It was entirely common to be invited to social events and gatherings for Leah. Her father had many wonderfully nice business associates and she had made quite a few friends through the network. It was slightly bizarre that the phone call she received seemed so demanding, but her father assured her that it was just a usual gathering. The woman on the phone said that a limousine would be picking Leah up at about 4 PM and that she should 'dress to impress.' Whatever that meant, Leah was unsure but she opted for a closely fitted white dress and nude heels. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back. She was aiming for a sexy and sophisticated look, as most of the people she met through her father and her father's friends were well into their 40's and at 22 she often felt out of place despite everyone enjoying her company.
She sat silently in the back of the limousine as it drove to her destination, which was starting to feel really unsettling as the windows were entirely blacked out and the driver had the partition locked so she couldn't even see out the front window. By the way the car was frequently stopping and starting, Leah assumed that they were driving about within the city. There had been driving for about 20 minutes at this point, the whole time Leah was wondering exactly who she was about to be spending time with. She didn't even know if this was dinner, a cocktail party or some boring business social at the office. Eventually she felt the unmistakable feeling of the car driving down into an underground parking lot. "I'm not even going to get to see the building I am going into? What the hell kind of meeting is this?" She said to herself under her breath. The car had stopped and after a few seconds the door opened and the slightly formidable driver stood and awaited her to step out. Just as she expected, she stepped out into a dimly lit dusty parking garage. The odd part was that there were several identical limos all parked in a row, all with the same blacked out windows.
The driver spoke at this moment, "This way Miss." And started towards the door marked as the elevator. Leah simply smiled and followed along, curious to see what was going on. They stood in the elevator which was all mirrored and made of marble, which Leah was pleased to see that they weren't at some boring office complex at least. They rode the elevator for a minute or so as it reached the top floor of the building and opened up into a luxurious wide hallway. The driver stepped out and walked forward to the end of the hall where there was a door guarded by a very large and intimidating man. He opened the door and they walked into a massive penthouse with full picture windows showing a great view of the city past the balcony. Leah looked around and it seemed to be the usual crowd of beautiful young women and men in suits, until she looked a little closer and realized that every man here was dressed the same as her limousine driver, except for one who was speaking quietly to the driver who had just walked in with her.
She made her way over to a group of women who were laughing and chatting around a table of champagne. She helped herself to a glass and listened in and laughed along with some of the chatter going on. After a while a two more pairs of women and drivers walked in and most of the women were started on their second glass of champagne. The man who was clearly not a limo driver suddenly caught Leah's gaze as she sat down in a chair near the window with another woman. He was very tall and well built, looking more like he would wear flannel and work in a lumber yard than he would wear a suit. He turned his attention back to the papers he was shuffling through in his hand and then looking at his phone before he started to speak. "Ladies," he said loudly, cutting all conversation down with his deep and commanding voice "This is not where your meetings are being held, so when I ask just follow your driver back to the car and head on to where you are going." All the women looked around slightly confused, some nodded in acknowledgement and for the most part the conversations returned to normal. Leah kept her eyes on this man, though. He was staring intently at a paper and then looking around the room, surveying the women in the room. One by one he handed an envelope to a driver, and point out which woman he was to drive to their destination and the driver would ask her to follow him. Slowly the room emptied one pair at a time and while the remaining women continued to drink and talk, Leah nursed her first glass of champagne as she watched the man who was directing the drivers. The room suddenly seemed to go silent as the third last woman was led out and the conversation had completely stopped.
Leah was looking directly into the face of the man at this point, waiting for him to let her leave this awkward situation. He handed one of two envelopes left to a driver and directed the other woman who was there out. Leah stood and started to make her way towards her driver so they could leave as well when the man said, "No. You stay here." He handed the last envelope to the driver and walked him to the door, dismissing the doorman and locking the door as well. Leah remained standing, crossing her arms and not doing a great job of hiding her exasperation at this whole situation. As he walked back he couldn't help but laugh a bit at her obvious indignation. She was about to start barraging him with questions and demanding answers but he cut her short. Standing suddenly very close to her and taking the glass from her hand he smiled looking down at her, "Leah Nelson, I'm Spencer Johnson." He set the glass down as he spoke and with no hint of sarcasm in his voice he continued, "Don't panic or anything beautiful, but, I own you now."
Leah felt her stomach turn, she thought this surely was some sort of sick joke. She started to back away from this man who seemed to suddenly become much larger than before. She was suddenly very angry and she glared at Spencer and yelled at him, "What the hell do you think you are doing? Do you think this funny?"
"Well," he smiled and backed a bit away from her "it's a little funny that you think I am joking." Leah turned to pick up her bag and storm out, but he was suddenly there, standing between her and the escape route into the hall. "Listen, running away isn't going to help you." He grabbed her bag and tossed it to the side of the room. "But if you come sit down with me and talk to me and still want to leave after, you are more than welcome to." He gestured towards a door on the far left side of the room. Leah stood, stunned and unsure of what to do. "I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, Leah. You are in complete control of what happens after this."
She looked at him skeptically and started walking towards the table where the champagne was. She took the entire bottle and one glass and barged through the doors. A crisp clean living room area with a fireplace and television and arm chairs were in here. She sat herself down and poured a drink. "Get in here. Talk. Now!" She demanded as he walked through the doors calmly and closed them. He seemed to be rather enjoying himself as he could not seem to get the smile off of his face from watching how upset she was about this. This of course made her even angrier so she demanded that he tell her what is going on one more time.
"It's very simple, really. In the old days, if you owed someone a lot of money, that someone would go to your house and hurt your family. They had a lot of really gruesome methods of doing that, but the big problem was usually that they cant get blood from a stone." He stated this as if he were saying that the sky was blue, or that snow is cold. Leah was, however, entirely confused by this answer. Spencer gave her a minute and then continued on with his explanation. "Your father owes someone upwards of 1.3 million dollars. This is someone I wouldn't want to owe five bucks, Leah." This is what finally hit her that he wasn't joking. He looked dead serious at this point and the smirk that was on his face was completely gone. Her heart was racing and she was trying desperately to think of something to say, but it was Spencer who had more to say. "I pay the debts of families like yours, take a girl from that family, and sell her to someone for more than the debt is worth. Like I said before, you can leave if you want, but doing so will put your family back in danger."
"Wh- what are you even saying?" Leah was stumbling over her words and felt tears welling up in her eyes. There was no way that this was true. "All those other women that were here..."
