He said he was a talent scout. Rented hotel rooms, placed modelling adverts, shortlisted applicants, ran 'interviews' behind closed doors. At first I thought it was just sleazy vanity. Then the girls started asking where the studio was. He never had an answer. Some came back angry. Some came back scared. A few never came back at all. I didn't ask what happened in those rooms ' I already knew. Months later the police came quietly first, not with sirens, just questions. Phones were seized. Laptops taken. The adverts disappeared. He didn't run ' he simply dissolved. New name, new number, new city. I still see some of those women's faces in crowds and wonder which version of their lives he stole.