The blonde sitting over there at the desk - that's Vanessa.
She looks fabulous for her thirty-two years. Hourglass figure, curves in all the right places. Well turned out in her heeled ankle boots and tight black pants. There's something about her that tells you she's in charge here. Perhaps it's the way she wears her hair: Tied back as it is in that immaculate, high-knot pony-tail.
This is her office. She runs things here. She's got over fifty girls on her books, most of them eastern-European and Russian. They probably expected to get chambermaid or waitress work. Perhaps they still think they might, one day.
Right now though, they work for Vanessa. They're her girls. Her whores.
Vanessa's supplier, Stenson, is the shabbily dressed, unshaven guy sitting opposite her across the desk.
"Well," Stenson raises his brow expectantly. "What do you think?"
"Very nice," Vanessa nods. "She's pretty."
They're looking at Francesca.
Francesca is indeed pretty. And young. Too young to be here. Cropped blondish hair. Hazel-brown, blinking eyes. She's shivering. Frightened? Looks tired. Distraught. It's been a long trip.
"Do you speak English, Francesca?" Vanessa asks.
"Yes, a little."
"You understand where you are and what is happening, don't you?"
Was that a sob? Is Francesca crying?
"You're to work for me until you've paid off your transport, fees and documentation costs. You understand that, don't you?"
Francesca nods. Definitely trying to hold back tears.
"Good girl."
Vanessa likes calling them "girls". Her girls. It makes her feel important. Powerful. Sexy.
"Take off your clothes, Francesca. I want to look at you."
Francesca doesn't look up. She understands. She knows why she's here. It's only until she can pay them for bringing her here. She had to come, didn't she? To find a better life. To try to be someone. Don't look. Just undress. Easy.
"Come on, girl."
Francesca crosses one arm over the other, pulls her frock up over her head, sets it to one side, and stands before them in her underwear.
"Everything. Hurry up."
Francesca unclips her bra and reveals to them her medium breasts with their thick light-brown nipples. She slides her panties down her legs and steps out of them. She's in good shape. The nub of her clitoris is visible. Did she shave her pussy because she knew she would end up here?
"Beautiful," Vanessa sighs.
Francesca doesn't look up.
"Turn around."
Francesca turns obediently. Tight little bottom. She's going to be popular. Stenson will want extra for her.
"She's young. How old are you, Francesca?"
"Eighteen."
"Eighteen?"
Francesca nods. She might be eighteen. She might not be. She definitely looks young. Too young. She should at home with her family in her village in Romania. This is no place for a girl her age.
"She's not a virgin is she?" Can't afford a virgin.
Stenson shakes his head. He knows she's not a virgin. He knows that because he raped her twice on the way here. And Gatsby had a go too. Definitely not a virgin.
"Bend over, girl."
Can't see Francesca's face, but she can't be enjoying this. Displaying her pussy-lips to them from behind. But that's why she's here, isn't it? That's her ware. It's what Vanessa is buying.
Vanessa gets up, struts confidently over to Francesca's rear, places a palm on one of the girl's bare buttocks, and gives it a good feel. Firm. Tender.
"I like her," Vanessa makes up her mind. "But I want her cheap."
"Three thousand," Stenson says. "For this quality, that is cheap."
Good. Not unaffordable.
"I'm going to have to train her up," Vanessa shakes her head. "I'll give you two thousand for her."
Francesca still bent over before them. So this is what it feels like to be sold into sexual slavery. To be sold to an English woman. For a couple of thousand pounds. More money than can be imagined back in her village. So cold. So naked. So exposed. Have they finished looking at her pussy? Can she straighten up? Can she put her clothes back on?
"Two-and-a-half. Agreed." Vanessa shakes Stenson's outstretched hand.
"A pleasure doing business with you, as always," Stenson beams at her. Another deal done. Another whore sold. Easy money. And he'll be back. With another girl. Around the end of the month. Una Latina de Bolivia, perhaps, next time. Adios. He doesn't even glance at Francesca as he exits Vanessa's office, whistling.
Vanessa sits back at her desk and taps her keyboard. The minutes go by. Francesca shivers. Her pussy still on show from the rear. This is humiliating. Cruel. Absurd. Can she straighten up now?
"Don't move girl."
Why isn't she allowed to move? Was this how prostitutes were supposed to behave? She hadn't imagined it would be anything like this. Were all the girls that come here treated like this? Are they all raped by their traffickers? Are they all inspected and sold like meat?
"Listen, girl. If you behave yourself and do what you're told, we'll get along."
Vanessa has said the same thing to more than one hundred girls. It comes effortlessly to her now, but it wasn't always this easy. She used to feel the guilt and the shame. She used to want to stop and get out and not be involved. But over time she's learned to be at peace with herself. She knows what she's doing isn't right. She knows she's as much to blame for forcing these girls into prostitution as anyone. But she also knows that if she didn't do it, then they would only be sold to someone else, and that that could be a thousand times worse. No. At least if they were with her, she could make it tolerable for them. Her girls are the lucky ones. She knows they are lucky because she has seen what goes on elsewhere. She has seen girls beaten to within inches of their lives. She's seen them branded. She's seen them dog-fested.
No, Vanessa doesn't treat her girls like that. She's helping them. Sure, she can be cruel. But it's cruel-to-be-kind. That's fair, isn't it? Don't the girls almost always end up thanking her, despite themselves?
"You may turn and face me."
Francesca straightens up, relieved. As she turns she catches Vanessa's gaze. She looks down hurriedly, unsure of herself. And ashamed. She knew it would be like this, didn't she? But she still came anyway, didn't she?
"I'm tough, but fair. I know how hard it is for you girls coming over here. I want to help you, but I can only help you if you help me. We'll work out a plan to get your debt paid off. I won't cheat or mislead you. Just work hard for me and obey me. If you can manage that, your stay here will pass smoothly, painlessly and quickly. Do you understand, girl?"
Francesca sniffs and nods. She understands. She doesn't have any choice but to understand. Maybe they really will help her. Maybe.
"Do you know how to curtsey, girl?"
Francesca nibbles her lower lip.
"Where you'll be working, you need to learn to curtsey. Curtsey for me now, girl."
A small, shy curtsey. That will do. For now.
"Every time you speak to me, you will curtsey first – and that includes nodding to say yes. Understood?"
Francesca nods. Then curtsies.
Wrong way round. But that will do too. For now.
"Since I have just bought you, I am now your owner. You will address me as 'mistress'."
Francesca stares at the floor. Owned? She belongs to someone else?
"As far as I am concerned, you are my slave. My property. You will remain my property until you worked enough to buy yourself back from me."
How does Francesca feel, now that she knows she is someone else's property? A possession. A thing. A nothing.
"Please..." Francesca starts.
"What is it?"
"The man..." She manages between sobs. "He forced me..."
"I'm not interested," Vanessa shrugs. "If you were raped, it was because you deserved it."
That's harsh, she knows. But it's the only way. She's gone the sympathetic route in the past and it's ended up getting messy. Experience has taught her that the only way these girls will survive their ordeal with their psyche intact is never to pander to their doubts and uncertainties, however understandable they might be. Better instead to make them see from the outset that they cannot control it. If they realise they cannot control it, then they won't feel responsible for it. If they are not responsible for it, then they can endure it.