The next second the belt tightens, to the point I can’t breathe at all. At the same time, something hard enters my body. I try to scream for him to stop, scared that I’m going to die, but he doesn’t. At some point, my body gives out, but before it does, my last thought is, I don’t think Weston Hightower is my Prince Charming.
I wake up in a soft bed. My entire body hurts, but I’m still alive. So, there’s that. I glance over and see Dr. Fox sitting next to me. “Good, you’re awake.” She grants me a soft, sad smile.
“How are you feeling?” another feminine voice asks. I look over at Cecilia. She’s the madam of the bordello I work at.
“I’m okay,” I tell them both, not wanting to complain. After my mom died when I was eight years old, I was bounced around from shitty foster home to shitty foster home, until I ran away at sixteen. I spent the next two years selling my body on the streets of Las Vegas to earn barely enough money to feed myself.
One night while I was looking for a man to fuck—and pay for my dinner—I met Giovanni Valentino. He didn’t fuck me, but he did pay for my dinner, and then he offered me a job at La Stella Gentleman’s Club, a high-end bordello. Only the beyond wealthy and influential can even be considered for a membership here. We’re given a room and clothes and fed the best food. We’re also paid really well. I love it. It’s like living in my very own castle—even if there’s no Prince Charming in sight.
“Did he force you?” Cecilia asks. I can see it in her eyes, even though she sounds like she cares, I know she doesn’t. She’s fake as hell and, if given the opportunity, would fire me in a heartbeat. She’s obsessed with Giovanni, even though he’s made it clear he can barely stand her, and if it were up to her, this bordello would be shut down so all the attention could be on her.
Yes, I think to myself, but I need this job… “No,” I choke out, shaking my head. “I agreed to it.” Cecilia looks at me like she doesn’t believe me, and Dr. Fox sighs, but neither of them argues.
As Dr. Fox is going over the damage Weston inflicted on me, Giovanni saunters in, concern and anger etched in his features. He asks how I’m doing, and the doctor explains to him all my injuries.
It’s bad… really bad. Apparently after I blacked out, Weston didn’t stop. And now I’m out of commission for the next several days. I hold my breath, waiting for Giovanni to tell me I’m fired, but I’m shocked when he looks me in the eyes and says, “I made sure he was punished, and he’ll never be back here again. Take a few days off and get some rest, okay?”
Tears fill my eyes. I’m thankful he sent Weston away, but with that, reality hits me. He wasn’t my Prince Charming. He won’t be taking me away to his castle, and we won’t be living happily ever after.
“I want you to speak with Dr. Simone before you go back to work,” Giovanni adds. Dr. Simone is a therapist the women who work here are required to see. I’m not sure why he wants me to see a therapist, but I nod in agreement.
“Natalie, how are you doing?” Dr. Simone asks. We’re sitting in the living room in the east wing, where the escorts who work here stay.
“I’m okay.”
She nods. “Now tell me the truth.”
I laugh softly at her bluntness, then do as she asked. “My body has physically healed, but in a weird way I miss Weston. I know I shouldn’t. I know it’s unhealthy, but he was the first man to ever tell me he loves me. To see me as more than an escort…”
“Weston is the man who hurt you?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Do you believe a man who loves you would want you to be in pain?”
I think back to the years I watched my mom with all those men. They all told her they loved her and every one of them hurt her. Then, I think about the book she used to read me when I was little. The prince hugged her and kissed her and told her he loved her, but he never hurt her. But that’s just a story, right? Fiction. This is real life, and in my life, men aren’t princes and they don’t treat women like princesses.
“I don’t know,” I tell her truthfully.
“Then, it seems we have a lot of work to do.”
Chapter Three
Natalie
Twenty-Three Years Old
“Natalie! There you are.” Nico walks over to me. “We’re expecting special guests tonight. When they arrive, they are to be treated like royalty.”