The bumpy carriage made Lisa curl up in the corner. The dim light prevented her from clearly seeing the person’s appearance, but this feeling, it was unmistakable!
“B-Booker, Mr. Booker.”
In the darkness, a silhouette barely visible by the faint light from outside the window slowly turned to look at her. She couldn’t see anything clearly, but she just knew it was Booker! She was trembling.
If Liam was a demon, then Booker was the demon’s minion. He would torment the girls in even more cruel ways, just to make them obedient. Dignity, personality—in front of these people, they would become worthless! Perhaps they once had humanity, but amidst the many temptations and fears of this world, they gradually lost it, becoming slaves to desire and fear.
“You don’t need to be so afraid of me, Lisa,” Booker couldn’t really see Lisa clearly either, but he could see her eyes reflecting the faint light, which were especially noticeable in the darkness.
“That gentleman hasn’t seen you in a while, and he misses you very much, so when we reopened, he immediately wanted to see you.”
“This is your honor, Lisa, and your good fortune,” he said, crossing his legs and lighting a cigarette.
When the match was struck, it briefly illuminated his face, but soon, as the match extinguished, everything plunged back into darkness. The glow from the cigarette butt couldn’t illuminate everything in the carriage, nor could it provide her with any sense of security in the darkness. Perhaps it could faintly illuminate its surroundings when inhaled, but at that moment, only the demon’s eyes would be lit.
He didn’t look like a very powerful man. He was a bit handsome, medium-built, with good skin. Sometimes he was even timid, appearing harmless. But when it came to dealing with the girls, he would transform into another person. He could employ all sorts of terrifying and cruel methods to force them to obey him or Liam’s will. Many people firmly refused and would eventually be dealt with in front of everyone. Perhaps one or two, you could still hold on, but when you found that they weren’t just scaring you, but that everyone who didn’t cooperate was dealt with, and they didn’t even feel guilty or afraid, their emotions unchanged, then you would be scared. You would listen to everything they said, not daring to disobey in the slightest.
“You’re safe until he gets tired of you, Lisa. So, you’d better find a way to either make him obsessed with you or… make him unable to leave you.”
Lisa’s tears were already flowing. “I’ll die, Mr. Booker.”
Booker shrugged. “We all die. Those girls will die, you will die, and I will die. So we have to find a way to live better.”
“I taught you, since you can’t make him obsessed with you, then satisfy all his perverted desires and make him unable to leave you.”
“Go back and clean yourself up. Look at how you are now, actually selling alcohol in a low-grade bar like that. Our mysterious gentleman will surely feel heartbroken when he finds out.”
He reached out to try and stroke Lisa’s hair, as if comforting a puppy, but Lisa flinched in fright, and both of them froze for a moment. Then, Booker’s leather shoe kicked out…
The driver was driving the car, and it was wobbling. This certainly wasn’t a problem with his driving skills.
The car quickly arrived at the back door of Red High Heels. Lisa was dragged out of the car by her hair by Booker. She had already taken a beating and was dragged back into Red High Heels by her hair. For Booker, violence wasn’t the only way, but it was the most effective way. No one was unafraid of being beaten, including himself.
Lisa, sprawled on the floor, was trembling with fear, but what terrified her even more was her impending fate. The room was warm, yet she felt colder than she had been outside! She had had enough of that place, enough of being hurt and abused. She truly wanted to go home now!
Hearing the sound of the convoy returning and some commotion, Sam walked over from another area. He was wearing a pink fur coat today, looking as flamboyant as a flamingo! He looked down at Lisa, his eyes devoid of any human emotion, as if he were just looking at… something.
“Is this Lisa?” he walked over, lifting Lisa’s chin. “She’s indeed pretty, and has a good figure.”
“But this smell on you…” he released her chin and stepped back two paces.
The bar was filled with the smell of alcohol, smoke, sweat, and other odors, all intertwining like the desires behind them. In that dim environment, where reason was dominated by desire, it made people feel intoxicated. But upon entering a clean room, it was simply nauseating.
“Get her up, wash her clean, and trim her hair and body hair. The client paid for it…”
Booker walked over to him and whispered something. Sam simply nodded after hearing it. “No need to deal with the body hair. Do everything else. I can’t stand this smell.”
Two subordinates came and dragged Lisa towards the bathroom. Lisa knew that once she arrived here, struggling was meaningless, but she still held onto a one-in-a-million hope and said, “Aren’t you afraid of Mr. Lance’s wrath?”
Booker was annoyed after hearing this. He felt that Lisa was embarrassing him in front of the new boss. He was about to go over and beat her up, but Sam stopped him.
He turned and looked at Lisa, into her eyes. “I work for important people, and Lance also works for important people. We work for the same important person, do you understand what I mean?”
“I’m a dog, and he is too. The important person won’t allow us dogs to bite each other, so what you’re worried about won’t happen.”
He then looked at one of the men dragging her arm. “Teach her some new rules. I can’t stand this situation, daring to talk nonsense…” He turned to Booker. “Is this how you train your employees?”
Booker was a bit awkward and didn’t know what to say, but Sam quickly relieved his awkwardness.
“Forget it. After all, you and Liam only came into contact with these things by chance. I can’t demand a higher industry standard from you.”
“But you need to know, Booker, in this line of work, we must always learn to maintain reverence and a grateful heart.”
He paused. “I heard something unexpected happened on the way?”
Booker nodded repeatedly. “They arranged for a young man to escort her back. We didn’t intend to use weapons, but he drew his gun first, so our men opened fire.”
Sam walked to the bar, opened a bottle of alcohol. He had already obtained a batch of alcohol through Attorney Orson’s connections. All of it was medium to high-end alcohol. After Red High Heels reopened, he didn’t plan to serve the general public. How much money could be squeezed out of ordinary people? Not only was there little profit, but the risk was also high, especially with those important figures. They didn’t like their toys being played with by others, and if they found out, they would certainly be angry. So from the beginning, his positioning was “high-end,” “customized.” He would train every girl to be the best toy, providing them to every client.
The gentle pouring sound quickly filled two glasses with a beautiful amber color. He handed one to Booker. “Is anyone dead?”
“Our people, their people.”
Booker shook his head. “I sent our people for treatment. As for Lance’s person, I don’t know. He was lying on the ground when we left.”
Sam drank his wine, pondering the outcome of this matter. If it weren’t for the urgency of the opinion leader in the Bay Area, he could have waited, but since he insisted, Sam had to get it done first.
“Inquire about it, send some money over. After all, we didn’t follow the proper procedure for this matter.”
After saying this, he clinked glasses with Booker. “You went to a lot of trouble tonight. Cheers.”
Booker quickly clinked glasses and took a sip. He was about to say something pleasant, but then he heard Sam say, “Finish it.” He glanced at the at least two ounces of wine still in the glass. He felt something was off, but at this moment, even if something was off, he had to drink it, and Sam himself had also finished his.
When he finished, Sam’s face broke into a smile. He walked over to Booker and extended his hand. His fingertips brushed Booker’s cheek. “Come to my room. We can have an in-depth discussion about the future development of Red High Heels.”
Booker had met many perverted people and heard many perverted things. Even just now, he was telling Lisa that she had to learn to obey, and that everything was for survival. But when it was truly his turn, he also felt that it wasn’t so easy to choose. However, he did not resist or refuse, because he knew he didn’t have that right.
Sam led him by his tie, like a dog, towards another direction. At this moment, he suddenly understood the despair Lisa felt when she was dragged away a short while ago. He suddenly wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t.
Sam’s room had been simply renovated, with a large waterbed and a huge mirror wall, allowing one to see oneself from various angles in the mirror. Clothes of ambiguous gender hung on the clothes rack, along with a pile of formal wear, various hats, and accessories. The room was even filled with the scent found only in girls’ dressing rooms. Walking to the bedside, Sam gently pushed, and Booker tumbled onto the bed.
Booker’s smile was a bit stiff. “Should I take a shower first?”
Sam shook his head. “No, no need…”
He consoled him while saying, “Booker, the value of the word ‘impromptu’ tells us that if you have something you want to do, it’s best to do it immediately!”
Sam’s tastes were eclectic. Sometimes he liked to eat vegetarian, sometimes meat. For him, how to keep himself interested in life was his job.
“Why don’t we make ourselves happy?”
Booker’s eyes flickered. He had thought… some things were inevitable, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case. Actually, this wasn’t unacceptable. He submissively went along, but he didn’t know that in Sam’s game, no one’s role was ever fixed…
Perhaps it was because he had experienced too many things recently, or perhaps because there was always a kind of pressure weighing down on him, he also needed an outlet. Sam’s image in his eyes gradually blurred, no longer distinguishing between male and female. All he had to do was breathe heavily and release all that anger, grievance, anxiety, and pressure!
After a long while, when he saw a benevolent God and holy light in his slightly closed eyes, he let out a heavy sigh. Although… this was his first time, closing his eyes was actually fine.
Just as he thought he could clean up and go to sleep, having just stood up, he was pushed back onto the bed by Sam. This time, his expression was completely different from before. “It’s my turn…”
Lisa was screaming in another room, and he was screaming too. Their screams were different, but the sentiment behind their screams was likely the same.
Sam wasn’t aware that Lance, who he considered to be “the mayor’s dog” just like him, had no intention of compromising and was actively searching for the person who had been shot. Otherwise, Mr. Booker might have had a slightly better night tonight. Of course, it could have been worse, as knowing these things would only bring more pressure and emotions to be vented!
Around two in the morning, the phone in front of Elvin rang. He immediately picked it up and said, “It’s me.”
“Elvin, we’ve found their car, near the hospital downtown…”
“Good, we’ll be right there!” He hung up the phone, leaving someone to guard the location. The other searchers would call every so often if they couldn’t find anyone, needing someone to update them on the progress.
When Elvin and his men arrived outside the “An’enbi Hospital,” he immediately spotted his own people who had called him. After getting out of the car, they led Elvin to a vehicle. There were some bloodstains on the car body, inside the car, and outside the car.
“I just asked the doctor. It was about ten minutes after they were attacked. Someone drove straight over and said they had a gunshot wound.”
“The police have already been here, but they left. The person is still inside.”
Elvin pursed his lips, his mind spinning at high speed. “Police from which branch bureau?”
The young man scratched his head. “I’m not sure, Elvin.”
Elvin didn’t scold him. Being able to do this much was already good. He patted the young man’s arm, praised him with a “Good job,” and then walked into the phone booth, dialing the duty number of the Imperial District Police Bureau branch. The call was answered quickly. This wasn’t an emergency line, but a duty line, and the person on duty was a deputy chief.
“This is the duty line for the Imperial District Branch Bureau Director’s office. May I ask who is calling?”
“This is Elvin, Elvin of the Lance family.”
About two seconds later, a very amiable voice came from the other end of the line. “You only need to tell me your name, and I’ll know who it is. So, Elvin, how can I help you?” This deputy chief was someone Elvin hadn’t dealt with, and neither had Lance, but that didn’t stop him from having heard of the Lance family’s reputation.
Elvin also felt an indescribable, wondrous sensation, but this wasn’t the time to dwell on how wondrous it was. “It’s like this, Deputy Chief, I’d like to ask if Anbin Hospital requested police assistance about forty minutes ago because they admitted a gunshot victim?”
The deputy chief understood immediately. “Please hold on. I’ll check the dispatch records.”
The sound of a door opening came through the receiver, followed by his loud questioning, and finally, an unclear voice of a girl seemed to say something. Moments later, footsteps approached, and then the phone was picked up again. “Indeed, a call came in just now. We dispatched officers. According to the feedback, they encountered robbers…”
At this point, the deputy chief knew enough and stopped. Elvin let out a sigh of relief after hearing this. “Thank you for your trouble. There might be a small issue later. Please delay dispatching officers, but I can guarantee no one will be hurt.”
The deputy chief didn’t find it difficult at all. “No problem. Let me know when you need our cooperation. I’m on duty all night.”
After hanging up, Elvin thought for a moment, then called Lance again. Lance hadn’t really slept, waiting for news. After hearing Elvin recount these events, he affirmed Elvin’s performance. “You did very well. Even if I were there, I could only do the same.”
“Have someone take two hundred dollars and give it to this deputy chief, thanking him for his cooperation. Say nothing else.”
“Before you leave, ask him how many people are on night duty at the branch bureau, then buy enough coffee and donuts and send them over, making sure everyone gets some.”
“Here, you just bring them out of the hospital. It’s best not to use guns, but if you do…”
Lance didn’t finish, but Elvin knew what he meant. “I guarantee he won’t even need resuscitation.”
“Hmm, waiting for your good news…”
Elvin immediately began to instruct people to act according to Lance’s orders. He himself personally led his men into the hospital. The man had already undergone surgery. His gunshot wound wasn’t severe; it hit his abdomen, and it was only one bullet. The doctor had cut out a section of his intestines, stitched it up, and wheeled him out of the operating room.
His companion had been nervous for a long time and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing his friend sleeping peacefully, he finally felt a trace of relaxation. Earlier, he had been terrified. His friend lay there, pale, and he didn’t know if he was alive or dead. Now, his suspended heart had finally settled. Of course, not because he died, but because he was saved.
He walked into the corridor, took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, opened a window slightly, and then looked down. Most people, when smoking in corridors, like to look at the scenery outside, thinking about things they’ll soon forget. But with this one glance, he saw a large group of men in black entering the hospital. The cigarette fell from his mouth, he cursed “fuck,” and turned back into the ward. His friend was still lying in the hospital bed. He was already sweating with anxiety, but at this moment, there was no more time or opportunity for him to think.
He gritted his teeth and pushed his friend’s hospital bed, crashing it towards the door. They had to leave, or hide! His heart rate suddenly accelerated at this moment…!