of staggering heels that I never would have worn before this whole fiasco. I readied myself as well as I could with such short notice, and Roger led me down a hallway I hadn’t explored and through huge double doors to the office on the first floor.
There were four men in the room. Ezekiel was the farthest away, sitting in the largest chair, legs crossed and arms at his sides, the perfect picture of poise and comfort. The other three men were circled around him, all looking nervous despite their efforts to hide it. They were all plump and balding, out of place amongst the modern décor and the rugged good looks of their superior.
I didn’t know what to do. All three men swiveled around to stare at me. Ezekiel was the only one who showed no reaction to my entry.
“Leave, Roger,” he said.
Roger did as he was bid.
“Gentlemen, excuse the intrusion. This is Melissa, my companion.” With a lazy wave of his hand, he invited me to walk toward him. Trying to calm my nerves, I steadied myself on my heels and strode over to him. He patted the armrest of his chair, so I slid up to sit on his right side. I tried my best to appear cool and unaffected like Ezekiel, but I was used to doing my business in the shadows. Facing down older men in suits during a meeting in the middle of the day was so far beyond my experience that I felt heat in my cheeks.
“You were saying?” Ezekiel asked the man to his left, laying one of his hands on my thigh while raising his eyebrows expectantly.
All three men stared at me. I avoided their gazes.
Finally, the addressed spoke. “I was saying that the feds have been closing in on our asses for the past three months. I think it’s about time we make a big switch; start clean. I don’t think we should have our main operation in the city anymore.”
The other two men nodded.
“If you think these are the actions that must be taken, then I suppose we can do little else,” Ezekiel sighed, sinking farther back into his seat and resting his eyes steadily on the man, who couldn’t have made his anxiety more obvious had he tugged at the collar of his tightly buttoned shirt. “But I hate to set flame to the operation. I pumped a lot of money into it.”
“We need a security overhaul. I’m talking new computers, new content management systems, new firewalls,” said another.
“Mr. Gunn, we did exactly that three months ago. I understand technology moves quickly, but I’m not going to throw a few million around every three months because of a feeling. I want proof that it’s needed before we start making extravagant expenditures.”
Mr. Gunn grew defensive. “We can’t afford proof. Once our system is breeched, we will get the proof, but by then it will be too late.”
“What I’m interested in,” Ezekiel said firmly, “is focusing more attention on our workforce. I understand the need for secure computer systems, but you can’t blackmail or extort a computer, nor can you offer them a fortune for information. I want to make absolutely sure we have no human leaks. You’ve clearly ignored my suggestions on the matter—”
“Of course I haven’t, Ezekiel—”
“Then why are there still leaks?” Now Ezekiel’s arm curled behind me, and he rested his hand on the small of my back. “You men clearly don’t understand the human mentality like I do. You can control anyone through fear. Have I not stressed this? Scare someone enough, and all the money in the world won’t matter to them. Now, you kill the leaks like I told you to, and you make every goddamn person in that warehouse watch it.” For a moment, his eyes lit up. Then the fire died away and he returned to his usual aloofness. “It’s that simple.”
The men all glanced at each other, then nodded. Ezekiel’s grip on me had gone from casual to possessive, and I tried to quell the fear I felt. I didn’t want him to feel me trembling. In an effort to hide my apprehension, I slipped an arm around his shoulders. A satisfactory smirk slipped across his face and lit up those cold blue eyes.
After a few more minutes of their Q&A session, the men were escorted out of the room by a few of Ezekiel’s forgettable henchmen, all of whom must snack on steroids like candy. They closed the door behind them and I was left in Ezekiel’s office, nearly in the lap of my employer.
Ezekiel stared ahead, completely motionless. I was afraid to say anything, afraid to move.
Ezekiel reached for a glass of wine and sipped at it.
“Want any?” he asked softly.
I shook my head. “I’m all right.”
“Not much of a drinker?” His gaze rose to meet mine, but his head didn’t move.
“I enjoy more dangerous addictions.”
A smirk crawled up his lips. “Of course. Now, stand. I’m getting up.”
I scrambled off his chair, and he stretched himself to his full height. Everything was buttoned and tucked in his outfit, not a lace or string out of its place. His shoes were shined, his suit pressed to perfection. If he stood still, he could pass as a wax figure. Of course, his eyes would ruin that illusion. They were anything but glassy and dead.
Ezekiel drained his glass of wine and set it down on the stand by his chair. “Well, then, Melissa. Roger has informed me that he took you shopping.”
I nodded apprehensively. Roger must have already told him about my excursions thus far. All of my trips had been rather innocuous, so I hadn’t expected them to be of interest to a man like Ezekiel.
“I hope you amused yourself,” Ezekiel said. “Women like that, right? Shopping?”
“Um, well…” Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan, as I’d spent most of my life avoiding spending money. Some habits were hard to break. But I imagined Ezekiel didn’t care about the real answer, so I told him what he wanted to hear. “Yes. I had fun.”
“Good. I should send Rosa with you at some point. I trust her, seeing as she cleaned you up so well. She has a good eye for class.”
I could only nod. I didn’t know what to say.
“Would you like that?” he asked, turning his head and gazing at me.
“Yes. I like Rosa.”
“Excellent.” He pondered a moment. “You also took a stop at Metro, is that correct? Several stops, in fact.”
I gulped, bowed my head, and clasped my hands tightly in front of me. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Hmm.”
“I wanted to tell my sister what I was doing. She worries about me.”
“Of course.”
“And—well, I didn’t want my friends from work to worry, either. So I bought them some things from the bakery and—I told them that I was okay.”
“Roger informed me of this, to some degree.”
“Um, is that okay with you?” I asked. He was so stoic that it was nearly impossible to know how he felt.
Ezekiel pursed his lips. “I’d prefer if you didn’t socialize with those whores anymore. You’re not one of them any longer.”
“But—technically I’m—I—well, I am getting paid for this—”
“I’m not paying you anything.” Ezekiel’s sharp stare forced my eyes to meet his. “I’m not handing you cash for an hour of pleasure in a cheap hotel room. I’m providing for you, and in return you are my companion in bed and outside of it. You are an employee in charge of my image and my pleasure, and as such I expect a higher caliber of professionalism and behavior than any middle-aged accountant cheating on his wife could ever expect from a floozy on the street. I fail to see the similarities between what I’ve made you and what you used to be. Do you see them?”
I struggled to speak. With each word, his flat expression chipped away to reveal an incredibly passionate man, one who cared deeply about separating his own desires from those “beneath” him. He wouldn’t convince me that our arrangement was much different from what I used to do, but if he wanted to think so, then I’d let him believe it. His hypocrisy was not mine to negotiate.
“No,” I said with a dry mouth. “No, I don’t.”
“Exactly. I don’t object to the profession of whoring. Whores are as necessary as any other worker who does a dirty job no one else wants. It’s just that I prefer their lives remain separate from ours.”
“They’re my friends,” I whispered.
“You can make new ones.”
“I can’t.”
Ezekiel blinked slowly, as if having trouble processing my words. “Is that so?”
“I can’t imagine I’d have anything in common with other wealthy women,” I admitted carefully. I wasn’t sure how honest I could be, but I also didn’t want to give up my friends. “I come from a different place. The women I visited understand me. I can trust them.”
“A man or woman is only as great as the person he or she acquaints herself with. I understand what you’re saying, Melissa. I understand completely. And I’m sorry, but I still stand by what I say. I suppose you can meet with your friends occasionally, but it would be healthiest for you to break those bonds. They probably don’t want much to do with you, now that you’re with me. Women in their position don’t trust me. They probably shouldn’t.”
I took a deep breath and decided to brush off my acting skills. Ezekiel was a good manipulator, so why couldn’t I take a shot at it? “With no one to visit and you gone, I’ll be lonely.”
He eyed me carefully. “Is that so?”
I stared at the floor and nodded.
Ezekiel stood there for a moment. He was probably mulling something over, but I wasn’t sure what. At last, he took a step toward me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“You know, Melissa, you’ve been good these past few days. Most women I meet are incompetent, but you really do aim to please, and I appreciate that. You don’t know how much.” He paused, and I looked up. His eyes latched onto mine, eyes that hid a thousand secrets and told a million lies. “I’m going to the southern coast this evening. I’d like to take you with me. I was unsure on whether to trust you so soon, but I think I can.” His eyes grew in intensity. “Can I, Melissa?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
A hooker’s job is confidentiality. She has to keep secrets. The more you pay her, the better kept the secrets are. The more Ezekiel gave me, the deeper his trust could run. My lips were sealed.
“Good. Pack what little you need for three days. Don’t worry about the eveningwear. I’ll buy that when we get there.”
* * *
I’d never been to the airport before. I had never had anywhere to go. I’d left Metro twice in my whole life, and one had been a weekend trip with a trusted regular. The other had been to pick up Mimi at a boyfriend’s mother’s place. Her boyfriend had broken her arm and she was terrified for her life. Both trips had been behind the wheel of a broken-down sedan.
Now I was taken straight to Ezekiel’s own private airstrip in his limo, where a sleek black jet was waiting for us. I wasn’t shocked by its color. I had a feeling this thing was going to travel a bit faster than your average commercial plane.
I’d stopped being surprised by the sudden appearance of faceless men in suits. It seemed they were infinite, emerging from every shadow and doorway to do whatever Ezekiel asked of them. They were all men, all tall, all fit, all wearing shades and black ties. One couldn’t be distinguished from the other, and I knew that Ezekiel meant for it to be that way.
Our door was opened and Roger helped me out. Roger was the only one I could really recognize, but not because he looked any different. It was because I’d spent time with him, and he was the only one who regarded me with any expression. From what I could tell, he liked me well enough.
Ezekiel waited for me to round the car. Then he took my waist and led me to the plane.
The inside of the plane should have shocked me, but I was done being shocked by the extent of Ezekiel’s wealth. There was a big screen TV, a few leather couches, and a table already set up with champagne glasses. The only proof that we were standing in a jet and not a five-star hotel room were the porthole-shaped windows letting in the afternoon light. There was no stewardess, either—I was the only female on the plane.
Ezekiel collapsed onto a couch at the far end of the room, snapping his fingers at one of his men. They seemed to understand this gesture, because one immediately appeared with a champagne bottle. He filled up two of the glasses on the table and set them down on the stand beside the couch.
“Come sit, Melissa,” Ezekiel ordered.
Briefly running my hands over the back of my skirt to make sure I wasn’t going to flash anyone, I strode to the couch and slipped onto the armrest beside Ezekiel. His arm slipped over my back, his thumb grazing my bare shoulder blade. With his other hand, he gave me a champagne glass, which I took and sipped gingerly.
“Is Roger coming with?” I asked softly.
“Yes. He’ll be up front.” Ezekiel motioned to the small room right behind the cockpit, which was kept secret from the luxury of the main cabin. “He, Garrett, and Bruce will be accompanying us and have been provided accommodations. I treat my employees very well.”
“I noticed.”
He smiled at me.
“And my—um—supplies? Are they coming, too?”
Ezekiel waved me away. “Believe me, there will be plenty of street dust when we get there. Didn’t I promise to provide? Do you doubt me?”
I shook my head.
“Do you like movies?” Ezekiel asked, eyes darting momentarily to Bruce—or Garrett—who stood near the television.
“Um, I guess.” I didn’t have much time for movies. Mimi loved the tearjerkers and the romantic comedies, few of which I could tolerate, so I stayed away from the television when she was home.
Ezekiel picked up a remote and aimed it at the TV. It flickered on and showed me an extensive list of movie titles.
“All those are stored on the TV?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s called technology,” he said with a smile.
“Um…”
“Here. Scroll through what you like.”
I took the remote from him and ran through the list carefully. I tried to keep Ezekiel in mind when making my selection, but I had no idea what kind of movies he liked. Maybe he was into the super artsy indie films. Many of those were over my head, though. Yet if I chose some silly comedy, would he think I was an idiot?
Picking out a movie had never been this difficult.
Eventually, I decided to go with what Ezekiel would expect from me. He’d assumed I liked shopping because I was a woman, so maybe he’d approve of Mimi’s favorite romantic comedy. I’m sure she loved it because it was a happy and simple story, one that could transport her away from her reality. Right now, maybe it was what I needed.