House Of Aces (4 page)

Vera made a sharp cry while my body stilled, feeling like my eyeballs had rolled to the back of my head from the beautiful feeling of finally being inside her. For a moment, I took it in—the feel of her—her tightness, her trembling body, her hunger that she could barely mask.

“I need to fuck you—bad.”

She hastily nodded, as if she knew how I was feeling; desperate, at my wit’s end, barely hanging on by a thread before I spun out of control.

“Don’t hold back.”

I didn’t think it was possible, even if I did try. I just wanted her.

All of her.

Just Vera…

Chapter 5

The next morning, I was abruptly woken up from a hard slap on the back of the head.
It was Tony standing above me with his small frame and arrogant expression.

“It’s eleven. Get your lazy ass up
; we have shit to do.” He sounded exasperated as he pulled me by my legs off the bed.

What a fucking dick.

“Are you serious? Come on, man. Let’s just do it in a few hours. I’m tired as fuck and I just need a few more hours, please?” After last night, exhausting myself with Vera, I needed a couple more hours to recharge my energy and refuel my libido.

“You have five minutes
. I’ll see you downstairs.” Tony gave me a sharp look before walking out the door, slamming it ever so loudly behind him.

I couldn’t believe
that shit, I never had a wake up time. I slept when I wanted and woke up whenever I wanted. This waking me up bullshit really messed everything up.

I slowly got
out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom, needing a shower if I had any hopes of waking up. It took me less than ten minutes before I was dressed and ready, headed downstairs.

“There he is!” Tony yelled out as I was halfway down the stairs. Everyone was already in the living room watching TV and snacking on fruits. Even Vera was sitting beside my aunt, having a serious conversation in Russian.

I caught a shy glimpse of her before she blushed hard and looked away. Hiding back a smile, I couldn’t wait to have her all to myself tonight. Even after what
had happened between us, she still managed to blush. How fucking cute was that?

“Today you become a man!” Tony’s arms
wrapped around my back.

“What are you talking about? I thought I became a man last night.” Confused, I followed Tony’s lead to the front door.

“Tony.” My uncle’s deep voice echoed. “Make sure to take him to all the homes and meet with every security guard so they know his face and name.”

“Yes
, sir,” Tony yelled back.

“Ryan, it is time for you to share the responsibilities. After today, you will be managing a few homes
, so learn what you can, ask what you need, and remember, family over everything.”

“Yes
, sir.” My tone was the same one that Tony had used. Glancing back at him, I started chuckling. Same motto, different day. I had known it since the beginning of time.

“We have four hours to go see
every house of Aces, so we have to hurry. We’ll pick up some In-‘N-Out later when you get hungry.”

“How many homes do we have?” I asked curiously.

“We have nineteen, but I think we’re going to buy a few more soon since you will be recruiting on your own now.”

“Sounds like a plan. Money. Money. We are lock
ed and loaded.”

“No, your uncle and aunt are rich,
we
are poor. Now shut up and get in the car.”

The cars at our house were all black escalades except for Tony’s white Tahoe
. He would always say that the Tahoe was the same thing but cheaper and looked better. I never asked why he thought that; I could care less.

As we took the turn out of the neighborhood, Tony
pulled over and put the car in park.

“Ryan, I remember the day that I was in your seat when our cousin Lok showed me around.”

Lok was the son of my uncle in New York
, and when there had been a feud going on up there, he had been sent to L.A. to live with us for a few years while they settled the conflicts. He was much older than I was and had been non-stop busy. All I could remember about him was that he’d had a lot of tattoos and always wore sunglasses. Other than that, I had never actually spoken to him.

“Shit is going to start to get real today. You will see and hear stuff that you won’t like
, but you have to put that all aside. This is our family business and I know you think you know what we do, but you don’t know everything. Today, you will find out.” He sounded ominous as he put the car back in drive and started driving.

Was that a warning? I wasn’t sure.

“I know more than you think, cuz. I’m not a little kid, you know. I see and hear things.”

“So
, enlighten me, what do you know?”

I didn’t like his condescending tone. “I know you go get girls and lie to them about a scholarship, bring them here and offer them an awesome job—it’s selling their body
, but it makes far more money than they could ever have had otherwise. We give them an option to buy themselves out after a year, but no one does because they fall in love with the money and the love that’s given to them by our family,” I said confidently.

“And then?”

“And then what?”
I hated those two word questions coming from him.

“And then what happens
, Baby Ryan?”

“
I told you
, they work, they live, they have fun and make a lot of money.”

“So the girls
willingly
sell their bodies to these strangers because of money? Because they feel protected by us? And no one ever takes the option of buying themselves out?”

“Exactly
. See, I know what I’m talking about.”

Tony started laughing hysterically
. It went on for a few minutes. At that point, I was so annoyed that I wanted to punch him in the face just to shut him up.

He didn’t explain or clarify what he found so amusing
, and I was so angry that I didn’t care to ask him, so we ignored each other until we reached the first destination.

We pulled up to the first house
, which was very nice, similar to the one in Santa Monica. It was on the beach, big and bright.

“This is the
Redondo Beach. We call the houses by the cities they are in, and if there are multiple homes in the same city, we number them Redondo Beach One, Two, Three and so on. The guard’s name here is ‘Black’ and he watches this house with his men.”

Hopping out of his white Tahoe, we then headed up the stairs.

“Yo, Black
, open up.” Tony pounded on the door.

“Calm the fuck down
, man! You impatient ass!” And there he was, a six-foot-five, huge, black guy, looking mean and ready to kill anyone who dared to cross him.

“Is
this
him?” Black eyed me up and down.

“Yeah
, this is the baby. He’s going to be taking over this house next week after our trip.” Tony didn’t disclose the destination. Smart man.

“Koo, what up
, man?” He put his hands out, wanting a shake.

“Not much.”

“All right, boss, name’s Black. Looking forward to working with you,” he said, grinning after we shook hands. He then went with us inside, holding the main entrance door open before he walked towards a dimly lit room.

“
Most of the girls have been good, but the new Romanian girl in room seven, she’s been crying and trying to tell her guests that she needs to escape. We’ve had a lot of complaints from them, so I locked her up, hoping you’d talk to her.”

“When did you find out?” Tony demanded.

“Got our first complaint a few days ago when you were out of town. I slapped her up a little bit and thought she’d got the point, but she did it a few more times and I had to pull her out of the line.”

To the left of the room was a desk
with some paperwork on it, a big safe behind it, two computers and a few filing cabinets.

It was then when I heard it
—a girl quietly whimpering to the right side, barely visible, caged in a dog crate with her hands and legs tied and her mouth covered with a dirty handkerchief.

“What the fuck is this?”
I demanded, looking at Tony and Black before shoving their shoulders, demanding an explanation. “Do Aunt and Uncle know you guys treat the girls like this?
Let her out!
” I walked towards the cage to free her when Tony grabbed me by the back of my head and threw me behind him. Black grabbed my shoulders and then sat me down on the chair that was behind the desk.

“Give me her paperwork
,” Tony ordered.

I had never seen anything like this
. I knew that Tony was mean, however his face had gone dark with a wicked grin that couldn’t lead to anything good.

He shuffled through the folder
, studying it, loading up his brain with the information to use against her.

“So
, Adriana.” He grabbed her by the hair, pulling her beside him as her cheek pressed against the metal cage. “When we first brought you here—the expensive plane ride, the nice house, the nice clothes—you agreed that you would be a good girl. Do you remember that?” He pulled her even closer to his face, still grabbing onto her hair. “Do you remember when Mama-san spoke to you when you landed? Do you remember that, if you become a problem, you would be losing your family members one at a time until you’re the last one living before you’re killed off?” Tony pulled out a picture of an older man; pale, skinny, with gray hair.

I swallowed, watching the horror before me.

Immediately, Adriana started weeping and mumbling what seemed to sound like, “Tata. No, Tata!” I could tell that she had not been here long with her broken English. She sounded a little like Sabina.

“Well, baby girl, I’m going off in a few days back to Europe and I think I will stop by your ‘
tata’s house and pay him a visit. Would you like that?”

“No
. Please, please, I be good girl. I promise, I be good girl.” She whimpered, defeated, crying endless tears.

“Oh, you will, because I will bring you something from him next week. You don’t get warnings or
second chances. You fucked up. You’re making us lose business, which means no money, and we very much hate that when it happens, okay, hunny?”

“Please
. I work. I be good girl,” she pleaded, but Tony didn’t seem interested.

He
yanked the cage door open, pulled her up by her hair, threw her out the office and told her to go upstairs and clean up, making sure she knew to keep her appointment tonight.

Tony wiped his wet hands off on his pants
, came around the desk and shoved me out of the chair. Sitting, he swiveled the chair around to the safe before opening it. He then took one of the stacks of hundreds and threw it at Black.

“If we keep having problems in your house, you will be looking for another job.” Black gave a curt nod and slid the ten thousand dollars in his back pocket.

“Let’s go,” Tony directed me before throwing a black backpack at my chest filled with cash.

I followed without even looking back at Black. I was still shocked and confused.
This could not be right. This was wrong on so many levels!

Tony let out a big sigh as soon as we got in the car. He looked over and gave me a fake smile, patting my head before putting the car in drive.

Why was he acting as if everything was al
l right? It wasn’t! I needed answers, but before I could say a word, Tony spoke, breaking the silence.

“I told you
, baby cuz, it’s not what you thought it was, huh?”

“What just happened back there?
Is it true that Aunt threatens them? Does Uncle know about this?” The questions just kept spilling out of my mouth.

“Ryan, this is the business
—
this
is what we do—and what you saw back there is order. Without order, these girls would run away. Without order, we would not be profiting.”

“Are you really going to go visit her father?”

“Remember Lok?”

Our cousin. “Yeah
, what does he have to do with anything?”

“Well
, Lok is fucked up in so many ways. He’s something else. Do you remember when he came to live with us? Do you know why?”

“Problems with Uncle
’s business in New York.”

“Yes
, problems. Lok is not like us. He’s an animal.” He paused. “Before he was sent here, he was dating a girl, a daughter of one of the partners in New York. He raped her before killing her eventually, but even after the girl was dead, he kept fucking her like no one’s business.” His voice faded, as if it gave him chills.

I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked. It gave me
my own chills down my spine.

“After all the bullshit, Lok chose to live in Moscow and started a little business of his own. It’s a smaller scale operation and much cheaper. The girls are infested with diseases and addicts
, but he enjoys it. When we have problems with a girl here, we have Lok visit their family, take something from them and send us a video of it. We then show the girls the video, and almost immediately, they become obedient again.”

“What does he take?”
I wasn’t even certain that I wanted to know, but I was already this deep in, I might as well know it all.