Chapter 03

Penny had experienced many confrontation regarding her job but it was the first time that a client had prioritized her safety.

The woman drew in a sharp breath seeing his action, “Bastard! You have some nerve bringing another woman to her foundation.” She bellowed, panting after spewing her words. Her body continued to shake furiously.

“Are you done?”  Killian asked calmly.

The woman widened her gaze at his response and moved her right hand.

Unflinching, Killian continued in a threatening and dark voice, “I dare you, Vivian.”

Even Penny was shaken. His words clearly communicated that no one dared to make a move against Killian King.

The woman he called Vivian paused her hand in mid-air. “This foundation belongs to me as well. I have steered clear of it for so long, out of respect for her.”

“Not anymore. No one gets to tell me what to do.” The woman gulped, cowered away from Killian as he walked closer to her. “Not even you.” He whispered menacingly in her ears.

He signaled to some men in suit who flanked the woman on both sides within the blink of an eye.

“This isn’t over, Killian. Never!” The woman continued to scream as the security drags her away.

A man ran to meet the woman that was carried away from the hall. Right before he left, he stared daggers at Mr. King.

Penny was really curious about what the situation was but she knew it involved someone’s death.

Killian looked calm but there was a domineering aura that surrounded him. Penny watched every one tend to their business after the show was over. The men around could no longer stare at him in the eyes while the women purred at his presence.

My date tonight must hold such a great power in this city. But I have never seen him or heard about him.

Or maybe I have just been way too out of touch with the society.

Penny refused to blame herself. While her peers partied, all she could do was work her butt off days and nights.

“What was that about?” Penny knew it wasn’t her business but her curiosity was too violent to be tamed.

“None of your business!” He retorted and added, “You are dismissed for the night, Ms. Winters.” He said blatantly and left. Some of the men in suit ran after him.

Freddy gave Penny an apologetic look but she didn’t want anyone’s pity. Her legs went after Mr. King.

He found him just as he was about his driver opened the door to the backseat for him.

“What the hell is your problem?” Penny inquired. Penny yanked off her mask without worrying about her photos taken.

The sight that greeted Killian stunned and rendered him speechless.

He shook it off and retort, “You had a simple job but you couldn’t help yourself butting into someone’s business. What else could be expected from a cheap slut like you?”

Penny reeled back from his insult.

She felt insulted being called cheap, not that she acknowledged the slut part.

“You need to pull out that stick outta your cold misogynistic ass.” Penny refused to back down. “You want the world at your beck and all? Ain’t going to happen. This missy isn’t a push over, Killian King!”

Penny’s phone rang from inside her clutch. She rummaged through the fake sparkly clutch and furiously pulled out her old flip phone. She could see the people staring at her phone like it was alien.

“Cain?” She answered the call.

“What happened?” He asked. “Did you blow the evening up? I told you he is a big short. He was furious and rated you 1.”

Penny gasped and directed her gaze at Mr. King.

The hell? Why did he do that?

“I only asked.” Penny answered, trying to justify her actions.

Cain roared over the phone, “Asked? You had no business getting to know your clients. I shouldn’t have sent you. Look at what doing you a favor cost me, huh? Thank goodness he is the generous kind.” He scolded.

“What?”

“That is your cut for the night. Learn to never intrude. These folks aren’t your buddies. Know your place, Penny!” He yelled and ended the call.

All I can do was stare. My phone showed the pop up of a notification. Two grands?! Shit!

I couldn’t believe he took a chunk of my money just to teach me a lesson. The balance could barely cover the cost of Bryan’s medication.

“You reported me to my boss?” Penny looked away from her phone to Killian. He had a satisfying look on his face.

Her hands pull at her hair, not bothering about how much of a mess she looked at that moment.

“I guess the world is at my beck and call, after all, Ms. Winters.” Killian said mockingly and entered his car.

Penny shut her eyes and tried to calm down.  Mr. King had to be the most infuriating and insufferable man on earth.

There has to be another way. It is why I took this dehumanizing job. It is one of the highest paying gigs right after stripping but my mother’s words are forever stuck with me.

Penny called Drew but his number went to his voice mail. She tried multiple times but it was the same result.

Where the hell is he?

Penny hailed a cab to the hospital. Her head was filled with the thought of how to pay her brother’s bills and also to have him scheduled for surgery soon. It had been two years since he got diagnosed with a heart related diseases but it took a while before they could find a matching donor. With no family left, it had only been Penny running around to make sure he lived to see the next day.

That way, she wasn’t left alone in the wild wicked world.

Slowly, Penny made her way to his room when she arrived at the hospital. Strangely, her heart began to beat violently in her chest as she got closer to his room. A nurse ran past her while some doctors ran into a room.

Dread filled Penny as she said a silent prayer that all was right with her brother.

She reached his room the same time Doctor Carl shut the door to the room. She tried to open it but it didn’t budge.

What is going on with Bryan?

Penny watched him yell at the nurses as he stood next to Bryan’s bed, “Take her away.”

Bryan was strangely still on his bed, sending chills down Penny’s spine. She couldn’t bear losing him.

“Brayan!”

“Bryan!!” Penny screamed at the top of her lungs.

Some hands grabbed me from behind as I try to yank the door open. In the room, the defibrillators machine was rubbed together and used on Bryan’s bare chest.

Oh lord …No!

I can’t lose another family member.

“Let me in, please!” Penny screamed out loud in the hallway.

“Come with me, Penny.” The voice sounded familiar but rationality had escape her so she thrashed in their hold, desperate to see Bryan. She wanted to hold his frail hands and to tell him he would be okay.

Penny was dragged into a room to calm down but her gaze was fixed on the door as her mind reeled the entire time.

Is Bryan alive or…? I can’t even stomach the possibility of losing him.

She held in the tears that threatened to slip.

The door opened and she leapt out of the seat as soon as Doctor Carl came into the room.

“How is he?” Penny asked frantically. She had lost count of the number of times that she had run her hands through her hair. Her profile looked akin to a crazy lady.

Doctor Carl took in a deep sigh which nothing to assure Penny. It wasn’t a good sign.

“Penny, have your seat.” He said. He assisted Penny back to where she was previously seated and they both take a seat.

“He…is stable for now.” He said gruffly.  He looked worn out. There were dark circles around his eyes. The calls must have been exhausting. “But he needs that surgery soon. You need to get the money so we can have some hope to finding a donor faster. It is his only option of survival.”

“He has maybe two months to live.” He added with a pat on the back and left her to my thoughts.

Two months? If he doesn’t get the surgery, then I will lose him. Where in the world will I get half a million dollars for his surgery? I barely have ten grand in savings. I will need to escort over 50 men to make that kind of money within two months!

Penny left the hospital after peeping through the door. He can’t see me broken like this. It will destroy him. The minute I step out of the hospital, cold breeze hit me. I feel my face dampen.

Penny was unable to hold in the tears anymore. With blurred vision, she hailed a cab and direct the driver to West-lane Street. It was where Drew lived. Drew and I have been dating since high school in our senior year. She hoped to seek some comfort in his arms.

Penny ran out of the cab right after paying the driver and entered Drew’s building. He lived on the third floor but she could only take the stairs. The doorman knew Penny so he allowed her into the building.  He stared at her strangely as if words were on the tip of her tongue.

What was up with him? Maybe her tear-stricken with washed up makeup face was the reason.

She dismissed her observation and climbed the stairs to Drew’s floor. The elevator had stopped working for as long as she could remember. The stairs were old and cranky with each step but she managed to run up the stairs while holding the gown to avoid tripping over it.

His door was locked but loud music was blasting from his apartment. That explained the reason he wasn’t answering his call. He probably didn’t hear his phone ringing. She guessed he was still awake.

Thankfully, he gave her a key so she went through her clutch and pulled it out right into the keyhole.

The music blared into her ears with full force as soon as the door was opened, making me cringe.

Damn it! He will surely blow up his ears one of these days.

Penny walked over to the stereo to reduce the volume till it sounded bearable to my ears.

“Drew?” Penny called out while dropping her heels on the floor to go look for him.

Her feet took her towards his bedroom. When she reached his door, some faint strange noise could be heard.

Penny swung the door to his room open.

“What the hell?!”

Two unclad bodies previously embedded in each other scrambled off the bed as their bodies glisten in sweat from their dirty deeds under the sheets.

“P-p-penny?!”

“Shit!”

“Fuck!”

Drew spewed arrays of cuss words while Penny was still in disbelief.

The woman his manhood was buried in some minutes ago held the sheets against her body, looking calm and unbothered.

“J-jessy, you have to leave.”  Drew said quickly, stumbling over his words.

“Why should I? But we are not done.” She whined, staring steely at Penny.

“I promise to call you. Get out now!”

Jessy sashayed with her clothes in hand and left the apartment.

“Babe! It is not what y-”

Penny scoffed at him, “Let me guess. It is not what I think?”

Someone needs to put it out there that the audacious lie doesn’t work anymore.

She turned around to leave but he ran after her, grabbing her by the forearm.

“Hey… Come on, Penny. You can’t be mad at me.” He blurted out.

“What?” Penny ask, looking confused.

Was he about to justify cheating on her?

“Don’t play holy than thou with me,” He sneered. “I have never complained about you hanging off those men’s arms, have I? Lord knows if you warm their beds as well. You could sleep with them but never me. All you ever cared about was your brother. I have my needs, too.” He adds.

A resounding strike pierced the air.

Drew raises his right hand to the side of his cheeks as he balled his left hand into a fist. Penny’s hand stung from hitting him.

“How dare you?!” Penny screamed, unable to bottle up the pain and humiliation. “My brother almost died some hours ago! You know what I have been through yet all you cared about was your needs?” Penny scoffed, looking at him dead in the eyes.

“Oh… Please! Bryan this! Bryan that… Way before he got sick, you closed your legs tightly shut but now, nothing stops you from opening it up for money, slut!” He spat out.

Penny reeled back from his accusations.

She shook her head unbelievingly, “I have been nothing but loyal to you. You are an asshole, Drew!” She spat right back at him and stormed out of his apartment.

She wiping the tears as she descended the stairs. She understood the look the doorman gave her. But all she wanted was to curl up on her bed.

She waited by the roadside in hopes of getting a car but there was none. It is past 11 pm and late already. Her battery was dead as well. The world seemed to be working against her.

Penny decided to walk barefooted to her house as it was only a couple of blocks from the a-hole’s apartment building.

Some passersby also trying to get home as well gave her strange looks at her disheveled state but paid them no attention. She couldn’t wait to reach home and cry herself to sleep. Over an hour passed before she reached her apartment.

It looked like scrap but it was the only thing affordable in the neighborhood that wouldn’t dig into her savings for Bryan’s surgery.

Shit!

I forgot to take my money from Drew’s apartment. Dang it.

Just as Penny finished removing her makeup and taking a shower in her tiny bathroom, her phone rang.

“Cain? This has better be good. I have had a rough night.” Penny rush out. It was bad enough that her money was slashed.

“Luck is on you. I have a proposition for you, okay? With the requirements, you are the only one that can do it. I don’t trust the other girls We are gonna split the money.” Cain said, coughing.

She bet she was smoking. He didn’t value his lungs one bit.

“What is it, Cain?” Penny asked, impatiently.

“What do you think about being a surrogate?”