Russian Boss’s Secret Baby by Bella King

Ch 3

MIA

“What?!”

“Yeah, he wants you over there. All night,” Kat says with a smirk.

My mouth goes dry and my hands feel sweaty. “Kat, I really don’t know if I can do it, those guys look... they’re scary,” I reply, almost pleading to not be forced to assist them.

Kat rolls her eyes and turns on her heels sharply. “Look, it’ll be good practice for you. Don’t say no to getting better at your job, okay?” she says as she walks away.

Shit, now I have to do this on my own?

I walk awkwardly over to the booth the men have been seated at, my footsteps deliberate and calculated as I beg myself not to trip and fall in these goddamn shoes. I don’t think I could ever recover from that, and I need this job so desperately that the thought of losing it seems to be making it harder for me to function.

I hate this!

“Hi, my name’s Mia, what can I get you guys for drinks?” I ask, my words robotic but friendly.

A terrifying, muscular man laughs, and I want to fall through the floor. “Honey, speak up, I cannot understand a goddamn word you say,” he says, his words interwoven with an accent that I recognize to be Russian.

He and his friends all stare at me expectantly, and my cheeks flush. “I just asked what I can get you guys for drinks?”

“Oh, okay, uh, fuck... Eli, what was that one whiskey you had here last time that you liked, huh?” the terrifying Russian man says to a less terrifying man next to him.

The less terrifying man looks at me with confusion in his eyes. “I don’t know. Hey, lady, what’s that whiskey you guys have here that’s supposed to be from Serbia? It tastes like cinnamon kerosene?”

“I’m sorry,” I continue, grasping desperately for some reason that I am unfit to do this job tonight. “I’m not very familiar with all the kinds of alcohol we have.”

The Russian man erupts with laughter, almost antagonistically. “She doesn’t even know what they serve here.” The other two men join him in laughing at me.

I’m ready to throw myself from the balcony when Kat rushes over, her heels clicking loudly. “Come here,” she hisses as she grabs my hand and leads me away from the table.

“What’s going on over there? Why are they laughing?” she asks impatiently.

Before I can respond, I feel my voice start to break as if I’m going to cry, which frustrates me and makes me want to cry even more. I close my eyes and breathe deeply to avoid embarrassing myself.

“Okay, okay, calm down. It’s not that big of a deal,” Kat says, more warmly this time to keep me from freaking out.

“They’re just being assholes. I don’t know,” is all I’m able to come up with before the tears start to fall, ruining my makeup and making my face red.

“Okay, okay, calm down now, let’s go back over there and figure it out, alright?” she replies.

I nod without a word, and we both walk over to the table together.

“Is there something I can help with?” Kat asks as I stand to the side like an idiot.

“Yeah, your girl here doesn’t know your inventory very well, does she?” the Russian man says, gesturing vaguely towards me. “It seems that maybe you should keep her at the front of the house and away from people who might ask questions. She’s is pretty enough, at least,” he says, laughing again at his own joke.

I’m able to quit crying for a moment and roll my eyes. Anger and annoyance is empowering.

“You know what? Actually, let me just keep her over here by me, yeah? I’ll make the night nice for her. She doesn’t work tonight. She stays with me,” he says to Kat.

I cannot conceal an insulted gasp.

“Sir, you cannot just buy one of my girls for the night. This isn’t that kind of club,” Kat replies, becoming impatient.

“I think that might not be your best decision, sweetheart,” the Russian man warns, now with a curt and unfriendly tone.

My heart pounds, and my cheeks feel hot to the touch. How dare he try and pay her off to make me spend time with him like a whore. That’s not my job, and he knows it.

Kat, however, has reduced herself and looks almost defeated, maybe even a bit scared. “Mia, let’s go have a chat real quick, okay?” she says as she hastily grabs my hand, pulling me away from the group of men and into a back hallway near the exit.

When we’re out of earshot, she leans in, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “Okay, please don’t freak out, but I think it might be in our best interest for you to go spend a few hours with these guys.”

Anger swells in my chest. “Why? Tell them to go fuck themselves,” I whisper harshly, just loud enough to risk being heard by them.

“Mia, listen to me. Those guys are Russian mafia, okay? They come in here a lot. They’re dicks, but I’ve overheard some of the stories they tell, and I’m not comfortable saying no to them if you’re not in harm’s way.”

“Kat, you’re trying to sell me,” I reply, shaking my head.

She gives me a pleading look. “You’re going to make three times your regular pay if you go through with it, okay? And I know you’re supporting yourself and paying your dad’s medical expenses, so I wouldn’t choose to be self-righteous right now if I were you,” she says, her eyes growing in desperation.

I consider it for a moment. Kat is right, after all; my father’s condition has only gotten worse within the past few months, and the only hope he has of getting better is seeing a specialist in California. I told him I was determined to raise the money he needed, at least to get to and from the appointments.

I let out a long sigh. “Okay, fine. I’ll go sit with him for a while. But I’m never doing this again, Kat. I’m not an escort,” I reply indignantly.

Kat nods at me and gestures toward the men, all of whom are staring in our general direction expectantly.

I drop my shoulders back and assert my most confident persona, someone I’m still not acquainted with and do not know how to turn into at a moment’s notice. This isn’t going to be easy, but nothing in my life ever has been.