The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 56

Isabel stormed out of Cassie’s house, slamming the door so violently behind her that it shook on its hinges. She didn’t bother stopping to check that the door was still in good condition or going back to the Peters’ house to get her jacket that she knew she had forgotten on one of the couches, she just kept walking. Her angry march was only brought to a halt when she got to the train station and discovered that due to how quickly she had been walking, she had arrived a couple of minutes earlier than she had intended to. She paused to catch her breath and gather herself as marching angrily was hard work.

How dare Cassie?! Isabel lived her life in a constant state of barely concealed panic, constantly worrying that one day, a bunch of cops would burst through the door to her shitty apartment having discovered that she had arrived to the country illegally and boot her back to Mexico. Cassie telling Daniel about her immigration status only heightened her panic. She didn’t know Daniel and Cassie herself had only spent a few weeks working in Tech Town so far, so even she didn’t know him very well. Neither of them could say for sure if he was the kind of person that would hold that information over her head as blackmail or go to the authorities with the information he had. Cassie hadn’t even thought to first ask for her permission before divulging her problem to Daniel, although it wasn’t like Isabel would have ever agreed to that seeing as she didn’t know Daniel and hence, couldn’t even trust him. It seemed that she had added a new name on her list of people not to trust: Cassie. Going behind her back to take to Daniel was a major betrayal in Isabel’s opinion.

It wasn’t her fault that she was undocumented; she had been so young when she had come to America all those years ago with her parents that she didn’t even remember what life in Mexico was like. There was no way she could go back to Mexico. She might not have had much to her name in Atlanta but at least she had friends, sources of income and a place to stay. In Mexico, she didn’t have anything or anyone and would have to start life afresh. How was she supposed to have a life in a country when she could barely even speak the national language? It was something or a source of embarrassment for her that she wasn’t able to properly converse in Spanish. All she knew were a few words that she had picked up from Telenovelas and the few Spanish speakers that she had encountered in her lifetime.

With the train finally in sight, Isabel and the other Atlantans prepared themselves to board and shuffled in when it finally screeched to a halt. She grumpily took her seat and was annoyed all throughout the ride to the next stop. When the train screeched to a halt, Isabel got off and started to prepare herself for her time at Club Indigo. It was still five and she usually didn’t arrive at the club until ten but this time was different. After the first two days that Robert and Tobias had infiltrated the club, the business had struggled a bit as the building was crawling with police presence which made the patrons and staff nervous as most of the activities that occurred there were illegal. Isabel herself had constantly been on her toes as she had been continually bothered that one of the police officers would discover her immigration status. Once the police presence was gone, business continued as usual as if nothing had ever happened. Big Daddy had even been able to quickly find replacements for all the staff that were no longer available. Amongst them were the DJ who had gotten shot in the head, a redhead stripper who had gone by the stage name Carmine who had broken a femur after she had dived out a window the second the gunshots started and a bunch of people like Cassie who had quit their jobs at the club as they didn’t feel safe working there anymore.

Club Indigo was back to its full capacity but Big Daddy wanted more than that. Ever the miserly cheap stake, Big Daddy was determined to make back every last dime that he had lost when Robert and Tobias stormed in. For example, he had insisted that any item that was broken by a member of staff during the incident be replaced and as a result, someone like Cassie who had let the tray of drinks she had been holding fall to the ground when the shooting started had been made to pay for the drinks she spilt, the cups that had been broken and even the tray which had gotten a little dent on its edge after it fell. All of the staff were currently working more hours but still getting the same pay, which wasn’t even that much to begin with. From the bartenders, he demanded that they watered down every glass and shot of alcohol apart from the first in hopes that patrons would already be slightly intoxicated to notice the difference. From the bouncers, he demanded that they ignore poorly made fake IDs so that under aged kids could drink at the club thereby expanding their market pool. From the strippers, he demanded that they learn a new dance routine every week to spice things up which was why Isabel was headed to the club that early.

Isabel had always thought that Club Indigo looked like a messy frat house whenever it wasn’t night time. As she had never been to a messy frat house before, she only had her imagination, Cassie’s words and television shows to confirm her theory. As usual, the club smelled of stale liquor, sweat, cologne from the regulars and the cheap air freshener that Big Daddy had bought to use to try to drown out the other three smells. The floor was dirty but the larger pieces of dirt such as crumpled red solo cups, condom wrappers and near empty lipstick tubes had been swept up into corners and were waiting to be disposed of. The tacky disco light still hung from the ceiling but as it wasn’t turned on, it appeared to be just a large silver ball. Large speakers and various furniture pieces had been moved to the corner to make way for the two guys from the janitorial department who were trying to rid the floor from dirt.

She nodded to the new DJ who was setting up and made her way to the dance floor. Just like her, the other strippers who were around were dressed casually. Those who weren’t wearing sweatpants had leggings on and those who were wearing tank tops were wearing faded baggy t-shirts from local brands or bands. They were sitting on the ground and watching another one of the girls as she demonstrated a technique on a pole.

“Hi Shine.” Candy called as she waved Isabel over. She scooted over and patted the ground beside her, letting Isabel lower herself on the ground.

Candy had been one of the other two girls with whom Isabel had been made to hide in a freezing pantry by a client who was also a cheating scum. Although Isabel, Candy and Spice had bonded over their time spent in the pantry, none of them were yet to give their actual names up. Most of the girls kept their real names secret as although they shared items like lip glosses, hair ties and bodysuits, names were more sacred and confidential. For the strippers at Club Indigo, giving up their names to any of their coworkers was akin to giving them a very secret diary or the password to a bank vault. They were always wary of doing such as they could never tell who their actual friends were and who would turn out to be a backstabber. Isabel had always counted herself lucky that she had been able to come across a genuine friend like Cassie. Cassie. Isabel hated how often her mind went back to Cassie even though she was so mad at her.

And as she sat cross legged on the dirty floor taking in the details of the new choreography, she began to wonder if she had over reacted back in Cassie’s house.