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Alyhana poured the whiskey slowly, watching the amber liquid swirl in the glass before setting the bottle down on the nightstand. Kai was still stretched out on the bed, bare-chested beneath the white sheets, his dark hair falling slightly over his forehead. He accepted the glass without a word, taking a slow sip as his eyes stayed on her.
"You don't seem like the type to drink a lot," she said lightly, though her fingers trembled due to extreme climax she was still recovering from as she tucked a loose curl behind her ear.
He lifted the glass again and took a sip. His silence left her with the uncomfortable awareness that he was waiting—for her to speak. "Stop stalling, I showed you a good time. You should uphold your end of the deal."
Alyhana giggled, "Ohh~ sexy. I like a man who knows what he wants. If things were different, I'd definitely chase after you, pretty boy."
Kai rose an eyebrow, not impressed with her jokes.
'okay, a deal is a deal...'
"I wasn't always…" She hesitated, then sighed. "This." Her hand made a vague motion at the discarded purple outfit in the corner. "When I was twelve, my parents were gunned down. In their car. On their way to pick me up from ballet class."
Kai set the whiskey down, his expression difficult to read.
"My dad was a detective. He never told me much, but I overheard things — phone calls, late-night arguments with my mom. I think he was working on a case that involved… some kind of small mafia group back home." Her voice faltered as she searched for the right words. "I don't know much about them. I just know I've always had this feeling they were the ones who killed my parents. Because he was close to putting them behind bars."
Kai leaned back against the headboard, studying her. "Names?"
"I don't have any. I was a kid. All I remember is my dad telling my mom that he was 'almost there.' A week later, they were dead."
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze sharpening. "You think they'd still remember you?"
Alyhana gave a humorless laugh. "I doubt they even know I exist. I was nothing to them. They took my parents, though. And they took everything else with them."
Kai reached for his drink again, his eyes never leaving hers. "You tell that story a lot? I mean to your friends, not your...customers"
"No," she admitted softly. "I don't...have any friends, and most people don't care about a prostitute's backstory, except for you that is."
"I'm not most people." His tone was calm, almost too calm, but there was something in the way he said it that made her skin prickle.
She forced a smile, picking up the empty bottle to give her hands something to do. "You asked. Now you know."
"And then what happened?" Kai asked, finishing his whiskey in one slow swallow.
Alyhana leaned back in the chair, the bottle still in her hands, tracing the label with her thumb. "After my parents were gone, they sent me to live with my uncle. I barely knew he existed before then. He was in New Cyprus City, so that's how I ended up here."
Kai said nothing, but she could feel his attention sharpen.
"My father and my uncle… they didn't get along growing up," she continued. "I don't know why exactly, but I could feel it in the way my uncle looked at me. Like I was a reminder of something he hated. He took me in because he had to, not because he wanted to."
She let out a short breath. "For the first few years, he ignored me most of the time. I learned to make my own meals, keep out of the way. I thought that was the worst it would get."
Her voice quieted. "Then I turned sixteen."
Kai's gaze narrowed slightly, though his expression didn't change.
"I… developed faster than most girls my age. And the men in the neighborhood noticed. I wasn't stupid. I could see the way they looked at me." She gave a bitter smile. "My uncle saw it too, but not in the way a guardian should. He didn't protect me. He started… hinting at ways I could 'make myself useful.'"
Kai set his glass down on the nightstand, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly. "Useful how?"
"He had a problem," she said, her tone hardening. "Alcohol. Gambling. It didn't take long before he'd racked up more debt than he could ever pay back. And then he started looking at me like I was the solution. Like I was… currency."
Her hands stilled on the bottle. "At first, I thought he was joking. Then one night, he told me I was going to 'help him take care of his problem.' I told him no. I screamed at him. But when I saw the men he owed money to, I understood that it didn't matter what I wanted."
The silence between them felt heavier now, weighted with things she'd never said out loud before.
"Most people don't believe me when I tild them," she added quietly. "Or they think I'm exaggerating. So I stopped telling it."
Kai leaned forward slightly, his eyes locked on hers. "I believe you."
She searched his face for sarcasm and found none. "Why?"
"Because I've met men like your uncle," he said, his tone flat. "And I've seen what they turn people into."
She stared at him for a moment, then turned away...her fingers tightened on the bottle until her knuckles ached. "One night, he called me into the dining room. The table was covered in empty beer bottles and ashtrays. He didn't look drunk, though. He looked… cornered."
Kai sat motionless, watching her.
"He told me his debtors were running out of patience. That if he didn't pay up soon, they'd kill him. I thought I could help in some small way. Get a job as a cashier in one of the coffee shops down the street, work after school, save whatever I could."
Her lips twisted into a humorless smile. "He laughed at me. Said that kind of money wouldn't make a dent. That the fastest way to 'fix this' was for me to start using what I had. His words, not mine."
Kai's jaw flexed, but he didn't interrupt.
"I thought I'd have time to figure something out. Maybe run away, maybe find someone who'd take me in. But before I could do anything, he made the decision for me. He sold me off."
Kai's eyes sharpened. "To who?"
"To Lloyd, the owner of this lovely establishment–I'm sure you've met the man." The name came out like a bitter taste in her mouth. "My uncle took the money, paid off his debt, and saved his own skin. And I…" Her gaze dropped to the floor. "I became someone else's problem."
She forced herself to look at him again, meeting his steady stare. "That's how it started. Not because I wanted to. Not because I had a choice."
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then Kai said, "And you've been paying for his mistakes ever since."
"Every damn day," she murmured.
Alyhana set the bottle aside and folded her hands in her lap, almost as if she were bracing herself. "I learned fast," she said quietly. "You have to, in a place like this. How to smile when I didn't want to. How to make men think they were in control, even when I was the one deciding how far things went. How to read their moods, their habits. Which ones liked to talk, which liked to spend and which ones liked to hurt."
Her eyes were steady now, not on him but somewhere past his shoulder. "Men… they treat you like you're a thing. Something to rent. Something to forget as soon as they're done. You stop expecting kindness after a while. You stop expecting anything."
Kai watched her without moving, his expression unreadable.
"My uncle didn't care. Not about what I went through. Not about what I had to do. And even after selling me off, he still found ways to make things worse. He kept drinking, kept gambling, and eventually… he pissed off the wrong people."
Her tone didn't change, but her fingers tightened. "When I was nineteen, they found him in an alley. Beaten so badly they couldn't even identify him without dental records. And just like that, I was alone."
She looked at him then, her voice low but steady. "People think that should have been my way out. That with him gone, I could leave. But I can't. Lloyd still owns my contract. I still owe him for my 'freedom,' as he calls it. Until that's paid in full, I'm not going anywhere."
Kai's gaze stayed on her for a moment longer before he leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on his knees. "And how much would it take for you to buy it back?"
Her lips pressed together in a faint smile that didn't reach her eyes. "More than I've ever seen in one place. A few more years of this, maybe, if I'm lucky."
Kai didn't smile. "What if you didn't have to wait that long?"
Alyhana giggled, "Now that would be a dream come true..."
Kai reached out, taking her hand in his. His grip was firm but careful, as though he was afraid of breaking something fragile. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "For everything you went through."
For a moment, she stared at him, surprised by the sincerity in his voice. Then a small laugh escaped her, soft but edged with something bitter. She gently pulled her hand back and shook her head. "Don't be. My life isn't your fault. And besides… I'm sure my little tragedy was entertaining enough for you."
Kai's brow furrowed. "That's not what I meant."
"Doesn't matter," she replied, standing and smoothing down the hem of her robe. "Your time's up. I need to go home."
He leaned back slightly, his gaze following her every movement. "Will I see you again?"
Alyhana paused by the door and looked over her shoulder. Her lips curved into a slow, knowing smile. "You will."
His eyes held hers, unblinking. "When?"
She let the silence stretch just long enough before answering. "When you pay the right price. Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I can give you a discount."
With a playful wink, she turned the handle and stepped out, leaving the faint scent of her perfume lingering in the room.