Aspen's been stuck in a downwards spiral since high school graduation when she left her father's house and started living on the streets. Quickly scouted out by a sex-trafficker named Myra Durer, Aspen gets locked into a world she knows she can't ge...
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The next two weeks I work the pole. Myra tells me she's giving me a reprieve from her new escorting business before she sends me out again. Her grin had been so large the day I came home that I instantly knew Daniel had followed through and given her a tip. It disgusts me to know that something like money is all it takes for her to do all these horrific things. It also makes me wonder about Daniel Keene. Why did he help me?
On the cover of magazines and newspapers, he seems like the type of guy to only care about himself and his business—he had to be in order to be where he was. But in real life, he seemed so much more caring and soft. He cared about my feelings and where I was at. He asked me questions about my life.
He didn't tell Myra the truth.
I don't hear anything these whole two weeks, my time being dedicated to my job since it's the only way I can save myself from Myra's wrath. Even though we never touch the money, Myra forces us to 'work for our living expenses'. She tells us whether or not we've made enough money, but we never get to know the true amount we make. I knew it was because she kept it all. We were probably making much more than she says we are. It's frustrating to know that all the money that I earn—that I dance and perform my butt off for—just goes into her bank account like she worked for it herself.
I've never felt so much anger and frustration before. But now that I'm in it, I can't do anything. I'm tied here. Not physically, but it doesn't need to be. The threat that Myra presents is so much bigger than any of us could fight against.
Throughout this time, Myra sends the other girls out. Esther is an escort to a big oil company tycoon. Ymir pleases a titan of electric energy. She seems more than pleased with the brief cases full of money those jobs bring back.
It's fifteen days later when Myra tells me that she's sending me to drop off something for her—at Daniel's building. She gives me a thick envelope and has me tuck it under my arm while she pushes my hair behind my ears. "You need to look good, Angel. You never know when he might come back for seconds," she sickeningly purrs to me at the doorway. I look down on her with dead eyes while she fixes the neckline of my dress. Her dark eyes meet mine and she smirks. "Go make me some money."
Doubt it. I'll do everything within my power to avoid a confrontation with Mr. Keene. All I have to do is make sure this folder gets to him. I'm sure I can leave it with that bossy receptionist—what was her name?
John has offered to drive me there today. He stands in the front yard amidst a pile of weeds, inhaling the burning smoke of his cigarette. He looks to be in his mid twenties, and I wonder how a guy gets to this place in his life. How he gets to the point that he's willing to give up a legit job—an actual education—to do this mess. Immediately I retract my thoughts—I had ended up here too, so I had no right to judge. But he knew he was holding women here against their will, and he still worked for Myra. He's as disgusting as her—worse even. Rueben and John were psychotic. The things they did...
