Aria's POV
I'm eighteen, and honestly? I have lost track of how many men I'd slept with. Don't be surprised yet. This is not what I am proud of but it's survival means. What started as something that made me feel dirty, hollow, and guilty somehow became my job and the unwanted part of my life.
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How it all started…
I lived in LA, with my parents happily, getting the attention and love from both parents until mom died. And before I could even cry properly, the man I had called "Dad" for fifteen years handed me off to a total stranger like I didn't matter. Maybe I was a piece of trash. To crown the story worse, the stranger I discovered was my biological father.
Yeah. Imagine finding out the man you trusted your whole life wasn't actually your blood, then he disappears without a goodbye, while you're stuck with the guy whose DNA you share but whose heart was as cold as ice.
Ray, my " so called father," was colder than an expired freezer. I had to live under the same roof with him but he treated me less like his daughter and more like an unwanted soul who shouldn't have existed.
I kept asking myself, Why did Mom remarry? Was she hiding something? Why didn't anyone tell me the truth? Why did the man I called Dad throw me away like trash? I felt like I was living someone else's life, maybe a script, that I didn't have time to rehearse before acting.
Ray at first was playing off "Father of the Year," asking how my day was, cooking, even laughing at jokes that weren't funny and I felt safe.
But two months later, the mask fell. He came home drunk all night, with women parading through the house naked like they owned it. He didn't care if I was at home or not. During the day he would want me to clean off his mess but I refused one day and that almost landed me in the hospital.
I remember that sting, the ringing in my ears, the harsh words that came from his mouth. That was the night I stopped being his daughter and started being my own savior.
So I left the house for him and moved in with Tessy. For the first time in years, I could breathe without wondering which version of Ray was going to walk through the door.
***
It was rare for a young girl at 20 to own a big mansion of her own, but Tessy did. She lived alone and that made it easy and possible for me to stay with her. She is just two years older than I am. But had really achieved a lot at a young age.
I kept staring at her like she's some unsolvable puzzle. I knew she was from a background that feeding was a problem in her family. And now? She really has a lot of money. My brain can't compute how she turned rags into riches.
But for sure all I could remember was that she didn't grow up with much. Scratch that, she grew up with nothing. She was a sort of mockery and people laughed at her family.
I swear I was gonna ask her how she made it to this level.
So I did.
Fast-forward to this morning. I walked into her room at 8a.m., after I had had breakfast. She was bone-tired from her work last night.
"Come in," she said as I knocked at her door.
I stood by her bed side, face pale, like I had seen a reflection that I was a waste.
"Hey good morning babes" she greeted me, to which I replied and then went straight to the question that brought me to her room.
"Tess… what do you really do? Maybe I could work with you."
She laughed maybe not because it was funny, but because she knew this day would come.
"Aria Gray," she called, dropping the nickname "babes" so I would know she meant business. "I'm a strip dancer." she said, sounding so neutral.
My eyes went wide.
"F*ck! You're serious?" I exclaimed, somewhat frustrated.
She nodded. Then added, "And yes, I do more… for clients who pay enough."
she didn't bother to say much by words but by gesture, which I quickly grabbed.
"You mean you f*ck people for money?" I asked, voice flat.
"You are dirty, just like Ray". I left the room and slammed the door.
She doesn't feel dirty at all, she feels she's powerful and all the men can't do without her. She makes cool money from this but I don't plan to live my life in such a disgusting way.
Can I really make it in life, if I don't follow Teddy's steps?.