Four

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My skin was still prickled with goosebumps from head to toe as I made my way through the underground world. I was numb with fear, but alert with curiosity. A dangerous combination for a girl with everything to lose.

I was alive. I had met the leader of this...well, whatever this was I still hadn't decided, but I had met him and lived. My poor phone on the other hand was a different story but I had somehow gotten over the worst hurdle already. Theoretically, I would just have to make it through the day now. Pose as a worker for one day and then at the end of the day leave and never, ever, ever come back.

Aside from needing a new phone and likely wanting to change my name, I was given a golden opportunity here. Right? Scoop of a life time...you know...if I didn't die getting it...

I was careful in capturing every detail in my mind, when someone handed me a silver tray with drinks on it I didn't hesitate in taking them. "I'm sorry, but I'm new here. Where do these go?"

The girl who had handed them to me rolled her eyes. "Don't they tell you new girls anything anymore?" She sighed heavily and pulled a napkin from her bra, she beckoned me over to a long island bar and began scribbling on the napkin drawing me a diagram. "This is where we will be until Alessio decides otherwise. This particular wing just holds your basic crew. Drop men*, bag men*, that sort of thing. You know, The guys down here-"

"Elizabeth." I heard a voice from behind us. The voice was already permanently etched into my mind under a tab titled oh shit and filed into my worst nightmares. My teeth clamped down on the inside of my cheek.

She turned to him and smiled an earnest smile. How anyone could be so happy so see Alessio I had no clue. "Hey baby, I was just showing my new little sister around, explaining the ropes and all that."

He nodded. "How very kind of you." He glanced at me then back to her. "But, I believe Katherine is going to be working with me.

"It's Kate." I interjected to deaf ears.

She looked stricken, I could see the fight she had with herself to keep the smile plastered on her face. "Of course Alessio." She nodded, glancing at me then picking up the drink platter and moving away.

I quickly grabbed the napkin, it was the first bit of evidence I could grab so far. He waved his hand, beckoning that I follow him. I did quickly. "The men you will be working for are only my best. I expect you to be pleasant at all times." He explained as I followed him out of the heavily populated room and into a dimly lit and long hallway. My chest tightened each time we passed another crowded room and didn't enter it. "You will be pleasant looking, pleasant smelling, and I'm sure this last one will be rather difficult for you." He stopped at the end of the hallway before a set of glass doors, inside I could see another lounge styled area and bar. "I expect you to act pleasant. Friendly, attentive, like a real lady"

"Right...wait, why would that be hard?" 

He ignored my question and continued. "You don't speak unless spoken to. The men back here are not like those out there. They aren't here to blow off steam, they aren't a temporary piece, they aren't looking for a good time, not that they'd be opposed to it either. We are here to work safely. You don't hear anything, you don't see anything, you don't know anything. You don't interrupt, you don't question, you don't talk back. If we look to be busy with something important, we are. If we look like we aren't, we still are. Got it?" Before waiting for an answer he turned swiftly, pulled the doors open and moved through them not bothering to hold the door for me.

He moved quickly and it took me a second to catch up to him. "You've talked a lot about what I'm not allowed to do but really haven't told me exactly what I am to do..."

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