As the pair made their way down an extremely posh corridor, Genevieve could hear someone making a fuss some distance behind her.
“Let go! Let go of me!” A female’s voice called out.
“I’m telling you, forcing a woman to be an escort or a prostitute without her consent is illegal in today’s society!”
Before she could turn around, Genevieve felt someone knocking into her shoulder as an outline of a person zoomed past her.
Genevieve stumbled a few steps before regaining her balance.
The woman who ran past her was tiny but extremely nimble. In the blink of an eye, she had made her way to the club’s exit. The woman charged toward the door, looking as though she wanted to leave that place as fast as possible.
To her dismay, two burly bouncers were standing outside the door. One of the men managed to grab her thin arms and yanked at her forcefully, halting her in her tracks.
The bouncers lifted the woman into mid-air and brought her back into the club. Kicking her legs around, the woman screamed hysterically, “I’m not the one who wrote the IOU! What right do you have to hold me captive?”
Seeing that customers were walking along the corridor, one of the bouncers was afraid that the woman’s screams would attract unwanted attraction and slapped the woman hard on her cheek.
“Shut up! Or else!” he warned.
The slap was so hard that it tilted the woman’s head, causing her to fall silent. Perhaps it was because her cheeks were too painful for her to speak.
As the two men carried the woman past Genevieve, they nodded courteously at her before continuing on their way. With a lowered gaze, Genevieve tossed the woman a glance. The woman’s hair was messy and covering her face, presumably from running so fast.
A pale face peeked through the messy hair.
They were in Xedells. Word had it that the boss of Ambrosia was the child of one of the most influential families in Xedells.
Not wanting to stir up any unnecessary troubles, Genevieve ignored the incident.
However, just as she was about to leave the club, a sudden sense of familiarity struck her. Instantly, Genevieve turned around.
“Wait!”
She strode toward the two men and pulled the woman’s hair out of her face. When Genevieve saw the face of the woman in complete exposure, she was dumbfounded. “Johanna?” Genevieve asked, taken aback by who she was seeing.
The slap a moment ago caused the woman to be in a daze. At the sound of her name, Johanna raised her head and looked around in a blur.
At the sight of Genevieve, Johanna immediately snapped out of her daze and started struggling to get out of the bouncers’ grip once again. “Genev! Please call the police! The people in this club are holding me captive, and they’re even asking me to be an escort!” Tears rolled down Johanna’s cheek as she cried for help.
Genevieve peered at the men coolly. “Let go of her.”
“Please do not interfere, miss.” One of the men talked to Genevieve with a stony expression. “She’s one of our escorts here, and we have the right to punish her for her wrongdoings.”
“What if I want to interfere?” Genevieve lifted her chin and gestured with her fingers.
Understanding what she meant, Steven stepped forward. Within a few seconds, Steven had the two men on the ground, freeing Johanna.
They were in the main room of the club. There were surveillance cameras everywhere, as well as many bouncers behind each door.
At the sight of Steven beating up their staff, the other staff members of the club quickly gathered around and surrounded Steven, Genevieve, and Johanna.
The supervisor of the club showed up as well.
Eying the bouncers groaning in pain on the ground, the supervisor pursed his lips together in annoyance. “Your bodyguard is skilled, ma’am, but you should not have laid a hand on my staff. Not to mention that it was our escort that had broken a rule. The bouncers were merely taking her back to the girls’ dorm.”
Genevieve turned a deaf ear to the supervisor and crouched down to help Johanna up on her feet. “Aren’t you studying in Loang? What are you doing here?” she asked Johanna.
“My Dad. He tricked me… He sold me to this place.”
Johanna rubbed her sore and dampened cheeks as her tears continued to pour. “He called me, telling me that he has late-stage cancer. When I heard that, I immediately flew back. Turns out he had gotten into tens of millions worth of debt because of gambling, and sold me to them to repay it…”
Johanna sobbed. “You have to save me, Genev. This club might as well be a brothel. They even asked me to… to…”
Johanna choked on her words, as though saying it out loud was too much to bear.
“Hmph! What brothel? Watch your words!” The supervisor sneered. “Your father is the one who sold you to us to pay for his debt. Therefore, you have no choice but to work in Ambrosia till your father’s debt had been repaid! Only then are you allowed to leave!”
As he was speaking, the supervisor tossed Johanna a threatening glare. “Your father owed us tens of millions! If all you’re doing is serving drinks, you won’t be able to repay the debt even if you live up to a hundred years! Moreover, the job scope of an escort includes drinking with the customers and entertaining them.”
He took a step forward, closing the gap between him and Johanna. “You better stop this now and come with us! If not, you’ll face the music once you return to the dorms later!”
