I burst into the office. “You can’t fire Helen!” I said. “I stole the money!”
I noticed Leo standing by Carl’s desk and I thought I would faint.
“I’ll let—” Carl began, but Helen stepped into the room. She was completely oblivious to what happened and clearly still frightened and sad.
“Um . . . Are we ready to talk?” she asked.
“Good news,” Carl said. “We located the money. From now on, make sure you count all the banks when you start your shift, okay?”
She nodded and the relief on her face was clear. She was too surprised to notice me there and threw her arms around me. “I’m okay!” she said. Then she rushed away.
Leo looked at me then stood. “I’ll make sure everyone knows it was an accounting problem,” he said. “You know,” he added. “So the employees don’t have anything to learn from the situation.” I didn’t know what that meant but he left and stood there, terrified of facing Carl.
He didn’t speak right away and I said, “Thank you for not telling Helen.” I stopped because I was pretty sure I would burst into tears.
“Leo won’t say anything to anyone, either,” he said. He looked at me for a moment and added, “Do you want to work here?”
Eyes filled with tears, I nodded. “More than anything else.”
His words were stern, but there was much kindness in his eyes. “Go to your apartment,” he said. “The club closes in an hour and a half. I’ll be there the moment the doors are locked. At one-forty-five, when I get there, I expect you to be completely undressed and waiting for me, on your knees in front of your couch.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay,” I whispered. I’d never expected him to demand sex for all of this, but if I was going to behave like a whore, I supposed it wasn’t a strange thing for him to treat me like one.
I almost just left.
I almost just left about ten times.
In the end, though, when Carl came into my apartment, he found me on my knees, naked as instructed.
The first thing he said to me was, “It occurs to me I should have waited to tell you to get undressed.” He walked toward the couch. “This isn’t about sex. It’s about making your vulnerable, open and without all your defenses up. You don’t have to sleep with me. You just have to listen to me.”