Chapter Text
Silence. Lily listened for any sound from inside. She had been standing at the door for a while now.
Bang, bang, bang. "Dad!"
Lily knocked on the door anxiously. "Dad, please, are you okay? Open the door, dad!" she yelled. "Are you there?" She was beginning to panic. As she was about to call an ambulance, preparing to face any consequences that might come with it, she decided it was better than having her dad gone forever. Suddenly, the door opened.
"Dad?"
"Lily, I'm so sorry..."
He was sweating. Seeing her dad's frightened face, she knew they were in trouble.
"Why didn't you open the door?"
"Lily, I don't know... I'm sorry, I don't know what to do. God..."
"Okay, okay, let's calm down, breathe, okay?" She looked around, trying to calm him down, and realized that the house was a mess. She had no idea what might have happened, but knowing her dad, she was sure it was nothing good.
"What happened?"
Her dad looked like he didn't want to tell her anything, but he had no choice. Their house was kind of small and old. There was a living room and kitchen at the entrance, and you could kind of see the whole house except for the bedrooms and bathroom when you entered since it was an open kitchen and there was no hallway. So when Lily saw the empty suitcase on the floor, it caught her attention.
"What's with the suitcase? Were you going somewhere? Should we run away?"
"I messed up. There's nothing we can do now."
"Just tell me what happened!"
He paused for a moment, but there was no point in delaying now. He began to tell his daughter how he ended up with an empty suitcase and a debt with so many dangerous men after him.
The music was getting louder and louder. "What the fuck am I doing?" Lily said to herself as she clutched her purse shakily and tried to calm down. "The Black Cat," it said in LED lights. She was at the entrance of a club that she hoped was the correct one. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to come to the right place; she wished she had never had to come here in the first place. She had taken a risk and contacted people they should have stayed away from at all costs. She was going to try to find a way to solve this without violence and her father possibly dying. She was going to beg for their lives. In the end, they had nothing more to lose.
She showed her ID, and the bouncer looked inside and made a gesture towards a direction before letting her in. It was very crowded, and she had to squeeze past people as she tried to move in the direction the bouncer had indicated. It looked like an ordinary nightclub, but as she walked in, she realized it was quite spacious inside. The entrance was crowded with people dancing and rubbing against each other. Suddenly, a young man pointed to a door that was closed with a burgundy curtain.
"This way, pretty," he said as he looked at Lily and winked. At this point, she was starting to regret her decision. Would she be able to get out of here alive?
She opened the curtain and was instantly met with a calmer atmosphere. There were some poles and a small stage next to a small but fancy-looking bar. There were fewer people here. It was like a special room for richer people, maybe, she thought. Her attention was quickly drawn to a group of scary-looking men and a woman, who appeared older than the rest, sitting in a corner. She felt like disappearing from the world, but she slowly approached them. The tall, bald man eyed her up with a smile and commented, "She looks very young." The group appeared amused, but the woman's expression remained serious.