Chapter 3

Irena Ivanovitch paced her office and furiously puffed on cigarette after cigarette until the ash tray was full of half smoked butts. Although she didn’t show it outwardly, it was a testament as to how concerned she was.

She had taken eight girls to a party full of athletes celebrating some year-end champion ship and now one of them was missing and since looking after the girls when they were away from the brothel was her job the blame was gonna fall on her. Since her bosses took failures very seriously, Denise knew it was important to get the girl back as quick as possible. That way, maybe she could gloss it over and her bosses wouldn’t be as angry with her.

Irena glanced down at the photo on her desk. It had been taken months ago shortly after Denise arrived at the whore house. It was meant to advertise her wares on the internet so it depicted the 19 year old girl in various nude poses but it was the face Irena looked at. It was sweet and innocent looking. That, with a girlish, barely mature body and it had made her very popular with the clients. The Family knew she was a very profitable find.

Irena was furious with Denise but even angrier with herself. How could she have been so lax, especially when she knew how The Family handled mistakes? After all, she had seen and experienced it all.

Her involvement with the group started when she was still in her teens. Irena had been a

naïve girl who had applied for what she thought was a modelling job. Because she had wanted to escape the poverty and boredom of the small Russian village she grew up in, it had seemed like a godsend in the beginning. It felt fantastic to be well fed, feted over and given a bit of money to spend on clothes and treats while the agency arranged a passport so she could work in other countries.

However, that had all turned sour once she had arrived in the United States. To her shock

and horror she discovered the agency was fake, nothing but a front to recruit pretty, young girls for prostitution. With no money, no way to contact her family and no way of returning home, Irena quickly found herself forced into servicing all kinds of men every night. It was so terrible she witnessed weaker girls and women succumb to the perils of the life. Most of them were soon helplessly addicted to drugs and willingly gave themselves to anybody who could give them a hit but not her.

Irena refused to break. Instead she took advantage of every situation that arose until she gained some trust with the group of men who controlled the hookers. First it had been small things like the best clients but gradually she was given more and more responsibility. Then came the day when she no longer had to service the customers. Instead, she was given a few girls to oversee and make sure they pleased the clients.

Irena was so thankful for the step up the ladder she used every trick in the book to manipulate the girls into doing their best. She pretended to be friends with them and acted like she was sympathetic. However, beneath the pleasant exterior she thought of the girls with distain and was as ruthless as a hardened criminal. Her bosses rewarded her with more responsibility until she was running a full brothel.

Now, although Irena considered herself successful and an important part of The Family she also realized how precarious her position was. Despite her exalted status, she knew she had to watch her step because she was still nothing but a clog in The Family’s prostitution business. Any major mistake, like a missing girl, and The Family would turn on her like a pack of wolves on a helpless prey and all that she worked for would be gone.