Dropping my eyes to the floor, I blink slowly before admitting, “I feel the same way.”
An outsider might think we’re crazy. How do a madam and a prostitute feel anything but contempt in a world like ours? I was born among the dark side of society. Beyond the dirt, gluttony, and secrets are real people who get by the only way they know how. We’re still human beings with human feelings and emotions.
Inez and I are villains—cut from the same cloth.
“Nailing Ridge & Sons will carry Hush to a new level. The money in that building can make us unstoppable and offer protection you can’t imagine. We’ll own this city, Lydia, and no one can stop us.”
“You’ll own the city,” I say.
She has an annoying habit of treating me less like a worker and more like a successor, set to inherit her estate once she’s gone. To her dismay, I’ve yet to accept her proposal. Hush has a good thing going, but I’m not ready to commit to it for the rest of my life.
“The rebel princess.” Inez laughs.
“The sinful queen,” I retort.
“I’ve never asked you for anything.” The smile slips, leaving her lips in a straight line. “My intentions are not to make you feel guilty. Everything I do to help you comes from affection. You’re a gift. You are my favorite girl. But I do need your help now. Hush needs your help now.”
Sighing, I drop my head back and close my eyes.
“Only once. Only now,” she pleads.
“Who is it?” I ask.
Aside from their success, Ridge & Sons are a private family, filthy rich, and gorgeous. How a family that ridiculously good-looking stays scandal-free is beyond me, but if one of them booked a date with Hush, they’re not as innocent as the public believes.
“Talent. The younger of the two boys.” Inez opens a drawer and retrieves an electronic tablet, swiping her finger across the glass screen until an image appears. “He’s twenty-eight years old. Unattached. Although, he does date regularly. His father is David Ridge, and his mother, Pamela Ridge, died eight years ago.”
This detail nails my attention. My focus dashes from the image of Talent to Inez.
“I didn’t know that.” I stand to my feet and join Inez on her side of the desk to peek over her shoulder. She smells like lilacs and cedar, and I lean in closer to inhale the scent. “How did it happen?”
A few clicks, swipes, and taps later, an old news article about the death of Pamela Ridge emerges. Mrs. Ridge was remarkably ordinary, with shoulder-length brown hair and high cheekbones. According to the news source, her family has deep ties to the area. The caption under the photo states she passed away from heart disease at the age of fifty-four.
I didn’t count on having anything in common with a person as prestigious as Talent Ridge.
“There’s no time to submit the full background check typically required, but he seems to be transparent. His net worth is plenty enough to cover any future dates he may book. Obviously, avoid conversation about his family and his dead mother.”
“Conversation will be avoided altogether,” I say. Taking a seat on the edge of the desk, I submit. “I’m breaking my own rules, Inez. Don’t ever ask me to do this again.”
The scent of lavender swells from the water’s surface. Wisps of hair stick across my damp forehead, fallen from the bundle tied at the top of my head. I’ve soaked in a bath for close to an hour, draining and refilling it as the temperature cools. Soft music plays from a small radio in the corner of the bathroom, and candlelight flickers against the walls.
I rest my foot on the side of the tub and smooth a velvety layer of shaving cream from my knee to my ankle. Water drips from the heel of my foot to the tile floor. The song transitions to something older with a beat, taking me back to the murky club I grew up in.
“Fetch me the razor in my bag, Lydia,” my mom had said. A cigarette hung from between her lips with an inch of ash on the tip. Cricket’s wavy blonde hair was split at the ends, and she had glitter smeared across her eyelids. She took the razor and swiped it over a spot on her knee. “That would have been embarrassing.”
She dropped the razor into a metal trash bin, adjusted her bra, and left me in the dressing room to watch