THE ESCORT

TWENTY-SIX | THE DEVIL

A/N:
I apologize if you saw three updates before this one. The chapter was glitching and I had to take it down and repeat it again. But, it's fine now.

*

Standing next to Hana, Elodie rifled through the small collection of clothes laid out on the bed by the other woman.

There were eight items in total, and without even looking at the price tags, Elodie could tell they were expensive. It also quickly became apparent that they were all sexy numbers with daring slots, plunging necklines and backless designs. There was a golden mini dress with shimmering strands draping from its body that Jean would totally love, and a clinging, silk pantsuit she wouldn't be caught dead wearing.

But there was one dress that caught her eyes in particular.

The black dress  was floor length with a scandalous high slit that would end right on her right hip bone, should she choose to wear it. It's high neck had several beads and snow-flake designs stiched into it.  The one wrist-length sleeve it has also had the snow-flake and beads design; and that same design was stitched on different parts of the shiny black material of the dress and trailed up the edge of the slit. The cleavage was nothing scandal, and giving this type of dress a plunging neckline would take away from its beauty.

The other dress that held her attention was the long, purple deep-plunge, wrap-around halterneck dress.

"Have you decided?" Hana asked, standing patiently to the side, clutching her ever omnipresent iPad in her left hand.

They weren't alone, of course. Two girls—about Elodie's age—stood to her right, tittering nervously as they watched Elodie with hawk eyes.

She and Angelo had returned to the house after they'd finished their coffee (she didn't finish hers because...nerves!), and Elodie had opted to lock herself in the room; not answering the door when Hana brought food twice.

Elodie had called Jean on video call and was lucky enough to catch her reading to Mace. Seeing her brother had given her so much enough energy boost that when Hana returned that evening, she opened the door without any hesitation.

Only that Hana wasn't alone. Two girls in matching powder-blue slacks and stiff white button-down shirts trailed her into the room, each of them clutching four garment bags.

Elodie had stood to the side while the girls set to work, carefully extracting each dress from its bag and laying them on the bed.

"I can't decide between the purple and black," Elodie replied, gaze darting to and from the dresses in question.

Hana gave an impatient sigh. "We don't have all evening. Just choose the one that speaks to you the most."

Conscious of the fact that Angelo was, in fact, getting ready at this very moment as she was, Elodie knew she had to decide fast.

Her eyes snagged on the black dress again. Angelo had told her that he would make her do things that would push her out of her comfort zone tonight, so wearing a dress she normally wouldn't wear should help with boosting her confidence, right?

Besides, if he wanted her to impress Vasily, it was only right that she dressed according.

"I'll take the black one."

"Good choice, ma'am," one of the girls, the one with dark hair streaked through with purple, said, grinning. "We'll help you wear it."

Elodie raised a brow at Hana. "I have to undress in front of them?"

The other woman shrugged. "I can't help you get into that, and you can't either, so they're your best bet."

Exhaling heavily through her teeth, Elodie stripped bare, counting from one to hundred in her head so she wouldn't expire from embarrassment.