Page 2 of Cardinal

An endless stream of questions and tears flowed from me, but I was met with nothing, not even a word, in response. Sensing my impending doom, I lunged for the door, only to be stopped by the man sitting beside it. I managed to slip the tip of my finger under the handle and budge it, but the door didn't open even though the lock was disengaged—child-locked. My escape attempt didn't amuse the guard; his hand meeting my face with a harsh slap had made it clear enough.

The man in the passenger seat snapped at the one who hit me right after the impact thundered the silence in the car. "Hey! No damage to the goods unless you want your hand gone." Then, he turned his flat face toward me, "Quit it. Behave and make this shit easier for yourself."

"What is going on, please," I begged through my sobbing tears as I held my stinging cheek with a hand.

"You'll find out soon enough." He gruffed out before turning back around in his seat and ignoring me along with everyone else.

Tension held my breath for longer stretches of time as we entered the bustling city. By the time we reached our destination, a building with a flashing red sign, I was about ready to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

Champion's Lounge

Why did we stop here?

Although I've never been here, my gut told me to fight, to do anything, not to enter this place. Unfortunately, my refusal to leave the car was useless as the men manhandled me out and in through a backdoor to the building. Squeaks of pain slipped through my grunts of effort as my body—particularly my shins—banged against the stairs as the men dragged me up to some office area that overlooked the whole club lounge.

The moment we entered the office, a brunette woman in her late forties looked up at me from her desk with a crooked smile. "Ah, there she is, such a pretty thing, even better than the pictures."

"Please, I am not supposed to be here. There's some mistake." I wasn't even close to 21 years old, so I shouldn't be anywhere near an adult establishment, let alone in one.

"Poor thing, there's no mistake," The devious coo in her voice as she eyed me made me shrink away from the fear and disgust gripping my body. "You belong to me now."

The lady crooked her finger in my direction, and the men dragged me closer and dropped me by her feet after she got up and rounded the desk. "I don't understand, please. I'm really not supposed to be here." I continued to beg, hoping this woman would see some sense and send me away.

Leaning down, the woman grabbed my face with her manicured nails, digging them into my soft flesh until I hissed from the pain. "Your parents made some bad deals with me, and now you have to pay the price for them, simple as that." The bite from her nails harshened with her tightening grip. "But, judging by your reaction, you had no idea about any of this, huh? Poor thing." Talk about an ice-cold bucket of water to my face.

"What?" I didn't want to believe it, and perhaps I misheard.

Letting go of my face, she patted my cheek a few times before standing up and looking down at me with a flat smile. "Doesn't really matter. Just know that your parents had bad deals with me, racked up quite a bit of debt, and their way of paying it off was to have you work off their debt for them. If you do well, then you might be able to pay it off in a few years."

"Work? Years? How much do they owe you? What are you even going to have me do around here? Clean? Work in the kitchen?" Walking around clad in nothing and chatting to men was off the list because I was underage.

Cracking a brief, amused smile, she burst out laughing for a good second before looking at me to see if I was serious. When I made no notion to change my confused and concerned expression, her face straightened back out. "Putting a girl like you into the back would be a huge waste of profits. No, you're going to be paying off your parents' 5.3 million debt with your body."

I visibly paled and physically winced at the number from the lady's lips. What she said before that didn't register until after the fact. "Wha? I can't… No, I won't. I'm not eighteen yet!" I needed to get out of here, get to the cops, report this, and get this place shut down or, at the very least, stir something up.

"Would you be here if I cared about your damn age? I don't care if you are eight. You were sold to me, therefore, I will put you to work. While you are in my possession, you will have no choice but to do what I say. Which, right now, is to spread those young legs of yours and bring me in the big bucks before you become too old to be much use." This lady was sick! There's no way any of this was serious! Things like this didn't happen in real life!

The contents of my stomach churned and threatened to spill out all over the floor.

This is some fucked up nightmare. There's no way something like this is happening to me.

I wasn't some piece of property to be sold and used like this.

All the pent-up anxiety snapped the moment sets of hands grabbed at my arms and dragged me.

I probably sounded and looked like someone mid-exorcism or a person amid a psychotic break as I threw every ounce of my adrenaline-fueled energy into thrashing, biting, and hitting the men who manhandled me down a hallway to throw me into some room.

"No! Please! Let me out! Please!"

Chapter 2

Juliet

~5 days later~

Time ceased to exist since my banishment to this desolate room. I literally couldn't tell time—no clock, no calendar, nothing. The only indication was my clockwork meals. Judging by the three meals a day, I guessed it had been about three, four, maybe five days. I couldn't confirm because anyone who entered—bringing food or supplies—ignored my pleas for answers and help.

It was clear that either they didn't care or had orders not to pay me any attention. I still had no idea what the plan was for me—okay, scratch that, I had an inkling of an idea given what the lady, Lady Heral, as I came to learn her name, told me the first night here. It was the fact and thought of being able to work like that which unnerved me to no end.

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