INTRODUCTION

Introduction

“Strip.”

The command cracked through the room like a whip.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as I stared at the line of women beside me—each of us frozen, each of us pretending we weren’t about to lose the last pieces of dignity we had left. The one giving orders stood in front of us, lazily tapping a wide wooden plank against his palm, as if he had all the time in the world.

My chest tightened. Tears blurred my vision, but I forced them back. I couldn’t afford to break down. Not now.

I need this. I need the money.

Just last week, my father was shot.

Men barged into our house looking for something—something we didn’t even have. My father tried to fight them off with a blade. He didn’t stand a chance. They shot him without hesitation.

We rushed him to the hospital, but the damage was severe. Internal bleeding. Emergency surgery. Blood transfusions—bags and bags of blood just to keep him alive. He was in the ICU for days before he finally regained consciousness.

It’s been two weeks.

Two weeks of machines. Two weeks of fear. Two weeks of bills piling higher and higher until the total reached four hundred thousand pesos.

And the hospital? They wouldn’t let him go.

I begged. I pleaded. I promised I’d find a way to pay the remaining balance—two hundred thousand—but it didn’t matter. It was a private hospital. Promises meant nothing without cash.

So here I am.

Standing in a line.

Being told to strip.

“Come on!” the man barked again, voice laced with mockery. “Don’t pretend you’re all innocent. Acting like virgins now, but who knows what you’re hiding?”

Heat rushed to my face, a mix of anger and humiliation. Around me, the others exchanged uneasy glances. I clenched my fists.

This was supposed to be online.

That’s what they said. Online work. No physical contact. No exposure like this.

So why… why do they need to see everything?

If only my brother hadn’t disappeared.

Mark could’ve helped. He could’ve taken out a loan, done something—anything. But he’d been gone for three weeks now. No calls. No messages. Nothing.

It felt like he abandoned us.

And now, everything was on me.

“Move!”

I flinched as the wooden plank tapped closer to me.

My hands trembled, but I obeyed.

Because what choice do I have?

“Wait.”

A woman’s voice cut through the tension.

I looked up.

She had just walked in—poised, elegant, commanding attention without raising her voice. For a second, I forgot where I was. She looked… out of place here. Too refined.

“I’ll take number five,” she said.

Number five?

My heart skipped. I glanced around. The women beside me had numbers three and four pinned to them.

“That’s you,” the girl on my left whispered.

My stomach dropped.

Before I could react, the man grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the line.

“This one’s good,” he said, inspecting me like I was an object. “Smooth skin. No scars. Clean.”

“Hasn’t been checked yet,” he added.

“Have it done in Flavio’s dressing room,” the woman replied calmly. “She’s in. No need to waste time.”

In.

The word echoed in my head.

This is it.

I took a shaky breath as they led me away.

So this is how it begins.

Am I really about to sell myself… even if it’s only through a screen?