Jacob sat in a comfy black leather chair, with his legs crossed and a cup filled with water in his hand. He was not drinking the water, instead, he was just moving the cup around in a circular motion. His blue eyes watched as the water went around, going up the side of the cup almost spilling over the edge.
"These documents are real, I cannot find a fault with them. So, let us cut to the chase then lord. How much do you want for them?"
Across from Jacob was a middle-aged woman with reddish-orange hair that stopped at her shoulders. She had wrinkles on her face, and on the left side of her neck was a small scar.
Unlike Jacob who sat in a comfy black leather chair, she sat in a large wooden chair that was shaped like a heart. In front of her was a desk that seemed to shine, and on it were piles of papers.
As for the documents she was talking about, those were the ones Jacob managed to acquire from Ash's desk.
He stopped the motion of his hand as he placed the cup down on the small table next to him.
"They are not for sale."
His voice was cold, not something the woman would expect from such a young child.
"Do you know why nobles do not own these sorts of businesses? I assume you do, so why do you insist on keeping them? You have to know the harm it could do you, and the meager amount of profit you would get is not worth it."
She tried to convince him, but Jacob looked up at her in silence.
"That is none of your concern. Bring me them, all of them."
The way he let 'all' linger in the air caused the woman to feel her heart tighten up a bit.
However, she quickly moved as she snapped her fingers loudly twice.
The dual doors opened up as a rough-looking man appeared. He did a light bow before he stood tall with his hands behind his back.
"Go bring the lord all of these girls. Make sure not one is missing."
Sliding the documents over the desk, the rough-looking man stepped forward. His eyes gazed at the paper as he read the information on it.
"At once."
Before he turned to leave, his eyes met with his madam's. They seemed to exchange words with each other without even speaking.
"Wait."
Jacob put his hand up signaling the man to stop.
"Leave the documents. I'm sure you can find the girls without those."
He turned to look at his madam, and she only gave a nod with her head. Seeing that she consented, he placed the documents on the table and left the room.
The two people left in the room were both silent. Jacob was waiting patiently, while the madam took out a cigar from her cigar case.
Soon the dual doors opened once more, and fifteen girls came in.
They varied in age, some only a bit taller than Jacob, and looked no more than fifteen, others could be as old as his mother. Most had pretty faces, but that could just be due to them wearing fancy clothing that gave them more charm.
The only thing that was similar was the look on their faces. They looked afraid as they stood still inside the madam's office.
The office was large, and even with the fifteen girls here there was still enough room to fit more people without it feeling packed.
Smiling, the madam looked at the girls.
"Girls, this here is your new owner."
Her words were clear and shocked the women.
All of them looked at Jacob, he was just a young boy. Could it be that the madam was playing a trick on them? No, that was not the case. She never toyed with them.
Once they understood, each of the women bowed their heads towards Jacob.
"Pleasure to meet you, master."
They spoke in unison.
Jacob lowered his eyes.
"Lord."
Each of them looked confused by what Jacob said.
"That is lord to you, not master."
Jacob told them in a cold tone before he looked at the madam.
"Give me a minute, would you?"
Inside her head, she seemed to be thinking of something and grinned. Of course, he would want to try out his new merchandise. She left the room to give him some privacy.
Even though it was her office, she could not offend him. Besides, it was not the first time a sexual act took place there.
"Enjoy your time, lord."
Her voice was low and only Jacob seemed to hear it as she passed by him.
Once the doors were closed and he was alone with the fifteen of them, he looked them over.
Down the line, he checked their health to see if he could spot any noticeable bruises or disease. There was none, each of them was properly cared for.
"Tell me, do you like it here?"
He asked them as he sat back down in his chair.
They hesitated to speak, but one of the older women took this chance to speak up.
"Life is good, we are fed, have a roof over our head, and even earn some money, lord."
The way she spoke was very polite, not even caring that she was talking to a young child.
She might not be the smartest tool in the shed, but she still had a few wits about her. From what she saw so far she could tell that this young boy had some status to his name and was not merely some thug.
He was different than Ash.
"That is not what I asked you. I just want to know if you like it here, not how you are living. Do you enjoy being a whore?"
None of the women knew how to answer that question. Not many people asked them that, and the ones that did were usually clients who seemed to care about them.
The way they would answer their clients was no so that they could get some compassion from them and maybe earn a few extra coin on the side. However, was that really true? For most of them, they've been doing this for a few years now and it is all they knew how to do.
Wake up, wash up, and prepare to serve. It was easy and all they needed to do was endure for a few hours, some less than an hour. It varied depending on how popular a girl was.
At first, they all thought about escaping but soon became a broken dream. They were beaten, or forced to starve and realized that there was no escape. This was their life now.
They were doing this to survive, but did they start to enjoy it? None of them could answer, because none of them knew if this was true or not.
Jacob did not bother after no one replied to him for two minutes.
He picked up the documents and showed the girls before he plopped them down on the table.
"I own you, but I will give you the chance to be free. You just need to do one thing for me, and you can be back in control of your own lives."
Jacob's words brought hope to emerge within the younger girls' eyes. They did not work here for long so they still could see some light ahead. However, for the older ones who sold themselves for years, they wondered what this meant.
No one cared about a couple whores, and nothing was free. Whatever Jacob was asking of them might cause them to lose their lives.
"Whether you come back here to continue your work, or go down a different path. The choice is yours to make, and only yours."
"Lord, if I may ask. What is it you want us to do?