“Oh,” I blanch, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize—”
“She’s not dead,” Aisling swoops in. “She’s out there somewhere. I just have to find her.”
A single tear trickles down her face. She wipes it away and shudders. “Sorry,” she mumbles. “This is why I don’t talk about her. I get too worked up.”
I ask gently, “Where is she?”
“With her father,” she replies. “They moved years ago. After… after I was taken.”
My eyes go wide. “Taken?”
“That’s the story. The start of it, at least. I used to wait tables at this highbrow club in the city. It was a challenging job, but I made a killing in tips and Warren and I needed every penny.”
“Warren?”
“My husband. High school sweethearts, if you can believe that. We were only eighteen when my wee one was born. So young to be parents. We both graduated high school, but college with a little one was out of the question. My job kept us afloat. Which is why I never quit, no matter how difficult things got.”
I hold my breath. I have a feeling this story is about to take a sickening turn.
“There was this particularly horrible group of men that used to come in on Fridays and Saturdays. They spent tens of thousands of dollars every time. Some nights, I made at least five grand on tips waiting on their table alone. I thought they were a blessing.”
My heart thunders in my chest. Any second now, that nasty twist is coming. Something like that is always too good to be true.
“They were sex traffickers,” Aisling explains simply. “One night, they requested my presence in their private room. I went in with drinks and then… they forced me to… to…” She trails off and takes a deep breath. “Well, you can imagine. There were four of them. Once they were done, I thought it was over. But they took me with them. Sold me to more bad men. It’s amazing how one night can change everything. You leave home without thinking twice about it, and you never quite make it back.”
I stare at her in shock. “How long?”
“Three years,” she tells me. “Three years with them. And then, finally… I got out.”
“How?”
“Kian O’Sullivan,” she murmurs. The reverence is back in her tone. “We were at what they call a ‘meat market.’ An auction to sell off girls. I was part of the lineup that night.”
Meat market. The term alone is enough to make me retch.
“I was prepared to be sold off to some old creep with a point to prove. It wasn’t the first time. But before the auction had even started, guns started going off. And in storms Master Kian with this, this… look in his eye.”
She glances up at me, eyes brimming with tears and memories.
“He saved us. All of us. And he killed every single man in that place. He could’ve stopped there and I would’ve fallen at his feet in gratitude. But he did more. He helped us all find the ones we left behind. Girls were reunited with their parents, their friends, their spouses.”
“And you found Warren and your daughter?” I ask hopefully.
She smiles, but it’s the saddest smile I’ve ever seen. “I wish. They disappeared without a trace. No one had seen them in two years. And the world’s a big place when you’re looking for just two little people.”
“You still haven’t found them?” I gasp.
She shakes her head. “Master Kian is still looking for them on my behalf. In the meantime, he gave me a job and a place to stay.”
I take in her story with difficulty, part amazed and part horrified. “I… I mean… How are you still standing?” I ask at last.
She gives me a wry smile. “I wouldn’t be, if it weren’t for Master Kian,” she says. “He saved me. He delivered me from hell and gave me a means to survive so that, when I do reunite with my husband and daughter again, I’ll be able to care for them. He’s a saint.”
Aisling sighs and then it seems as if she’s done talking for a while. She helps me out of the tub and offers me a fluffy white towel to wrap myself in.
I follow her back into the room, where she gestures for me to sit down on the chair by the window. I’m still contemplating her story and I sit without question.
She brings out a few different bottles of creams and lotions. Then slowly, she starts to massage each one into my skin, transforming it from dry and scaly to smooth and silky in mere moments. Each one smells better than the last, and I can’t help but revel in the feeling.