Chapter 1

(Rachel's POV)

I felt my hands trembling as I stared at the mirror in front of me. Somehow, something about this case felt familiar and that made me tremble even more, as I remembered the same scenario the night my father died.

My hands were also trembling while my eyes were locked on the person in front of me. The bulky man in front of me, pointed a gun at me with his finger just an itch away from the trigger. I was already biting my bottom inner lip so hard that I could taste the blood in my mouth.

My legs were unable to keep my whole trembling body in a standing position, but I struggled not to fall in fear.

The man's eyes traveled down my body as he scanned me from head to toe before he licked his lips. Then slowly, he dropped the hand holding the gun. That was when I remembered I was only putting on the towel I wore after taking my bath.

He walked closer and I walked backwards instinctively. He reached me after the wall stopped my moving feet.

As he came closer to me, I finally realized how small my room was as he stood just two steps away from me. He grabbed my arm and yanked me closer to him.

"Time to go," he muttered with an evil smirk before pulling me with him as we walked out of my small room.

Upon reaching the dim sitting room, he tossed me down on the ground harshly, and I winced in pain. I lifted my eyes up, and they landed on my father, who was kneeling with his head lowered. I wanted to rush over to him and inquire about what was going on, but then I saw a shadow of something behind him. It took me a moment to realize it was a gun that was pointed close to his head.

"I can see you've hidden your daughter quite well," I heard someone clapping behind him and stopped. "But unfortunately, that wasn't enough," the person finished. 

His voice made me tremble uncontrollably. The mockery in his deep voice and the way he clapped slowly was very terrifying. 

"I… I can explain… I wasn't hiding her… I... it… It was just… a… a mis.. Misunderstanding… Please believe me…" my father's voice trembled as he stuttered.

I couldn't comprehend what they were talking about, and all my attention was on the gun still being pointed at my dad.

"You've played with the wrong man, Christopher," the man said with a dangerous voice. "Kill him!"

Hearing those few words, my heart flipped and I sat there frozen. I snapped back to my senses when I saw my father's pitiful look as he mouthed the words, "I'm sorry, mi nina."

Rushing over, I screamed for the man not to do it. "No, please don'ttt-'' and before I could complete my speech, I heard a loud gunshot.

My whole being stopped working. I felt so numb and paralyzed. My heart was already numb, and the numbness spread through every part of me.

I finally crawled on my knees to him. "Fa… Father?" I called and watched as blood gushed out from the middle of his forehead where the bullet penetrated from. I leaned over to him and placed my ear on his chest to hear his heartbeat, something I always did whenever I laid my head on his chest.

"Dad… Your heart… It's not beating, why is it not beating like before?" The tears started dropping on my cheeks. "Dad… Please… Wake up… Don't… Don't leave me here alone… Daddd!!" I screamed my lungs out. By now, the tears that flooded in my eyes finally poured down heavily as I screamed for my dad not to leave me.

The man sighed tiredly, as if I bored him with my continuous screams.

"You know, you're also useless," he said, but I could barely hear him as tears kept falling on my cheeks while I cried bitterly. "Just kill her and save me the stress." He ordered.

My eyes widened in shock and I turned when I felt someone behind me. Before I could let out a breath or take a proper look at who it was, I felt a metal hit my head very hard, and I fell to the ground with force.

"Kill her already!" The person said impatiently.

"Stop!" A deep manly voice resounded.

I felt like I was slipping away from consciousness and far into a deep, dark hole that kept pulling me in. I blinked my half closed eyes slowly. I wanted to at least see the man who killed my father, so I lifted my eyes up. I saw a man's legs, one leg crossed over the other, then I saw his hand tapping the armrest of the chair he sat on. Half of his body was hidden in the dark part of the sitting room, while the only light in the sitting room shone on his legs and hand.

After taking in only those details, I let the darkness carry me willingly, beside what would I live for? A tear dropped from my closed eye.

I felt someone's touch on my shoulder. "Hey, you're next." A lady who just walked into the dressing room informed me.

I opened my closed eyes and stared at her through the mirror. She had black hair, pale skin and a nice figure. She was beautiful. 

I gave her a small nod and waited for her to leave before I stood up and looked at the dress I wore. It made me look no less than a whore. It was very revealing as it showed half of my breasts and my mid-thighs. My face was painted with different colors. Black lipstick, blue eyeshadows and a white powder that would help cover my darker skin. I gulped nervously before I walked out of the room after encouraging myself that I had no choice.

I walked into the dim hall with a loud beat that echoed in my eardrums. I wondered what conspired that night after I fainted to wake up here and found out I was to obey every single word the manager said because I now belonged to the owner of the club. And the words were sometimes things I would wish for death than follow.

I sighed, the nightclub was always busy. I guess that was why it was the best and famous nightclub in the whole country. I looked at the stage where half naked girls dance with poles. I grimaced when I saw how men kept slapping their ass to push money into their pants. I was glad I was never unlucky enough to be told to striptease.

What a beautiful hell that would be. "Rachel?" I heard a lovely voice behind me.

I turned only to see a blonde just like myself behind a counter. She beckoned for me to come over, and I casually walked over to her.

"Can you help serve this?" She said, passing me a tray of drinks.

I nodded at her. She didn't need to ask since this was my job here, but Laura would forever be polite. I took the drinks and walked around, passing through males and females that kept grinding themselves intimately on each other. I wondered why someone would keep dancing and exhausting oneself, all for catching fun. The most annoying thing was that they kept sweating heavily like bathed chickens. I successfully made it out from the suffocating crowd and walked around to serve the drinks to the well composed people who sat far from the dancing crowd.

After doing my rounds, I left to retire at the counter. 

I saw Laura putting extra drinks down on the tray. Looking at the crowd again, I was sure I'd be staying all night to quench the thirst of everyone with a drink. 

"There are specials." I said, noticing the expensive bottle of drinks she placed on the tray.

"Yes, you're correct. They are for the VIPs," she relayed.

Oh! I almost forgot about the VIPs. "Are they as much as usual?"

"I don't know because I've never served before, so you should be the one answering that question," she said with a tilted neck and a small smile.

"Then I guess I'm on for the whole night."

"Like always. Though I heard there's a particular VIP here today that we must treat properly like our lives depend on it. And almost all the girls are there to entertain them. I was also told that the VIP has a connection with the owner of this nightclub, so I'll be more careful today if I were you."

"Why?" I asked. She waved for me to lean over towards me.

"Because the manager will be around today." She whispered in my ears.

I flinched back as the memory of the m

anager's last visit flashed in my head.

Oh! no. I would rather not get punished tonight.