Chapter 2

“All right,” he told his daughter. “I love you, don’t you forget that,” he added sweetly before pulling his daughter in for a tight, caring hug.

That was that, he figured.

The evening progressed normally from there on, until Uncle Blake prepared to leave. He was already in the process of putting his jacket on, when he was pulled aside by the concerned father. The pent up frustration was impossible to miss. The father’s narrowed eyes were angrily staring at his brother-in-law. However, he didn’t have a chance to speak up before he was already interrupted.

“I know, I know, I’ve already heard that you figured out what happened,” came the uncle’s sly remark. “Alison told me that you were spying on my laptop. Nice move there, great role model that you’re trying to be.” The accusation quickly took the wind out of the father’s sails. “Anyway, this is good! I wanted to talk with you about it, and this seems like a great opportunity.”

“Talk? What is there to talk about, how could you do that to her? You practically turned her into a...” his voice trailed off as he took a quick look around to make sure they were still alone in the hallway. Despite not seeing anyone, he still opted to lower his voice. “ ... you practically turned her into a prostitute! What’s wrong with you?”

“Wow there, strong choice of words! You’re taking the moral high ground while talking about your daughter like that? Look around you, this stuff is way more common these days than you think. Plenty of women flaunt their body on the internet. At least I didn’t have her record herself in a hot tub while she’s wearing a skimpy bikini. The thing she ended up doing is at least a creative way of earning money. There’s not many girls who would dare going that far.”

Her father furrowed a brow at the comments, but listened on regardless.

“Speaking of which, I have some good news, and some bad news. Which would you prefer to hear first?”

“That’s not funny,” the father replied. “What is it? She’s got enough money for her college education, right? That gig must have covered the costs, and then some.”

“Actually,” the uncle began, only to take another breath and readjust his jacket. “Actually it barely covered any costs, really. It was her first video, and there were a lot of expenses for her clothes, and the ... other stuff. There was barely enough money left over for my share.”

There was a brief pause when he seemed to realize what he just admitted. “My share, I mean ... the money I had to invest into getting her introduced to that business, of course! My share was just a ... reimbursement for the money I spent on the whole thing. I only got her into the business for her own sake, after all. Thing is...”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out his wallet, and showed that it was almost entirely empty.

“Yeah it wasn’t nearly as profitable as you thought. Thing is, they gave me a call a few days ago to ask if she was available for another gig. What do ya say? If you’re okay with it, then I’d go ahead and get Aly involved again and then it’s just a matter of time before she can just coast on the profits of her work. It’s gonna be super easy. So?”

“Uh...”

Nathan was conflicted. The caring and fatherly side of himself, was inclined to disagree. On the other hand, his daughter already had one foot in the business anyway. Would it really make such a big difference if he were to allow her to make one more video?

“I guess...”

He continued to think about it. The thing that had irritated him the most, was the idea that his daughter was no longer pure, and also that she was forced into such a shady business. But, now that he had more information, it sounded slightly more reputable. Perhaps he really had an outdated view of pornography and the actors who helped to produce that stuff. It was just another job. It just happened to be one that involves a lot of intimacy.

“Yeah ... all right. Fine, you have my permission. Just make sure her mother doesn’t find out, I don’t want her to think any differently of Alison.”

The two men quietly shook their hands in agreement.

The deal was made.

Nathan wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. With each and every passing day after that, he felt the temptation to approach his daughter. Maybe she wished to talk about what happened? Or perhaps she would rather avoid thinking about it. It wasn’t an easy topic to bring up.

There wasn’t any reason to discuss it, either. He preferred this, for them to be simply a normal and happy family, just like how it used to be.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later when curiosity was getting the better of him again. But, Uncle Blake hadn’t been around for a long while. That by itself was strange, but it also meant there was no laptop around to have a look at. It was troublesome, and meant that it would be impossible to try and have another look at the website.

“Oh!” He suddenly remembered that it was a normal, public website. Just like any other. It had almost slipped his mind that anyone could access it, from anywhere. “Entertainment industries,” he quietly reminded himself of its name as he made his way to the master bedroom upstairs. He had a proper desktop computer there – for better or worse, he would have a proper screen to look at instead of having to fidget with a small laptop. The room also offered him plenty of privacy, to take as much time as he needed, without having to worry about distractions.