Betting Her Life: A Girlfriend's Vengeance

Jake, a straight-laced office worker, lets his childhood friend Leo drag him to an upscale club for his first night out. Leo, a wealthy dropout who runs with a crew, is a regular at the Velvet Lounge, and the hostesses fawn over him the moment he arrives. When Leo tells Jake to pick a girl from the lineup, Jake chooses Ashley, a nervous newcomer who barely hides her disappointment at not being chosen by Leo instead.

Ashley warms to Jake only after learning how close he and Leo are, and after a night of heavy drinking Jake wakes beside her with no memory of what happened. She asks him for extra money, insisting the choice was hers, and refuses his offer to help her leave the club, saying she has reasons she cannot escape. Her name is Ashley, she says, and she grew up poor in a remote mountain area with four older brothers and one older sister.

Something about her face feels familiar to Jake, though he cannot place it. He is certain of only one thing: her real interest was never him, but Leo.