take him for everything he’s worth.” He took a drink of coffee, this
wasn’t news to me, Dan had already told me what the bitch was like.
“Dan
knows that about her” I told him.
“You
have to promise me Ella, what I’m about to tell you will not reach my
daughter’s ears. Do you promise?” I gulped, he was deadly serious and I was
intrigued.
“Promise”
I nodded in confirmation. He was happy with that.
“I
need to give you some background first and you’re probably not going to like it
or understand my reasoning but here it goes. When I met Brits mother she was
working as a waitress in a club, it was a gentlemen’s club Ella, she wasn’t just
a server if you get my meaning.” I shrugged and looked confused so he went into
more detail.
“The
club had an extra purpose Ella, the men could pay for favours of a…” he stalled
for a moment and looked at me “…a sexual nature from the women that worked
there and Brits mother had worked there a while. When I met her I fell in love
with her instantly, I got her off the payroll and married her even though she
was already pregnant with Brit.” I almost chocked, Daddy Big Bucks wasn’t Brits
daddy at all. I waited for the rest.
“Anita
never got over her past, she couldn’t escape the nightmares, the things she had
done to make a few bucks, she turned to drink and well, you know the rest.
While Brit was still a baby and Anita was trying to take to her new role as a
mother she changed, became bitter, she said it was having to look into the eyes
of a child conceived in misery. It broke my heart to see her this way, and to
me, Brit had the eyes of an angel. I loved that little girl like she was my own
but business was taking more of my time than I had liked and as she grew her
mother got worse. Brit blames me for not being around. You see Ella I had spent
a lot of time and money buying out seedy sex clubs and turning them into
cocktail bars and restaurants hoping to end the sex trade that had cost my wife
and daughter so much. But every time one club closed another opened, the
underground sex industry always finds a way Ella, it is worth a hell of a lot
of money. Knowing this I started not buying and changing these clubs but
upgrading them, cleaning them up, freeing them from drugs, employing body
guards, vetting members, charging high membership fees to weed out any
scumbags. The women who worked the clubs worked because they chose to. They
were all given health insurance, put on birth control and were given a choice
of client and how far they wanted to go. Any man who tried to push his luck got
a good shit kicking from the body guards.” He paused for another drink. I felt
sick. I had often wondered what kind of business Jonathan was in and now I wish
I didn’t know. I started to wonder what the hell kind of deal he was striking
up with Wil but his voice pulled me out of my daydream.
“I
know what you are thinking Ella, that I’ve still made mega money from the sex
trade and you are correct but I have also put many young women through
scholarships, I have housed and clothed many, and have even taken a few under
my wing to show them the ins and outs of business, of course this was seen as
me having affairs but I wasn’t ever untrue to Anita, Ella. After her death it
took me a lot of years to date again but I do from time to time.” His phone
rang and he excused himself. He told whoever was on the line to call back. I
welcomed the break to absorb some of what he had told me, my head was spinning.
He’s in the sex trade, he’s not Brits dad, he never dated those young women.
Then a question sprung to mind.
“So
how does this all link to Rachael?” I asked in the hope he would cut to the
chase before I heard any more sinister stories. He smiled.
“Rachel
was taken in by one of my associates at a dinner party I hosted to thank Daniel
and Kyle for their amazing work. Unfortunately, that girl is a bad egg, she
wanted it all and Daniel was sensible,