CHAPTER THREE

After lunch with Mr Bright, Grace had a rather uneventful rest of the day. She finally clocked out of the office and headed for her tiny flat which she shared with her younger sister, Penny.

It was time to get ready for work again. She found it ironic how her entire life was always spent working.

Grace had never been one to complain, but recently Camila had been getting on her nerves. Getting dressed for work at night was something she used to look forward to, but for the past two months, she had dreaded every single part of it.

"Hey, Grace! Why the hell did you get back late? Don't you know you are on duty tonight?" Camila, her cousin yelled, as soon as she got into the flat.

"I'm sorry," Grace muttered.

"I don't need your stupid apologies. Get rid of that ugly look and go make me some money. Dress casually, and head to the office, Albert will tell you about your client for tonight," Camila said, puffing out smoke from her cigarette.

Grace made sure not to reveal how annoyed at her situation she was getting. She didn't own her life, not at all.

Grace's parents had been reckless, they had never fulfilled their purpose as parents to she and Penny. So when they died of a drug overdose when Grace was fifteen, she hadn't felt sorry for them.

Camila, Grace's cousin from her Mum's family had been the only relative who had agreed to take care of she and Penny. Camila and her husband ran an escort agency, called Stunning Agency.

Things had been going great for them for a year, until Camila's husband passed at thirty-five years of age. Camila at thirty had been inconsolable and eventually took to alcoholism and smoking.

She had never suggested for Grace or Penny to join Stunning Agency, but after her husband's death, Camila became very cruel and unpleasant to be around.

One evening, she took Grace to a party and everyone had been complimenting the both of them for being so beautiful.

Grace had been uncomfortable the entire evening because she was forced to take off her glasses and put on a very revealing dress. Having been chubby at the time, she had breasts bigger than she should have and an equally big backside.

From that night, Camila began buying dresses which showed off Grace's body. Grace who had always been shy and timid due to her Mum and Dad's constant mood swings, had been forced to mix up with guys and keep them company at parties.

On her seventeenth birthday, Camila threw a party and all the girls from Stunning Agency were present. Grace had no idea that she was being initiated as a new member of Stunning.

When she heard the announcement from Camila, she had been furious and refused to be any man's arm candy.

Camila had threatened to throw Grace and Penny out into the streets if she didn't do the job. Grace had no choice, but to accept the job.

From that moment until now, Grace had been an escort. She rarely ever had to sleep with the men, but she was forced to allow them to kiss and touch her as they pleased in public.

When she clocked twenty, Grace made her plan to quit working as an escort known to Camila. Unfortunately, Camila had threatened her with withdrawing she and Penny out of school.

Without the financial support of Camila, it was impossible to continue schooling. Penny had a heart disease and was operated on when she was eighteen.

Camila had footed the hospital bills and she had also used that to threaten Grace. The two sisters had attended the best private schools, having never imagined that their cousin was going to threaten them with that.

To leave Camila would mean paying back all those hospital bills, school and living expenses, something Grace couldn't afford.

That was the very reason why Grace was at Stunning Agency, getting dressed in a red dress that revealed more than it concealed.

For the past three years, Camila had upgraded her business with executive and wealthy clients and in order to make her business more classy, bookings were now done online.

The girls did photoshoots which were posted on the Stunning Agency's platform to enable clients make their choices easily.

Grace at twenty-five was the most expensive of all the girls and she was often reserved for extremely wealthy clients. Her last client had been a recently divorced sixty year old businessman.

He needed a date to an award ceremony in order to enrage his ex-wife. Grace had been the perfect arm candy. She had let the man kiss her lips and grope her bum all evening.

Other clients from the past had been guys who needed dates for functions and some rich old politicians and businessmen who needed someone to keep them company for awhile.

Grace stared at her reflection in the mirror. Lila was indeed gorgeous, it was a shame that Grace didn't really like her, she was a fake.

To ensure that no one ever traced the girls at Stunning Agency, they made use of fake names and lots of disguise to prevent anyone from discovering their true identity.

Grace, a mere receptionist at Howard Tech was Lila, the sexiest and most seductive lady Stunning Agency could boast of.

She was the brand ambassador and was reserved for only those who could pay well enough. Despite how high Lila's fees for a night were, she only got ten percent of the money.

Reason being that Camila was the one paying for the dresses, wigs, makeup and every other glamorous thing that kept up Lila's image.

Grace stood up and turned around to see how good the dress fitted. Despite shedding her teenage fat, she had never been able to lose the fat in her hip and bum.

Her breasts were much smaller compared to how they used to be and that was good because Camila had been ready to force Grace to undergo a liposuction to ensure she had a slim and graceful figure.

The red dress had a deep vee neckline and Grace didn't need to wear a bra underneath it. Her breasts were dainty and looked perfect in the dress. The backless dress showed off her smooth back and hugged her well-rounded hips and pert backside to perfection.

She wore matching sexy red stiletto heels that helped her attain 5ft 6inches height. This evening she had a dark brown wig on.

The wig was straight and long, reaching the bottom of her spine.

As she moved, the hair teased her exposed back, seductively. Albert, Camila's assistant was responsible for her look.

He was a stylist and makeup artist and with the gleeful look on his face, Grace was certain that she indeed looked very gorgeous.

Her eyeglasses were replaced with ice grey contact lenses. Her makeup made her look so flawless. The usual freckles that were visible when she was Grace were hidden by Albert's amazing skills.

"Who exactly is my client tonight?" She queried.

"Don't worry, Grace. He is not an old geezer," Albert laughed.

"How did you know that was my fear?" Grace laughed.

"I've known you for ten years now, Grace. I know how to read your feelings," Albert said.

He was a short man with a bald head. He wasn't handsome in any way and often explained that he chose doing makeup to make others look good since he didn't have the choice to look good, himself.

"His name is—" Albert was saying when Grace cut him off with, "it's fine. I don't want to know his name or even see his photo. This job might just become more enjoyable if I had no idea what my client looks like."

"Of course, if that's what you want. The guy will be here at eight, that's in about seven minutes time. I'll let you know when he arrives," Albert smiled and left the room.

Grace frowned at her reflection, if only Mr Dwayne Bright ever got to see her looking like this, she thought.

There had been a time when Grace had wanted to apply some makeup and wear cute dresses to work, but Camila had insisted on her dull and unnoticeable appearance.

She didn't want anyone tracing Grace to Stunning Agency at all. So Grace had to dress so shabbily and look unattractive all the time. She had never worn anything figure-hugging to work.

All her work outfits were outdated and at least two sizes more than what she should wear. Sometimes Grace wondered if Mr Bright had any feelings for her, this afternoon he had been so sweet and caring towards her.

He had also driven her home after work. He didn't do that for the other female employees, so she was sure he felt something for her.

She had been saving up every single dime from working as an excort, she would soon be independent enough to get she and Penny out of this terrible life.

Maybe then, she could tell Mr Bright how she felt about him. With that conclusion in her mind, Grace smiled and left the room still smiling when Albert informed her that her client had arrived.

"It's a masquerade ball, so you will be using this mask," Camila said, handing Grace a mask.

"Don't mess this up, this man is a very wealthy and important client. You might have to sleep with him if he asks for that, do you understand?" Camila asked in her high-pitched voice.

Grace frowned at her cousin before asking, "how much is he paying?"

It wouldn't be the first time she was approached to sleep with a client. Grace had always made it clear that she wasn't a prostitute, but when the client was paying heftily, she had to comply.

Since working as an escort, Grace had slept with ten different clients who paid extra for her service and she had felt used and cheap afterwards.

Penny still had to take medication to ensure her heart was alright, so Grace was always working extra hard to ensure that she could pay back her cousin for all the medical expenses.

Camila mentioned an amount that made Grace and the three other escorts in the room to gasp in surprise.

After the tracking device was set up inside Grace's clutch, she was allowed to leave the building to meet the client.

Camila always had to ensure her girls were safe and hence tracked their every move. They couldn't risk any of the girls being kidnapped, after all.

A man in a chauffeur uniform greeted Grace and led her into the limousine where her client was waiting.

Grace slid into the car, gracefully. She watched her client's head raise up from his laptop screen. Like her, he had a mask on, so she couldn't see his face well.

He stared at her and the only thing she could see was his hazel green eyes which reminded her of the guy from the office. Grace forced herself to focus on her job and not remember the unpleasant man from earlier at the office.

"Good evening, I'm Lila and I'll be your girlfriend for the night. What is your name, dear?" She asked in a husky seductive voice, caressing his thigh.

This man was smoking hot, definitely a great improvement from the old dude she had had to escort last time.

The man moved away from her touch and she watched him clench his jaw before replying, "I am Enrique. Enrique Black."

Grace was lucky that she had a mask on, if not the man would have noticed the shocked look on her face.

Why was the unpleasant man from earlier her client? How could her luck be so terrible? What if he recognized her?

She fought away all those thoughts and instead flashed a smile at him before saying, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Enrique. I'm sorry if my touch offended you."