Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, Sir,” says Kendra, the woman in charge of the waitresses. She stands behind her little desk, probably feeling safe with the two bouncers standing beside her. She adds, “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“Why don’t you start by telling me if you’ve ever had a girl named Katie on your staff?” I drop my palms on Kendra’s desk, knowing the bouncers won’t like that but not caring.
“I’m sorry, Sir. As you know, anonymity is the most important thing for The Succubus. That doesn’t only apply to our guests, but it also extends to our staff members.”
“Let’s just get down to business.” I’m getting really tired of getting these vague non-answers. “How much do you want?”
“I’m sorry, Sir. I hope you’re not implying that I’ll sell you the information,” she says, giving me an unemotional, flat stare.
“All I’m saying is, I’ll do whatever it takes to get some information about Katie,” I say impatiently.
“Due to the nature of the job, many of our staff members prefer to maintain their privacy,” Kendra says. “That’s why we allow everyone to use whatever name they want. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Katie may not even be the real name of the person you’re looking for.”
“Thank you for your help,” I say sarcastically before I turn around and leave.
This is not the first time I’m told any of those things. But this is the last time.
I’m done begging at The Succubus. And I’m definitely done paying their extortionist fees.
Real name or not, I’m going to find this girl. If I can’t get any help from The Succubus, then they’re of no use to me.
The only thing I seek when I’m here these days is Katie—she’s the only one who’s ever been able to satisfy the dark cravings inside me, and now she’s all I want. She’s completely taken over my mind.
She said she was mine. I’m going to find her and make her remember that.
Adam
Two Years Later
“Dude, honestly, I don’t have any problems if you want to keep giving me free money, but I’m telling you this as a friend: for the sake of your sanity, stop doing this to yourself,” Sawyer says from across my desk.
My mom would be proud to know someone calls me a friend. She thinks I need friends the way she does, when in fact, I see people by the value they can give me.
Even though the main value of having Sawyer around was originally as a tool of finding Katie, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call him a friend at this point.
After that talk with Kendra at The Succubus two years ago, I decided to stop going to the club altogether.
I also decided to start using another way to find Katie.
I built a company from the ground up and made it one of the most successful machinery and equipment leasing companies in the city. I can find a girl.
So, I decided to do what I usually do when I’m stumped: I hire someone better than me to do the job.
Obviously, I don’t have any experience finding people. That’s why I hired Sawyer.
But as it turns out, he’s not much better than me either.
“Don’t you have any leads?” I ask.
“Look, I really don’t think you understand what you’re asking me to do.
“You want me to find a woman—there are 125.9 million women in this country. She’s a brunette—guess what? That’s the most common hair color.
“Her name is Katie—a popular name, which can be a form of other names, like Kathleen, Katherine, or Kaitlyn. Hell, my sister’s name is Katie.”
“Your sister?” I frown. He’s never mentioned her before.
Sawyer narrows his eyes at me and points at me with his index finger. “No.”
“What? It’s possible that she’s—”
“No,” he repeats, cutting me off.
“Seriously, how old is—“
“Don’t even.”
I shrug. “Okay.”
“The odds of any one Katie being your Katie is infinitesimally small. Also, you don’t even know if that’s her real name. Most women in that line of work use fake names,” he says.
Here we go again. People keep telling me Katie probably lied to me about her name, but I don’t think she did. There was something genuine about her, something real I don’t often come across.
“You know what? Fine.” I let out a deep sigh.
Of course, I don’t usually talk like this in my office because most people are here for business, but this is Sawyer.
I don’t blame him for not wanting to continue working on this case. I pay him handsomely, but I know it must be frustrating to work on a case that never gets solved.
A guy like Sawyer must have better things to work on. His private investigation company is growing, and he’s been getting more and more clients requesting his help. I’m sure many of them are able and willing to pay him just as well as I do.