pieces | ethma

Nightfall

Skylar

"Oh my god," I said, sitting down on my couch. I was still processing the fact that the stranger I hooked up with the night before was my boss's boss.

"Fuck," I whispered.

Here's the thing, I didn't know he was my boss's boss. I didn't even know he had anything to do with the nightclub, but when my boss introduced me to Grayson, I nearly bolted. Of course half of my face was covered, so he didn't know who I was.

That's why I like working at this club. I don't have to show my face, and nobody has to know my real name.

I've been working there since I was eighteen. Fresh out of the foster care system. My parents and I were immigrants from Romania. America kept me and said goodbye to my mom and dad. I never saw them again, and they're gone now.

My great grandpa was an American. He met my great grandmother in New York, where a lot of my ancestors have lived. My great grandmother was Romanian, and my great grandfather went with her on a trip to Romania to meet her parents. They came back to the US for a while before taking another trip to Romania nine months later---my grandmother was born. Because they weren't yet married and my great grandma wasn't an American citizen, my grandma couldn't meet the requirements for becoming a US citizen at birth. She had my father before she could become a citizen, therefore the rest of us remained Romanian citizens.

My parents moved to New York City on work visas. They worked at the World Trade Center, answering phone calls and translating Russian to and from English. I thank God that they weren't there the day of the 9-11 attacks, but they unfortunately lost their jobs. They had six months to find employment or else they'd be deported.

To this day, I don't know why they didn't let me go back to Romania with my parents. They just shoved me into the foster care system until I aged out. Since I wasn't a citizen, I needed a work visa as soon as I turned eighteen. That's when I was asked to start modeling.

I became known as the girl next door to some. My followers on social media saw all of the perfect things about my not-perfect life. I didn't like sharing anything personal about myself, so I didn't. They only knew the things I told them.

On the other hand, the people from the club have no idea about my social medias. They don't know who I am, so I don't have to keep up with the perfect life my followers see. I can just be "Phoenix" from Club Nightfall. They don't need to know anything else, so they don't. I get paid mostly in cash. The checks they send go to my P.O. Box, and don't have my name on them.

My Instagram and social media managing meets the requirements for my work visa, so I'm not worried about that.

The thing that sucks the most is that Grayson doesn't know he's my boss, but I do. It's gonna kill me knowing he's at the club when I'm working.

If he pulls me into a back room, I'm done for. If he finds out who I am, it could change everything.