Part 2Your First Love My First Payday

The next time I woke, I was staring at the familiar, tight-lipped, not-quite-smiling face of Mrs. Blackwood, Damon’s mother.

I tried to sit up, and she gently steadied me.

“Easy, easy now. Don’t strain yourself, dear. You’ve been badly hurt.”

I took a deep breath, marshaling all my training, all my professional gold-digger finesse. When I looked up again, my eyes were glistening, brimming with manufactured tears.

“Madam... I truly can’t do this anymore... Please, I’m begging you, let me go!”

Mrs. Blackwood’s expression shifted. She offered a few perfunctory words about how hard I’d worked, then the subject turned quickly.

“Your father’s gambling debts to the Blackwood family aren’t settled yet, you know.”

I gripped the bedsheet, my knuckles stark white.

“A debt-ridden father, a sick mother, a younger brother needing school tuition. When I first met you, I thought, Surely, no one can be this tragic.”

I pressed my lips together, offering a weak, self-deprecating smile. She was right. Life was a cruel joke. Fate loved to toy with the desperate. And it was exactly people like me who were so easy for them to manipulate.

Mrs. Blackwood patted my shoulder, sighing dramatically.

“Tori is only fighting with Damon because of you. That’s a sign that she cares, my dear.”

“Just hold on a little longer. The contract ends soon, and then you’ll be free. Otherwise... you know what will happen.”

I lowered my head and nodded softly. I had zero leverage to refuse.

...

I’d only been recuperating at the estate for two days when Damon’s call came through.

“Are you well enough yet? You got paid, now you need to do your job.”

“There’s a high-stakes real estate tender on the West Side. Get over here.”

I pouted. One of the main functions of a cage pet was to be an attractive accessory at the master’s various social functions. Thinking about the bullet wound Tori gave me, I felt a deep reluctance.

Damon must have sensed my hesitation. An instant notification popped up on my phone.

“One million. That’s a rush fee.”

Money makes the world go round. God, I loved money.

My face instantly transformed into a dazzling, professional smile. I chirped into the phone:

“I’m on my way, sir! I can’t wait to see you!”

There was a rare, brief pause on his end. After a beat, he simply said:

“Stop being so glib.”

I ignored his baffling mood swing and sped over to the tender meeting.

I arrived to find him and Tori locked in a tense, public argument over a key parcel of land.

“I just got back, Damon, and you’re already trying to spite me?” Tori crossed her arms, her gaze sharp and cutting.

Damon was equally unyielding, slamming the base of his glass on the table with a dull thud.

“The Blackwood organization has planned this land for years. You think you can just show up and claim it?”

I hid in the back, happily sampling a plate of hors d’oeuvres. I never imagined I would be dragged into their mess again.

The lights suddenly cut out. The last thing I felt was a dull, sickening crack against the back of my skull.

When I opened my eyes again, I was suspended hundreds of feet in the air.

“Damon Blackwood, are you deliberately fighting me because of her?” Tori’s voice crackled through a one-way speaker.

A digital screen lit up inside the iron cage I was trapped in. I could clearly see Damon’s face—completely emotionless.

I glanced down. The ground was impossibly far away, an untouchable abyss. Falling from this height would mean nothing but a messy splatter. I shuddered instinctively, and the cage groaned, a loud, protesting screeech.

That was when I realized the horrifying truth.

Tori had deliberately put me in a rickety, rusted, ancient cage.

A sudden gust of wind tore past, and a sheet of metal ripped away from the cage floor and plummeted downward.

“Ah!”

I couldn’t stop the scream from ripping out of my throat, and I immediately curled into a fetal position in the corner. The wind whipped my hair around my face. The absolute terror of the situation made me cry, not the acting kind, but real, silent, panicked tears.

“Damon, your little pet is weeping. Doesn’t that make you feel sorry for her?” Tori’s voice returned, laced with malice.

I stared at his cold, detached eyes through the electronic screen.

His dismissive voice finally came through the speaker.

“No.”