Dante was silent for a few moments. “What do you think, Vinny?”

The blonde man shrugged. “We are short a girl now, and she’ll do.”

“No, she’s still seventeen. She can’t,” her father insisted.

Lake’s eyes grew big. Seventeen?

“How old are you, Lake?” Dante asked.

Lake stared at her father’s pleading face. Then, closing her eyes, she answered the question she feared would seal her fate. “Eighteen.”

Dante smiled, making goose bumps cover her body. “Good. You will work for me as a cocktail waitress till your father’s debt is paid. Any tips you make, I will allow you to keep. I will advise you to keep your mouth shut about the legalities of where you will be working, but I am sure you already know that.”

Paul started shaking his head. “Please, don’t make her work ther—”

“Quiet.” Dante paused, looking at him. “As for you, I believe this will be a greater punishment than what I was going to give. You will continue working for me, Paul, and I will make sure you only get the shit jobs. You will still get your cut, but anything you pay me will also come off your debt. The more you work for me, the more you can pay me back and the less she will be stuck down there. If I so much as catch you drop a quarter in my fucking slot machines, however, I will kill you. How does this sound to you, Vinny?”

Vinny gave a quick nod in agreement.

Dante looked Lake over. “You will need some work, but you’ll start immediately.”

Some work? She didn’t like the way he had just looked at her.

“Joe, come in.” Dante’s voice had risen higher without even needing to yell, although Lake figured a man like Dante didn’t need to yell to get his point across. A second later, the guard who had showed her up entered the room. “Take her to Sadie, and tell her she will be filling that bitch’s place.”

Joe nodded and opened the door for her to leave.

“Don’t disappoint me, Lake,” Dante gave his final warning.

Lake looked the boss in the eyes one last time. “I won’t. Thank you, Mr. Caruso.” Her gaze moved over to the blonde who was the boss’ Consigliere. His close, trusted friend and confidant, as Lucca liked to call it. Her father had at least taught her the names of the ones to stay the hell away from. “And thank you, Mr. Vitale.”

Chapter Twenty

Just Because You’re in the Itty-Bitty-Titty Committee, It Doesn’t Mean You Ain’t Got Great Tits

Lake entered the elevator once more with the guard, in shock that she and her father had escaped with their lives. When the doors came to a close, it hit her that the only way she had thought she was going to come down the elevator was in a body bag.

She watched the guard punch in a different series of buttons, and the elevator took off. Looking up at him, she saw the wariness in his eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him. That was the third time she had thanked someone that day, but it was the first time she had actually meant it. If it wasn’t for him, she didn’t know if she would have had the strength to keep going.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he mumbled.

Lake looked up at the numbers jumping farther and farther down through the casino floors until it passed the last floor written above a button. She didn’t think any other floor existed.

When the doors opened, she saw a very dark hallway which took her eyes quite a bit to adjust to. As they drew closer to the door at the end, she could hear music growing louder. The guard walked her to the door and knocked, and a second later, it opened.

Lake couldn’t pick her jaw up from the floor when she looked inside. It was what looked like a whole separate casino, except it was much more intimate and extravagant. Not to mention the half-naked girls everywhere. There were girls dressed in sexy, black and pink lingerie, just like the girl who had come out screaming from Dante’s office. As the realization they all worked there hit her, Lake’s eyes moved to the tables, seeing the dealers were all girls dressed in the sexy outfits, as well. Several more were also dancing on poles.

The guard pushed her through the door, revealing just how big the floor was. It was the same size as the casino upstairs.

Why have two casinos? She didn’t understand why the one before her was a complete secret, either.

One thing was for sure looking around; there were no women gamblers there. There were plenty of girl workers to go around, though.

Oh, fuck no… she thought as a woman passed her with a tray of drinks in her hand. The outfit she was wearing was one Lake wouldn’t get into for a million dollars. Probably because it wasn’t an outfit, but underwear.

She looked up at Joe, unable to form words, and when he gave her a look of sympathy, she figured he could read it on her face. She wanted to run incredibly far away since everything was starting to make sense. I am so fucked.

Once more, she was dragged to the back of the casino until Joe pulled back some pink see-through curtains to reveal a door. He walked through it, not even knocking that time.

As she walked into a women’s dressing room, she was greeted by boobs literally everywhere. Of all the doors we went through today, this is the one he really should’ve knocked on.

Joe took Lake up to a woman dressed in a silky robe. “Sadie, this is Lake. She will fill Amanda’s place.”

Lake watched Sadie put her hand on her hip, the motion perking up her very huge breasts. Then she gave Lake a swivel sign with her finger.

What?

“Turn.” Sadie motioned again.

She had to swallow down the bile in her throat as she slowly turned around. She wasn’t exactly given an option to do otherwise.

Looking at Sadie as she came back to her original position, Lake could see her quietly thinking as she looked her up and down. She knew exactly what was going through her mind, too: no boobs, no butt, just a stick. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which girl didn’t belong in the room.

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