Chapter 5 #2
I don’t respond to this remark because I don’t have a response.
Working at La Puissance has never been about making money.
Yes, there is money to be made, and several of the girls make plenty of it.
But that has never been my aim, and no one has ever taken issue with that.
We’ve always covered each other, found a natural balance that never needed to be questioned.
“There will be no more losses here at La Puissance, Caterine. This guarantees that.” Lady M slides a piece of paper across the desk.
I study the sheet of paper, the words blending together and blurring my eyes, my brain unable to parse the meaning. “What is this?”
“It’s a contract, Cate.” Harold chooses this moment to speak up. “It solidifies our partnership, the relationship between you and the club.”
“What does that mean?” I was unaware that after almost twenty years of living here our relationship needed to be further solidified.
“It means that you—and every one of the members of the club—are now responsible for bringing in a certain amount of revenue annually to offset the cost of your room and board, your place here at the club, and the protection we offer you.” Lady M folds her hands in her lap as her eyes bore into me, watching me try to make sense of the words and figures on the page.
“This says here that if I don’t meet my annual quota, the unpaid debt rolls over into the next year.” My chest clenches, and any sense of calm bestowed upon me by my session with Lady Amanda dissipates. “And if I don’t make my quota for two consecutive years, I may be asked to leave the club.”
“That’s correct.”
“But that means if I don’t make enough money this year, I start the next year already in the hole.
Making it all but impossible to ever climb out of it.
” My stomach starts to turn the more of this so-called contract I read.
“And if I don’t find a way to make up the difference, I’m going to be forced to leave? To lose my sponsorship?”
“That won’t be an issue for you, darling.
You’ll meet your quota in no time. People will be lining up to pay for your services, especially once you begin to advertise your Gift more widely.
” Harold leans forward, his arms resting on the desk.
“Besides, the Gifted laws will be rescinded before losing your sponsorship could even be an issue.”
I don’t bother to remind him that I don’t say yes to all prospective clients, depending on who they are and what they want from me.
I also don’t advertise my Gift for a reason.
To most, I’m just a prized courtesan of La Puissance, not a Gifted who can manipulate emotions.
Clearly the way things used to be done no longer matters.
“And what if I refuse to sign this?” I can’t imagine a life without the club, but I also can’t imagine willingly handing over this amount of control to anyone—not even Harold.
“Then you will no longer have a home here.” Lady M’s cold eyes meet mine, a hint of a malicious spark in them, like she is daring me to take that option.
“And that sponsorship you’re so afraid of losing in the future may become a real problem.
It may take several months for the old ways to be fully erased from the law books.
If you were to find yourself out on the street now, with no job and no man to vouch for you, I hate to think what might happen. ”
Clearly Lady M knew about my Gift before this meeting. Harold told her, and if he told her about my Gift, it stands to reason she also knows about Andra’s. My stomach tumbles, thinking of our most precious secret in the hands of this woman who I know, deep down, cannot be trusted.
“Now, we don’t need to even think about that. Of course you’ll sign, Cate. This contract isn’t just about money, it also offers you the security of our protection.” Harold taps the bottom of the page, the tiny sliver of the contract that covers what the club will provide.
“Yes. Don’t you want to keep the protection La Puissance has always so kindly afforded you? At least until the government is able to offer their new plan for the Gifted?”
“I need some time to think about this.”
“Take all the time you need, darling.”
“As long as you have an answer to us by the end of the day tomorrow. If you don’t want your spot here at the club, there are many others who would be happy to take it.
We are still only able to offer our sponsorship to ten Gifted at one time, and if you don’t wish to be one of them, well…
” Lady M’s lip curls again, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s trying to smile and her face is incapable of the movement.
My eyes flit back and forth between Harold and his new wife. Is this really what Harold wants? To tie us all to the club this way? Harold has always cared for us, treated us like family; does he really see no issue with holding a debt over our heads and forcing us to perform like trained animals?
I excuse myself from the office without a word of goodbye, the contract clutched so tightly in my hand I can feel the paper wrinkling.
As I make my way back to my suite, my mind holds on to the look in Lady M’s eyes. She knows she has me trapped, knows she is going to get exactly what she wants. What I can’t figure out is why she wants it.
Meri and Tes come out of Tes’s room as I’m rounding the corner, both with wide smiles on their faces, like they haven’t a care in the world.
Before I can consider if the hallway is the best place for this conversation, I hold up the damning piece of paper clutched in my hand. “Have you both been told about this?”
Meri squints her brown eyes, as if she might be able to read the fine print through my clenched fist. “Is that your contract?”
Tes’s head cocks to the side, her short blond hair falling across her face. “Did you not sign it already?”
Nausea swirls in my gut. “You both signed?”
Meri nods. “I did in the office when they presented it to me.”
I swallow my incredulity and try to temper my reaction. “You didn’t even take the time to consider the terms?”
Tes shrugs. “What’s to consider? I’m not leaving La Puissance.
And Lady M is right. It isn’t fair for us to take full advantage of the club’s generosity without paying it back in kind.
” She gestures to the new carpets and freshly painted walls.
“None of this would have happened without Lady M’s funds and she’s just trying to make sure we never fall into hardship again in the future. ”
“But don’t you think it’s predatory? Making us sign over our lives like this?”
Meri looks at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Predatory? You think Harold would ever agree to something that put us at risk?”
I shake my head, though I’m starting to question Harold more and more. In my heart of hearts, I cannot truly fathom a world where he put his girls in any sort of danger.
Meri and Tes push past me, making their way to the main staircase. Tes claps my shoulder as the two brush by. “Just sign the paper, Cate. Stop making everything so difficult.”
I make my way back to my rooms, churning over the words of two of my dearest friends. Maybe they’re right.
Signing away my life is a terrifying thought, but is giving up the protection of the club even worse?
Can I leave behind my friends, my family, and strike out on my own?
And what about Andra? She, more than any of the other Gifted, needs to be surrounded by people she can trust. Her Gift is too valuable for us to be out on the streets without the safety the club affords us, especially given the uncertainty of the times.
This contract presents a major problem, and yet, I know my friends are right and I have no choice but to sign it.