Chapter 3

"Hey! Aren't you Anna? Joseph's wife? What's wrong? Feeling shy? Come have a drink.

"Hold on a second ... Why are you wearing that uniform?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the table erupted in laughter.

I gripped the sides of my drinks tray and took a deep breath.

What choice did I have? They'd already seen me, and they were going to have their fun no matter what I did. It's not like I could escape now. Who knew, maybe I could even get a few tips from them if I weathered the storm.

My family's creditors weren't going anywhere. My father was still proclaiming daily how he didn't want to go on living, my mother was a one-woman waterworks, and my brother was running himself ragged as a delivery driver. Now wasn't the time for clinging on to hollow pride.

I walked back over to their table, working hard to force a smile.

I put on my best attempt at a jaunty voice and said, "What a coincidence. I didn't expect to see you all here. We're all friends; if you're happy with the service, feel free to leave a little something extra."

"Ha ha ha."

I was greeted by scoffs and sneers from the man who had called me over.

I remembered his face. Back when my family had money, he was always following us around like a star-struck sycophant. Now that we had fallen on hard times, we were suddenly beneath him. I felt a strong urge to reach out and slap his grinning face.

But now wasn't the time for self-indulgence. Money was more important.

So, I stood there smiling politely and said nothing.

This man—Phil, I think his name was—suddenly leaned across and put his face close to mine. With an obvious air of smug satisfaction, he jeered, "Look what we have here. Is this the same arrogant Anna, scion of the great Tate family? Not so high and mighty now your parents' money's all gone."

The table erupted into mocking laughter once more.

Will, another of my brother's old friends, joined in. "If you want a little something extra, then you'll have to work for it. You should know what kind of service people want in a place like this. Why not pull down that dress and give us a sneak peek of what's on offer?"

My hands gripped the drinks tray so hard my knuckles went white. I looked over at Joseph.

He was sitting there, quietly smoking his cigarette, completely unsympathetic to my plight.

I lowered my gaze and placed the drinks tray carefully on the table. Forcing a smile, I said, "Please don't misunderstand. I'm here to serve drinks. We all used to get along once. If you want something to drink, it would be my pleasure to help".

"Ha! Have things really got that bad for the illustrious Tates?" Phil dismissively threw his card down on the table, before saying, almost magnanimously, "There's 3,000 dollars on that card. Get on all fours and bark like a dog and you can have it all."

Another wave of cruel laughter washed over the table.

The commotion had drawn the attention of a few people from the surrounding tables. I felt like a thousand eyes were on me.

Two of those eyes belonged to Joseph. He was staring at me impassively, his expression hard to read.

I stood there, frozen to the spot. Suddenly, Will threw his own card down on the table. "There's 10,000 dollars on that one. Bark like a dog and then spend the night with us and you can have that one too."

I stared at him in disbelief.

My family may have lost all our money—about the only thing these leeches cared about—but as far as they were aware, I was still Joseph's wife. I couldn't believe they would dare talk to me like this in front of him.

Unless Joseph had already told them about our divorce, but even then, they would have needed some sort of signal from him, otherwise they'd never have the courage to act like this.

"What? I thought you needed the money. Now's hardly the time for self-respect." Will was smirking, menacingly. "You won't find a better deal than this anywhere else."

He had a point. If my family was ever going to recover, at some point I was going to have to do a few things I wasn't happy about.

But putting aside my self-respect didn't mean I had to sell myself short.

I stared back at that mocking, moronic face. Just looking at him filled me with revulsion.

I picked up the credit card, with its 10,000 dollars, and threw it back at Will. "If you want me for a night, then you're going to have to do better than this. Make it a million and I'm all yours."

I remembered Will from his days mooching off my brother. He was one of those guys who liked to act the part, but when it came time to pay up, he was as stingy as they came.

For him, parting ways with a thousand dollars was like cutting off one of his own limbs.

Yet now, he was willing to part with 10,000 just to humiliate me. It was hard to imagine what I could have done for him to hate me so much.

Was I really that horrible of a person before?

"Ha ha ha. Will, you're never going to get what you want being that close-fisted. This is THE Miss Anna Tate. 10,000 dollars is a low-ball offer."

The laughter erupted once more.

Will's face had turned bright red and he shot me an angry look. "I'm not sure she's even worth that." He said, dismissively.

I did my best to ignore him and turned to pick up Phil's card. "So, all I need to do is bark like a dog and this 3,000 dollars is mine?"

Phil's mocking expression suddenly turned to one of shock. He clearly never imagined I would take him seriously.

I knew full well that Phil was just the same as Will: all bark and no bank account.

This 3,000 dollars was probably most of what he had.

I could see the unease on his face as he said, "The arrogant Anna Tate, looking down on all of us. Quit joking. There's no way you'd ever put aside your pride and go through with it."

He reached over and tried to take his card back.

I pulled the card back out of his reach. "Who said I was joking? It's not exactly hard to bark, is it? A few quick woofs and I make 3,000 dollars. Sounds like a good bit of business to me."

Panic spread across Phil's stricken face. He stared at the card in my hand, desperate to snatch it back.

Will's face had returned to its normal color. "Hurry up and bark then. I want to see how convincingly you beg."

All of my pride was gone. All I could think of was the creditors knocking at our door, my parents' despair, and my brother wearing himself thin working for pennies.

I took a deep breath, cleared my head, and said, "Okay."

But just as I was getting down on all fours, a pair of hands lifted me back up.

I looked around in surprise to find Joseph firmly grasping my elbows. My heart jumped.

"Get out."

His voice was soft but all of my brother's old friends heard him clearly.

They all stood up from the table and headed outside.

As Phil walked past, he grabbed the credit card from my hand, a grim look on his face.

Joseph's eyes bored into me. "Is your family really that broke?"

I extricated myself from his grasp and took a step back. "I think you're very clear on what our situation is like, Mr. Hertz."

Our family's fall from grace was big news across the city. Everyone and their dog knew what dire straits we were in. There was no way Joseph wasn't already acutely aware.

"Mr. Hertz?" He seemed amused, yet his gaze darkened.

I had no idea what was going through his mind right then. To be honest, I just wanted him to leave.

I waved towards the drinks tray, which was still sitting on the table. "If you're satisfied with my service, please feel free to leave a tip."

Joseph continued to stare at me in silence, his gaze deep and impenetrable.

I wasn't really hoping for a tip. I just wanted to find a way to end our conversation.

I forced another smile and turned to leave. Joseph suddenly called out, "I'll give you a million."

I froze, hardly believing my ears. I turned back to face him. "What did you say?"

He took a step forward. Our faces were now only inches apart. He stared into my eyes. "I'll give you a million dollars ... but you have to spend the night with me."