Francesca

“Madam Francesca, are you fine?” asked the red-haired girl.

“I am fine, Ress. Just a little stressed about the order; I don’t want to make Mr. Lucas worried,” I replied, and the girl shuddered.

Nobody wants to make Lucas worried.

“It is slightly late, but it will come before Mr. Lucas comes to the fragrance,” she replied.

Putting a smile on her face, to mask her worries.

I nodded and entered the hall on the third floor, talking with patrons, who were sitting across from the girls.

It is so different from all the brothels, I had worked in. I don’t know how Silver had thought of this, but it is working like a charm.

It is not a unique concept, but the way Silver had done it made it exciting.

Many of the brothels have already copied it from the Silver, including those controlled by the Lucas Family. Though not all worked for some reason; only 20% had seen a rise in earnings, while for the rest it remained the same or even deceased.

Lucas is trying to copy Silver in every aspect, and the result is good, at least in the Red Fragrance.

Our earnings have tripled.

It should have made Lucas happy, but he is far from happy. Especially in the evening, when he saw people using his business as the rest stop and running to the velvet garden, whenever its gates opened.

Even closing the windows, didn’t much help.

He shouldn’t be angry; Red Fragrance is earning a lot. Especially now, we have also got the magical chef; she had cost a lot, but the increase in earnings had already made up for that.

“You whore! You should eat, what I told you to eat!”

I heard a loud sound and immediately turned to the table, where I saw an old man pushing a piece of meat into the teen girl’s mouth.

I shook my head, seeing that; it was not the first time this thing happened. Some men are obsessed with forcing their will on women. Some do it in the bedroom, while some on the table in public.

I moved toward the table with Feather Step and reached there in seconds.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Chiva?” I asked with a Calming Voice and wore a Disarming Smile.

The anger in his eyes lessened as he turned to me, but there was still a lot more.

“Yes, this whore of yours refuses to eat this great dish,” complained the man angrily.

Anger appeared on my face, and I glared at Junice, before I turned to the man, with an apologetic smile.

“My deepest apologies. Mr. Chiva, but Junice here, has allergies to meat. If she ate it, ugly hives would appear on her and she would start to vomit,” I said and the old man's eyes turned suspicious.

“Really?” he asked, not really believing me.

“It seemed like you don’t believe me,” I said with a disappointed sigh and took a fork from his hand and forced it onto Junice’s lips.

“Eat it, girl,” I said strictly, and the girl opened her mouth unwillingly.

“There is no need,” said the old man, as Junice was about to take the bite. “Just give me, another girl,” he added.

I nodded and turned to Stev, who appeared beside me.

“Stev will join you. Mr. Chiva; she loves to take different kinds of food,” I said, and Stev took a seat in front of me.

The old man muttered something before turning to Stev, while I took Junice away from me.

“You should learn to eat the meat,” I said to the teen. “I tried Madam, but I couldn’t. I hate the smell of it; even now, I barely holding off the vomit,” she said apologetically, and I sighed.

“I won’t be able to always save you, girl. If this continues, Mr. Lucas will find out and send you back to the mainland,” I said, and the girl shudder in fear.

They don’t want that, here they are earning a lot. Getting 5% of the commission and 10% of the gifts. It is pretty great, and they don’t want to lose it.

“I will try,” she said the softly.

I sent away before going to the floor above, where everything was going great.

Managing the silver style of a brothel is harder, but it is also making Lucas more money.

He is planning to expand the Red Fragrance further, which I don’t think is a good idea, but Lucas never listens, nor he likes to hear anything from the whore.

The only thing he wants from us is for his orders followed.

I was watching the floor when a young brunette stepped beside me.

“Madam, the orders have arrived.” She informed me, and I heaved a sigh of relief before walking down toward the back exit, where two people unloading the goods from the cart.

I am relieved they came on time.

Lucas didn’t like it when things didn’t happen on time. It didn’t matter. If it is not the fault of his staff, he will blame them. He gets especially angry when it happens with things, that we whores are responsible for.

I checked everything they had dropped and went back to the brothel.

Soon it was six and I could see some patrons on every floor leaving for the velvet garden.

Seeing such a scene angered Lucas so much, that he had thrown a fit more times than I remember. I was so much relieved when he started coming late.

Though even then, patrons still leave for the velvet garden; not like they are right now.

Time passed, and the brothel got more active, till it was nearly full. The patrons kept coming, some only to wait till the gates of the velvet garden opened again.

I don’t mind such things. The purpose of business should be earning money, and we are doing that.

I really wish that Lucas would stop, his hate for silver, gets in the way of his business. It would make the job of his staff quite easy.

Soon, it was nine, and I prepared myself. Lucas will come soon, and I have an important thing to talk to him about.

A thing that would decide my future here. With people who had been working for thirty-six years.

Half an hour passed, and Lucas didn’t come; I started to get nervous. With great difficulty, I had built the courage. If I hadn’t asked for it today; I don’t think, I would be able to do it again.

A few minutes passed when I saw the familiar carriage enter the brothel.

A few seconds later, Lucas came out, with chase and his assistant following a step behind.

He liked to meet with me immediately after he came, but my feet didn’t seem to move. It took a great struggle for me to list my foot and walk toward the office.

Knock Knock

I reached the door and nodded at the guards guarding it, before knocking on it gently.

“Come in,” said the familiar.

I tried to move, but once again, my body didn’t seem to move. I greeted teeth and took a step forward, as the guard opened the door of me.

I entered the office, and Lucas was sitting on the chair, with a genial smile on his face, and a skill that made everyone feel comfortable in his presence.

His nature is the opposite of what he shows on his face; one looks at his eyes and it becomes obvious.

They are icy blue and with all emotions frozen inside them. However, those who don’t know him for long will see his eyes filled with mirth and gentleness.

Aside from him, is the assistant standing beside him and Chase, sitting opposite of him. I didn’t take a seat, nor did he offer. The whores have no right to sit in front of him. It is not just him, but the rule of the House of Lucas for centuries.

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“Mr. Lucas,” I greeted, as in a subservient tone he liked.

“Has the order come?” he asked, without even looking, his eyes focusing on the file in his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Lucas,” I replied.

“How is the business, today?” he asked. “Good, Mr. Lucas,” I replied. “Any problems?” he asked.

“No. Mr. Lucas,” I replied.

I didn’t tell him about an earlier incident. He will punish, that young girl and his punishments are not nice.

It is a risky thing to do. If he comes to know about it, he will be furious. I will bear it; I have done that many times already.

He asked a few more things before turning to Chase.

“Those filthy whores were too greedy; they accepted the offer from those bastards of Owlspring, rather than ours.”

“You should have tried harder, Chase,” he said, looking at Chase accusingly.

Lucas loves the girls from Silver’s brothel, even if they are the worst of all, seeing they have been removed from working. Though here, they always become our top earners and level up quickly, too.

“As you had said, Mr. Lucas, they were greedy. They wanted three times more than what we were willing to offer and laxer conditions in their contract.” Replied Chase.

Bam!

“Fucking silver!” he cursed, hitting the table hard with his fist.

No one reacted or even blinked. We had seen it enough times to react to it.

Still, I have to say, that Silver is good. The conditions the girls were asking, were told to them by Silver. It is his way of getting back to those who are poaching his girls.

Which has made Lucas mad a lot in the past few months.

“What about the fourth one?” he asked. “She said she is not interested,” Chase replied, which made him angry again, but controlled.

“Stupid bitch!” he cursed.

“Now that Owlspring has cast his eyes on Silver, we will need to be ready with bigger offers and more concessions, if we want to take any girls from the velvet garden,” said Chase, and Lucas, just glared at him.

For a few seconds, there was a silence before Lucas spoke again.

“Tomorrow, Lord Zanav is coming, and I want everything ready for him,” he said, looking at me. “All the preparations are being made, as you have desired, Mr. Lucas,” I replied.

He had informed me of that weeks ago; all the preparations have been nearly done.

“I want everything to be perfect for it; I won’t tolerate the slightest mistake,” he said, revealing his real emotions.

“Everything will be perfect,” I replied, barely controlling the shudder.

“You can go now,” he dismissed and turned to file.

I wanted to leave and nearly turned before stopping myself. I have to ask for it. If I didn’t ask for it now; I would never ask it ever in my life.

He also turned toward me, seeing me not leaving and his eyes turned colder.

“Mr. Lucas, I have a request,” I said, feeling proud that my voice didn’t break.

He didn’t say anything, and just kept looking with his eyes turning colder by the second, that I wanted to escape badly.

“My contract is ending soon, and I would like to have a raise of 15% a year in the renewal of my contract,” I said and felt so much lighter, but a moment later, I felt like I had been frozen seeing his eyes turning colder than ice.

He kept looking before suddenly a smile cracked on his face, and it was not a nice smile.

“Hahahahah…”

He begins laughing. First, it was low, but soon it became loud, and the tears started to stream out of his eyes.

I shuddered because the mirth in his eyes was dark.

He kept laughing before finally stopping. “Oh, that was so funny. I couldn’t stop myself,” he said, wiping his eyes, before turning to me.

“I think, I have been giving you too much freedom, that you filthy whore begin to think, you deserve more than I am giving you.”

“In the next renewal, your salary will revert to what it was before and the commission of other whores would be reduced to 2.5% and their commission on their gifts will be reduced to 5%,” he stated.

Hearing that, I felt like, I had been hit hard by something physical. I don’t know, why I had ever thought he would agree to the raise.

I should have expected this. He is a member of the House of Lucas, after all.

“Even that is far more than you filthy whores deserve, but I am too generous to fault,” he added, shaking his head with a sigh.

The scary thing is, he believes those words coming out of his mouth.

“Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Lucas,” I said before walking out of the office with my decision made.

I don’t want to do it, don’t want to leave people with whom I have been with for more than three decades, but he had left me with no choice.

I went back to my job and handled things as I did, without any change.

Soon, it was two, and I walked toward the blond girl, with a well of emotions, that threatened to burst out of my eyes.

“Donna. I hand the charge to you, I hope you will take good care of the girls,” I said, with emotions leaking from my voice.

Silver had taught this girl well. I don’t know why he removed her. Whatever his reason, she will be a great replacement. I hope she will take good care of the girls from now on.

“Are you ok, Madam Francesca?” she asked with concern.

“I am fine; just feeling a little under the weather,” I replied with a small smile, before hugging the girl, which seemed to surprise her.

A moment later, I let go of her and walked away. She looked at me, before focusing on the hall in front of her.

I descended down the stairs, and with each stair, I felt the memories of my life flashing in front of me.

I was twelve when I first time entered the brothel. Since then, it had been thirty-six years and fourteen brothels; all belonging to House of Lucas.

In these years, I had gained the freedom but wasn’t able to do much, since the whore was all, I was.

I want to change that; I want to become more than a whore.

Finally, I reached the first floor, but I didn’t go to my room, instead walked toward the gate.

I nodded at them and walked out of the gate; they looked confused but didn’t stop me.

If they knew what I was planning to do, they might have.

“Madam Francesca, stop!”

They finally seemed to realize what I was planning on doing as I crossed the road.

One of them came at me, fast.

I activate the Feather Walk and move toward the gates of Velvet Garden, which had opened, seeing me coming.

I wish I could take the girls with me, but I couldn’t.

It is a huge risk; I am taking. I have been with the House of Lucas for over three and half decades, and know how they operate. I also know Norman Lucas very well and am aware that he might be sent as an assassin after me.

I might die, but I am not afraid. I am afraid of dying as a whore; I don’t want that. I want to die, more than a whore.

Velvet Garden would help me with that.

I walked through the gate and felt liberated, like never before. I didn’t even care about the guards appearing behind me.

However, I was surprised when I saw, the spell shield. It had stopped them, in their tracks.

They shouted threats, but I didn’t even listen. All my focus is on the beautiful redhead coming toward me.

“Welcome to the velvet garden, Francesca.” She said as she stopped in front of me.