Episode 3: Cage of Gold

Lila woke to the scent of espresso and the sound of someone moving through the penthouse. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, painting the marble floors gold. For one disorienting moment, she forgot where she was.

Then the handcuff around her wrist clinked against the bedpost.

"Sleep well, princess?" Vincent's voice came from the doorway. He held a steaming cup in one hand, a manila folder in the other. The morning light caught the silver streaks in his dark hair, making him look almost... human.

She yanked at the restraint. "Is this really necessary?"

"After you tried to stab me with a salad fork last night?" He set the coffee on the nightstand just out of her reach. "Yes."

Lila glared at the folder. "More doctored evidence?"

"Better." Vincent unlocked the cuff with a small key. "Your father's current dirty work."

She rubbed her wrist as he dropped the folder in her lap. Inside were photos of a warehouse fire, police reports marked CONFIDENTIAL, and—

"That's Senator Greyson's daughter!" Lila's finger trembled against the photo of the missing college student.

"Was." Vincent's jaw tightened. "Your father made her disappearance go away. Just like he did with my sister."

The coffee turned to acid in her stomach. She knew that look in the senator's eyes from too many victim families she'd met through her father's work. That particular brand of shattered hope.

"Why show me this?"

Vincent leaned down, bracing his hands on either side of her. "Because today, you're going to help me find the others."

His cologne wrapped around her - bergamot and something dangerous underneath. Lila forced herself to hold his gaze. "And if I refuse?"

"Then more girls vanish while you play the loyal daughter." He straightened, tossing the key in his palm. "Get dressed. We leave in twenty."

The walk-in closet he indicated held designer clothes in her exact size. She ran her fingers over a silk blouse, nausea rising. How long had he been planning this? Watching her? The surveillance photos taped to the mirror answered that question - Lila at her college graduation, Lila jogging in the park, Lila laughing with friends at a café.

Her reflection paled in the glass. "You're just like him. Willing to destroy anyone for revenge."

Vincent's reflection appeared behind hers, dark and imposing. "The difference, sweetheart?" He plucked a black dress from the rack and held it against her shoulders. "I'm trying to save lives while your father buries them."

The car ride passed in tense silence. Vincent drove them to the financial district, to a gleaming skyscraper with MORETTI ENTERPRISES embossed on the lobby doors. Employees nodded respectfully as they passed, though Lila noticed how their eyes skittered away from Vincent's grip on her elbow.

The private elevator opened directly into an office where a striking woman in a white pantsuit waited. Her blood-red lips curved at the sight of Lila.

"Ah, the commissioner's daughter." Her French accent curled around the words like smoke. "I told you she'd be pretty, Vincent."

"Claire." Vincent's warning tone made the woman chuckle. "Lila, meet our lead investigator. She's been tracking the trafficking ring your father protects."

Claire circled Lila like a shark. "Do you know how many girls your papa's friends take each year? Two hundred? Three?" She tapped a manicured nail against Lila's cheek. "But you were safe in your gilded tower, no?"

Lila slapped her hand away. "Show me proof."

Claire's smile turned razor-sharp. She led them to a wall of monitors displaying shipping routes, bank transfers, and— Lila's breath caught— security footage from her father's private office. There he was, shaking hands with a man Interpol had listed as a top sex trafficker.

The room tilted. She gripped the desk edge. That was last Tuesday's tie he was wearing. The same day he'd lectured her about campus safety.

Vincent's hand settled on the small of her back. Steadying. "Still think we're the monsters?"

Lila stared at the screen where her father accepted a briefcase full of cash. For the first time, doubt unspooled in her chest. What if everything she knew was a lie?

Claire smirked at her hesitation. "Welcome to the rabbit hole, petite souris." She tapped a key, pulling up a new file. "Now let's show you how deep it goes."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***