CHAPTER 14
Somehow, it was already my turn. It had seemed like there was a swarm of women ahead of me in line when I’d arrived with Leo, and it felt like only a few minutes had passed, yet Leo was gone, and so were all the other girls. I was standing in front of the woman I had heard the others call Madame as she brushed my hair behind my shoulders and lifted my head with a finger under the chin.
“You’re a brave girl. You can look at this as a trial to endure, or a new experience to try. The choice is yours. What others think of your decisions never matters in the long run.”
It was as if Madame had seen straight into the tangle in my head and said exactly what I needed to sort it out. I considered her words as she ran her fingers through my hair, the soft tug soothing. I had already acc
