Chapter 5 M.S

As soon as her brother was out of the picture, it was a flurry of events happening all at once.

Maria found herself being bundled up in a car with black tinted windows. She fumed silently but was resigned to her fate. After all, she had brought this upon herself hadn't she?

Luckily for her, Damien wasn't with her. Instead it had to be one of his lackeys, sitting with her in the back seat of the car.

"Where are we going?" Maria asked the man but he only grunted and looked away from her. She bit her bottom lip, feeling like she was nothing but a doll. Do this, go there, do that. She absolutely hated it and was resigned to it.

"Fine, don't tell me," she muttered looking away from the man.

Then all of a sudden, the car stopped to a halt. She frowned, looking out the windows. There weren't any sort of buildings around here. Her brows furrowed. What was their plan-?

Before she knew it she saw nothing but darkness, as a bag was shoved into her head. She tried to scream but then she heard the man's gruff voice.

"Boss's orders. Don't you dare struggle," he snarled and she stilled.

Was this Damien's plan after all? To kill her? Or what?

"Relax," the man continued. "If you don't, you could get yourself killed. Accidents could happen."

Maria got the gist - stop moving or die.

She tried her best to relax, taking in deep breaths and exhaling slowly.

It wasn't easy but when she felt the car moving again, she relaxed a bit more.

She didn't know how long the drive was before the car stopped and she was shoved out of it. She couldn't map anything out in her mind's eye. All she focused on was relaxing so that the men wouldn't be interested in putting a bullet to her head and leaving her body somewhere.

She had to survive this. She must.

Soon, as she continued to walk, she heard music pounding in the distance. It was club music. She recognized the scene very well. Was this her new workplace? Damien's club?

At some point she heard a different man's voice - more accented in a British way.

Then she was led again by a hand pressing her shoulder from the back.

After a long, long walk, she heard a door open.

Then the bag was removed from her head.

Maria's eyes struggled to adjust to the dim, red lights of the room. She blinked rapidly, raising her hand to rub at her eyes. On first glance the place had the vibe of a room in the red light district. However, she wasn't the only girl here.

The room was large enough to fit about fifty people inside it, and it had multiple beds - about 20 or thereabouts. The girls that stared at Maria were at least half that number, and they all looked at her with varying shades of curiosity.

"Girls!" The man with the British accent said, still standing behind Maria. His tone was jaunty and lively. "Welcome your new colleague! She will be working with us for a while. Please be nice to her, no cat fights, okay ladies?"

Then the man left and the door was shut behind him, leaving Maria alone.

Maria observed the girls and the state of the room.

There were about five large vanities on each side, each complete with a beautiful lush chair.

There was also a beautiful divan at the other end as well as two beanbags.

One of the girls side eyed her as she walked to one of the empty beds on the left.

"Is this taken?" Maria asked and the girl next to her shook her head. She sat on it with a huff, noting that each bed had a socket and a small table next to it.

"Hi," the girl to her left greeted. Maria looked over at her. Maria couldn't tell what color the girl's hair was but it framed her face beautifully in a short, blunt bob, and she had the most striking doe eyes imaginable. "I'm Cara."

"Maria," she responded immediately, feeling the need to talk to someone. "You're a dancer as well?"

"Well, yeah, all of us are," Cara shrugged. "You just got here. How are you feeling? Any questions? You must be new to all of this... the club life and all..." she trailed off.

Maria shook her head numbly. She knew that people often took a look at her unassuming self and thought she knew nothing. That was the same way most of her patrons in the strip clinic she worked at before thought of her as - a newbie. Maybe that was why she often got the most tips then.

"I... perform for a living," she told Cara after a few moments. "This is just another club to me."

"It can't be just another club," Cara insisted. "It's the Mafia's underground club. Very hard to leave this place."

"Wait... this place is underground?" Maria asked, feeling out of depth when the girl nodded. "And what do you mean, very hard to leave?"

"Well, take a look around you," Cara gestured to all the girls around - some milling about and changing clothes for their own performances. "Most of us have a debt to the Mafia or one of its allied mobs to pay. Either that or some like Kristie," she pointed out a girl whose voice was loud as she talked to another, more petite girl. "Were on the run from the police for being sex workers or otherwise. And this life is only offered to those with no hope of returning back to a normal life."

Maria pursed her lips.

"I guess you may be right," she allowed. "I am here under some similar circumstances. The debt thing, I mean."

Cara smiled at her warmly.

"Don't worry, I believe you can lay it off in time. Maybe you could be out in a year tops. I'm hoping for that for myself as well."

Maria returned the smile, feeling solidarity with someone for once.

Then one of the girl's voices reached her ears.

"Hey, Cara, get the newbie over here. She's going to show everyone what she's made of," it was a girl with a buzz cut, and septum piercing. She was naked as the day she was born and Maria oddly noted how the girl's nipples were pierced and the studs had a flint even under the red lights of the room.

Cara stood up and gestured for Maria to do also as well. However, Maria didn't feel like it. She had seen these sorts of girls before in her workplace - the type that tried to act like the boss of everyone else.

Well, time to burst this girl's bubble