He suddenly realized his jaw was aching. He’d been clenching it for the last ten hours. The lights of his kingdom were coming into view, and he took a hard left and parked in his reserved spot. He lived on the third floor of a four-story building. Offices took up the first two floors, and his son slept above him. After Terry had abandoned him, Gabe had lived with the Deckers for several years until he went off to Juilliard. But Donatti made sure that he’d spent a month each summer here when the weather was beautiful. His living quarters as well as Gabe’s room were away from the main brothel. But Donatti never made any effort to hide what he did or what he was.

The place was over fifty acres of male sexual fantasy. Besides the main building filled with any kind of sex toy and fuck apparatus imaginable, the place had a boutique hotel for the clients after their encounters, two restaurants, a sports bar, a gentleman’s club, a gym with trainers, two tennis courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool with six Jacuzzi hot tubs placed throughout the area, a two-story spa, and one casino. He also had built housing for the girls, a separate dorm for the boys, a big employee dining room, a staff lounge, a gym, a canteen, a small market, and a dry goods store. A little bit away from the action was a pawnshop and his private bank. The airstrip and hangar were about a block away from the bank. Convenience for his clients: pay your bills and go the fuck home.

He also owned the mountains that surrounded his erotic amusement park, pure wilderness where he had installed trails just for himself. He loved what he did, and he’d screw anything with a hole, but once in a while, he just had to get away.

He opened the car door. “This way.”

The kid was even slower on a crutch. His patience was wafer thin, but it wasn’t her fault. He waited, unlocked the building, and turned on the lights. She followed him to the elevator. Donatti inserted a key and looked into a metal square for pupil recognition. The doors opened. They both stepped inside. The girl began to shake. He said, “I’ll take good care of your mom.”

There were tears on her cheeks. She said, “Can I have my phone back?”

“Not yet. It may have a tracker on it. And I don’t want you talking to your dad until I know what’s going on.”

“I promise I won’t. Can I have a new one so I can talk to her?”

“Not right now. The truth is that your mom isn’t going to be doing much talking for a while. And when she gets out of the hospital, she is going to need her rest.”