LOGINCASSY
The girl whose father died because of mine. The girl I humiliated in front of everyone when we were sixteen. She's holding a glass of whiskey, watching me with eyes that are empty of everything except satisfaction. "Hello, Cassy," she says, her voice like silk over razors. "Surprise." I can't breathe or even think. I can't process what I'm seeing. "You…" "Me." She takes a sip of her drink. "Did you really think I'd pay four million dollars for one night? No, sweetheart. I paid four million dollars for something much better." She walks to a side table, picks up a folder. Tosses it at my feet. "Read it." With shaking hands, I open the folder. It's a contract. Legal and binding. TERMS OF EXCLUSIVE SERVICE AGREEMENT My eyes scan the words, each one a nail in my coffin. One year of exclusive service to Sienna Vale... Subject will reside in employer's residence... Subject will be available at all times for any purpose employer deems appropriate... Subject will accompany employer to all requested events, meetings, and private gatherings... Subject will submit to employer's complete authority in all matters... Upon successful completion of one-year term: All charges against Delilah Beaumont will be dropped, record expunged, and subject will receive compensation of $500,000... I look up at her, horror dawning on me. "I didn't sign this." "Actually," She pulls out another sheet. "You did, right here." My signature from tonight. The paperwork I signed in a haze of desperation, looking only for the dollar amount. "That's not... I didn't know..." "Didn't read the fine print?" She tsk tsk "Careless, Cassy. But then, you always were careless with other people's lives, weren't you?" She crouches down in front of me, still holding her drink. "Let me make this very clear. For the next year, you belong to me. You live where I say. You do what I say. You wear what I say. You fuck who I say, which will only be me, by the way. I'm not into sharing." My hands are shaking so badly the contract falls from my grip. "Why?" I whisper. "Why?" Her smile is cold. "Did you really forget, Cassy? Did you really forget what you did to me?" And suddenly I remember. The cafeteria. The letter. The laughter. Did you really think someone like me would ever want to kiss someone like you? Her father died that day. Oh god. "Sienna, I…" "Save it." She stands. "I don't want your apologies or your excuses. I want exactly what I paid for." She finishes her drink in one swallow. "I want to watch you break. I want to see you on your knees every single day, knowing that you belong to me. I want you to feel every ounce of powerlessness that I felt. And then…" She leans down, her face inches from mine. "Then maybe, if you beg prettily enough, I'll let you kiss me." She straightens, and walks to the door. "Get dressed. My driver is waiting downstairs. He'll take you to my penthouse. Your things, what little you have will be collected and brought over tomorrow." She opens the door. "Welcome to your new life, Cassy." Then she's gone. And I'm alone on the floor of Suite 1308, wrapped in a blanket that smells like her perfume, staring at a contract that's just sold me into a year of hell. The driver doesn't speak to me. He's waiting at the curb when I stumble out of The Gilded Cage on legs that still don't feel like mine, wearing the clothes I came in with, jeans with a hole in the knee, a sweater that's seen better days, and sneakers that are falling apart. The same outfit I wore when I still thought I was just selling one night. He opens the door to a black Mercedes, the interior smells like leather and wealth. It smells like Sienna. I climbed in because that’s the only option I had. The contract folder is still clutched in my hands. The proof that I'm the biggest idiot who ever lived, that I signed away a year of my life without reading the fine print because I was so desperate to save Delilah that I didn't think, didn't question, didn't… Didn't matter, a voice in my head whispers. You would have signed it anyway. You didn't have a choice. But that's not true, is it? I had a choice. I could have let Delilah face trial. Could have hoped for a miracle. Could have… Could have watched my baby sister get fifteen years for drugs someone planted on her while I stood by helpless. No. There was no other choice, and Sienna knew tat. She counted on that. The city slides by outside the tinted windows. We're heading uptown, toward the part of Manhattan where buildings pierce the sky and every square foot costs more than most people make in a lifetime. The part of the city I used to live in, back when I was someone. Back before I knew what my father really was.SIENNACassy refuses to go home. "I'm coming with you," she says in the car. Her voice is hoarse from crying but steady."You need to rest-""I need answers." She looks at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed but fierce. "Evans framed my sister because of me. Daniel published those photos because my mother paid him. I need to know the whole truth."I study her face. She's exhausted and traumatized. There's a bruise on her cheek where Evans hit her."Okay," I say. "You can come. But you stay behind me. Understood?""Yes, Ma'am." The words are automatic but they still send heat through me.I take her hand. "Are you really okay?""No," she says honestly. "But I will be, after we finish this."The motel in Jersey is exactly as depressing as I expected. Peeling paint, flickering neon sign. The kind of place people go when they're running from something.Wendy meets us in the parking lot. "Room 147," she says. "He's inside alone. I've had eyes on him since this morning. He hasn't left.""Good work."
SIENNACassy refuses to go home. "I'm coming with you," she says in the car. Her voice is hoarse from crying but steady."You need to rest-""I need answers." She looks at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed but fierce. "Evans framed my sister because of me. Daniel published those photos because my mother paid him. I need to know the whole truth."I study her face. She's exhausted and traumatized. There's a bruise on her cheek where Evans hit her."Okay," I say. "You can come. But you stay behind me. Understood?""Yes, Ma'am." The words are automatic but they still send heat through me.I take her hand. "Are you really okay?""No," she says honestly. "But I will be, after we finish this."The motel in Jersey is exactly as depressing as I expected. Peeling paint, flickering neon sign. The kind of place people go when they're running from something.Wendy meets us in the parking lot. "Room 147," she says. "He's inside alone. I've had eyes on him since this morning. He hasn't left.""Good work."
SIENNAThe location Wendy sent me is an abandoned warehouse district. Half the buildings are condemned. The other half are used for god knows what.My security team arrives ten minutes after I do. Three men in tactical gear."Ms. Vale," the team leader says. "We need a plan-""The plan is simple," I interrupt. "We find Cassy Beaumont. We extract her and we neutralize the threat.""Do we know how many hostiles are inside?""No. But I don't care. We're going in."One of them hands me a vest. "At least wear this."I put it on, then I follow them toward the building. Wendy sends another message.WENDY: Thermal imaging shows three heat signatures inside. Two mobile, one stationary. The stationary one is probably your target.We approach the building carefully. The security team moves like professionals. They breach the door.Inside, the warehouse is a maze of debris and shadows, broken machinery, trash and the smell of rot and chemicals.We move through it silently. Then I hear voices."..
CASSYI don't know how long we drive, but time loses meaning when you can't see, speak, or barely breathe through the panic.Eventually, the van stops, a pair of hands grab me and pull me out. I stumble as I can't see where I'm going. Someone catches me before I fall."Easy," Evans says. "Don't want to damage the merchandise."They walk me inside somewhere and I hear a door close. They push me down and I land hard on the concrete fall. I hear footsteps walk away, then a door slams. Then silence.I lie there, bound, gagged and hooded, trying not to panic, trying to think. Sienna will notice I'm gone and she'll come looking for me but will she find me in time?Time passes. Eventually, I hear footsteps again. Someone pulls off the hood. I blink because of the sudden dim light. We're in what looks like an abandoned warehouse with trash scattered around.Evans is standing over me. He's smoking something and the smell is acrid."Hello princess…" he smirks.I glare at him. I can't speak thro
CASSYBelow the headline, there are photos of me at The Gilded Cage on my knees, wearing the collar. Looking at the camera with an expression that looks like desire.My face is clearly visible and my name is in the article."Oh my god," I whisper.Sienna takes the tablet back. "It gets worse."She scrolls down. The article talks about Emily, about her suicide. About Sienna buying her from The Gilded Cage and the "pattern" of Sienna targeting vulnerable women who look alike.And then it talks about me.-Cassy Beaumont, 26, daughter of disgraced businessman Marcus Beaumont, entered into a year-long "service contract" with Vale after her family's empire collapsed. Sources close to the situation describe the arrangement as "psychological abuse disguised as consensual employment." Beaumont currently lives in Vale's Tribeca penthouse, where she is allegedly kept under strict control…-"He published it," I say… my voice cracked. "He actually published it.""I'm already on it," Sienna says. S
CASSYThe elevator doors close on my mother. She's crying, looking at me like I've betrayed her."You'll regret this," she says as the doors slide shut. "When she destroys you, you'll wish you'd listened to me."Then she's gone. I lean against the wall and Delilah wraps her arms around me."Jesus," she breathes. "That was intense. She actually thought we'd go with her. Delusional.""She's our mother.""She's a narcissist who abandoned us," Delilah corrects. "And I'm glad she's gone.""Me too."Five minutes later, I hear the elevator. The doors open and Sienna steps out.She's still in her travel clothes, she looks exhausted. But when her eyes find mine, everything else fades away.She moves to hug me then she's kissing me. Deep and desperate like she's been drowning and I'm air. When she finally pulls back, we're both breathing hard."Hi," she says."Hi."She touches my throat. Where the collar used to be."You really took it off.""I really did.""And?""And I'm still here," I say. "
CASSYThe shower doesn't wash away the feeling of her hands on me.I scrub my skin until it's red, let the water run scalding hot, but I can still feel her fingers inside me, her lips on mine, her voice commanding me to thank her for breaking me apart.And I did thank her. The part that terrifies m
CASSYThe bathroom is luxurious and private. I lock the door and lean against it, trying to catch my breath.My reflection in the mirror is obscene. I look flushed and wrecked. The collar is visible now, I must have been tugging at my neckline without realizing it.I look like I've been fucked, and
CASSYSienna's office is in Tribeca, in a building that's made of glass. The car ride over is torture. Not because of traffic or the silence, but because I can feel the vibrator nestled against me. Silent now, but there… a constant reminder that at any moment, with the press of a button, Sienna can
The nightgown barely covers me. I catch sight of myself in the mirror, collared like a pet, wearing barely anything, my eyes red from crying. I've been through alot, I don't recognize the girl staring back. I walk back into the bedroom. Sienna is lying in bed, scrolling through her phone. She looks







