Chapter 1 At The Night Club

• My father handed me over to a woman who owned a night club when I was very young, he did it to pay off his gambling debts and not lose his construction company, this woman Petra paid off my father's gambling debt, so that the people he played with wouldn't kill him, but in return he had to give her something, and that something was me, the illegitimate daughter of Peter de la O.
• I have never worked in anything related to dancing on a pole or anything like that, because I am underage and have never seen myself in those jobs of entertaining men. But Petra has hinted that I have to stop cleaning the place, which is what I have been doing until now, and that I will soon be old enough to start dancing on the pole; I am about to turn twenty-one and I have to start making real money to pay off my dad's debt.
• " Cloe, damn it, come here, I told you, the private rooms should be clean in the morning, not at this hour."
• " Mrs. Petra, I was just going to clean them, don't worry, they will soon be as shiny as you like."
• In the private rooms is where the girls dance for different wealthy men in the city, they pay for a dance in those cubicles, with friends or clients. Not everyone can afford a private room here at Club Orchid, in those private rooms after the show ends, you can find everything, money, sex toys, condoms, everything you can imagine.
• I have been cleaning there for some years now, I learned what a condom was, being from a place in the mountains where I lived with my mother until I was fifteen before she was murdered, a somewhat small, beautiful town, but where people tend to be a bit innocent. When I found that little deflated balloon, I thought there had been a party, when I was about to pick it up, one of the dancers told me what it was, I almost died of disgust and embarrassment, I am really quite innocent or stupid.
• " Cloe, come here;"
• I have had you here with me for many years, how long has it been; already five years since your father left you with me, saying he would come for you later, I think you were sixteen when that happened, I have treated you well, I have given you education or at least a good education when possible, but it is time for you to pay back everything I have given you. Next month you turn of legal age and you must start dancing with little clothing on the pole, you remember that was the deal we made when you arrived here, that I would respect your age, but you would compensate later.
• " Mrs. Petra, I know you have done a lot for me letting me sleep here and paying me some money for cleaning the place, but are you really going to make me dance on that pole, I don't think I can do it, I am very embarrassed to dance for men for money."
• " Calm down, that's all I needed, ungrateful and proud, we have a deal and we will fulfill it, believe me, you will learn soon, don't be scared, the girls will teach you how it's done, don't be prudish, I'm sure as my name is Petra Orlich that you will end up liking it."
• If not, you will have to face the consequences, you must pay me back all the money I lent to your father years ago plus interest, or I will kill him and your sister, because what you have worked for these five years here is only to pay for food and lodging, besides I have given you money to take some courses at the university, now don't say I haven't treated you like family.
• " Yes, Mrs. Petra, don't worry, I have finished cleaning and I have class in an hour, I will go get dressed, see you later."
• I need to disappear from this place as soon as possible, "I can't stay here Amanda, it's not to disrespect you, but I can't see myself dancing in front of a bunch of men in underwear, feeling them put their bills on my body and having to endure the derogatory comments for being semi"naked in front of them, those lecherous looks that make me nauseous. I have worked hard to study to one day have a career and not have to depend on this, do you understand me?"
• " Come on, Cloe, it's not that bad. I've been doing this since I can remember. My mother was a prostitute and this was part of how she brought food for my eight siblings and me. You'll get over the shame. You grew up surrounded by luxury for part of your life, when you lived with your father, that's how it was. But now you've fallen into Petra's clutches, and when this woman says she'll kill your father and sister, she means it."
• " I know, Amanda. My mother passed away and I had to go live with my dad. In less than a year of being in his house, he sent me here. I still haven't gotten used to it."
• I left the nightclub on my way to the university, I couldn't believe how normal they saw it, dancing like that for wealthy men. Club was a place of great importance in the business world, all the wealthy men went there.
• On the way, I was quite distracted, thinking about why my father treated me that way, why he left me with Petra knowing what she did and what she did to my younger sister. He spoiled her in such an exaggerated way, sometimes I thought she wasn't his daughter by how he treated me. When I visited the nearby city where my father lived, I would go see them and they actually treated me better at the nightclub than in that house.
• Sofia was a spoiled girl who threw tantrums and my father rushed to do whatever she wanted. She is my father's apple of the eye, she always gets what she wants. She studies at the best university where I always dreamed of getting into. I had to figure out a way to pay for my studies after my dad left me in that place, according to him, I was already earning my own salary, so I could contribute to my education.
• To learn to have a good education, I took online etiquette classes, paid for some courses, because I wanted to be someone in life, not just Cloe who cleans bars and private clubs or Sofia's sister. That was annoying. I respect my father for who he is, my father, but he has been cruel to me. Besides, he is the only family I have.