I felt sick.
“So this is your idea of a lesson?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then she said, “You wanted money. You wanted to enter a world you knew nothing about. You wanted to prove you were independent.”
“I wanted to make my own decisions!”
“Then learn what those decisions can cost.”
I shook my head.
“You’re not teaching me anything. You’re terrifying me!”
Beatrice moved closer.
“Helen, listen carefully. The people you met tonight aren’t all harmless millionaires looking for company. Some are involved in dangerous arrangements. Some enjoy frightening people. Others enjoy having power over them.”
“Then why did you bring me here?”
“Because you wouldn’t listen to me any other way.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You encouraged me! You told me to come here!”
“And you agreed.”
Her answer was so cold that I felt the last of my trust in her disappear.
I backed toward the elevator.
