53. Kade

53

Kade

T his place gives me a bad feeling. If Dante is a member, it's definitely not a chess club for old men.

During our little chat in the basement, Chan said he only attended once and wasn't a fan, which I believe as none of the checks I ran on him suggested he is a sexual deviant.

His kinks are a lot more vanilla. Mostly he enjoys being humiliated. Not my thing, but whatever. I don't judge.

The only useful thing Chan told me was that fucked up doesn't even come close when describing what goes on down here. After that, he refused to say any more in case I was recording him. Which I was.

When the elevator opens, we're greeted by another reception area. Several armed guards man this one, along with two scantily clad women.

"Welcome to the Dark Side," the smaller of the two women says while eye-fucking us both. Her friend stays silent and stares at the wall. From the dull expression on her face, I'd say she's on something.

"We have a changing room to your left, where you'll find lockers for your personal items. If you prefer to stay clothed, the bar is to the right. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask. We are all here for your pleasure. "

The way she emphasizes the word 'pleasure', I have a feeling she's up for anything.

I nod to say we understand, and then we head through the door on the right.

At first glance, the bar area looks much the same as the VIP lounge upstairs. People stand around drinking and there are some private booths. But when the bartender takes my drink order, he hands me an iPad.

It's a shopping list. Whatever we want, we order it on the iPad and it's delivered to a private room.

"What the fuck?" Madden's sharp inhale mirrors my own. It's like a fucked-up version of Amazon.

Women, men, and even kids. The tablet tells me the club is happy to cater for any kink. Nothing is off the table. I carry on swiping through the options and then I get to a new section, which is even more horrifying.

The club has a special area for discerning members, apparently, where they can hunt live prey. Only we're not talking about animals, although that's bad enough. No, members can pay money to hunt human prey.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it's not this.

Just as I'm about to drop the iPad, a banner message appears on the screen.

An auction begins in 10 minutes in the Gold Room.

Madden looks at me, and I nod. We should probably check that out.

The Gold Room is, well, gold. Not solid gold, at least I assume not, but gold definitely features. Both in the decor and also the furnishings.

To say the Gold Room is ostentatious would be an understatement. It's a low-rent version of the Palace of Versailles, with gold embossed chairs, chandeliers, and fucking awful artwork on the walls.

There are chairs laid out in rows, all facing a raised dais. Men - and a few women - begin filing in and taking seats. Madden and I stand at the back of the room, with no clue what's going on.

The low hum of conversation fades when a suited older man walks onto the dais.

"Welcome to this month's auction," he says with a smile. "You should have received a list of tonight's lots, but if you need a refresher, there are catalogs at the back of the room."

I look and there is a table with some sheets of paper, so I grab one and scan the contents. It says there are 20 lots up for auction this evening, all of them women. A couple are in their 30s, but most are younger. Much younger.

"Now let's begin!" A thickset man leads a terrified-looking, naked young woman with long blond hair onto the stage. Her eyes dart all over the room but there's no escape. Not in a room full of predators.

"Our first lot is a 17-year-old female, age verified. She is untouched. Again, this has been verified - certification will be provided to the buyer when payment is made. Bidding starts at $50,000."

Hands shoot in the air and the bidding finally ends at $175,000. The young woman cries as she's dragged away and I feel sick. Literally sick like I might vomit.

I'm well aware of the realities of people trafficking, but seeing it in the flesh is hard to deal with. That poor girl is someone's daughter or sister.

How did she even end up in a place like this?

Madden says nothing, but I can sense the tension coming off him in waves.

We watch the next two lots, both slightly older women. Both are attractive, but they don't sell for nearly as much money as the young blond.

I recognize the man who bids the highest; he's a well-known pimp, so no doubt these two will be put to work within 24 hours.

"Come on, I've seen enough," I whisper to Madden. He nods and we slip out through the exit.

"We should check out the other areas," he says, and I agree. We've already seen the bar, so we walk through into another door and enter a large open-plan space. It's full of naked and half-naked men and women, all of whom are engaged in sexual activity.

A young woman approaches us with a tray of pills and other drugs but I shake my head and she wanders off.

I ignore the three men fucking a brunette across a sofa. From her slack face, she's out of it. Nearby, two men grope a young woman with enormous tits and she fake moans as one of them pushes his dick into her ass.

It's Sodom and Gomorrah in the flesh, but honestly, I might as well be exploring Home Depot for how unmoved I am.

I'm about to suggest we get the fuck out of here when I see two guys pass through a curtain into another area. So I decide to follow them.

"Meet me back in the bar in 20 minutes." Madden nods and wanders off toward a glass wall that appears to be some kind of viewing area.

Rooms line a corridor on each side, with glass windows so people can watch what's happening inside. I glance in one and immediately wish I hadn't. A man has a woman strapped to a table, and he's cutting her with a knife. While I understand the concept of blood play, it's not a kink I embrace.

This is where people come to experience things they can't do elsewhere. Some people in the rooms are clearly there voluntarily. Others, I would hazard a guess, are not.

The whole place is sickening. I have nothing against sex clubs. They can be fun under the right circumstances. I've even visited one or two in my time. But this club is on a whole other level.

Most of the women are not here of their own free will. Worse, there are underage girls being traded like Pokemon cards, and from the menus I saw on the iPads, boys too.

If Dante comes here regularly, he knows exactly what goes on here, and is a part of it.

Alberto has always been lenient with his brother. Despite his faults, he loves him. But when I tell him about this place, I'm not sure he'll be able to turn a blind eye any longer. Especially not if Dante has been fraternizing with Mashkov.

I still don't have proof, but I strongly suspect Dante is working with Mashkov to undermine Alberto and take control of the family business.

Maybe if he learns what kind of place this is, he'll start looking more closely at what his brother gets up to in his free time.

I step back through the curtain and into the main room, where there are now more people cavorting naked, using drugs, and taking part in all manner of debauched activities. I feel woefully overdressed as I make my way toward the bar.

When we get back to the apartment, I plan to take a long, very hot shower.