The man led her through a maze of narrow, concrete hallways to a small, cluttered office in the basement.
A woman sat behind a metal desk, aggressively typing on a laptop. She looked to be in her late forties, wearing a sharp blazer and a no-nonsense expression.
"Alicia, someone for the cleaning gig," the man said, turning and leaving immediately.
Alicia Rowe stopped typing. She looked up, her sharp eyes scanning Dorothea from the messy hair down to the scuffed prison-issue shoes.
"Name?" Alicia asked, her tone clipped.
"Dottie," Dorothea said, using the nickname. She didn't dare say Fowler.
Alicia's pen hovered over a notepad. "You sound like you swallow glass for breakfast. You sick?"
"No. Vocal cord damage," Dorothea rasped.
Alicia didn't blink. "Criminal record?"
Dorothea's chest tightened. She squeezed her hands into fists at her sides. If she lied, they would find out eventually.
"Yes," Dorothea said, her voice steady. "Felony."
Alicia leaned back in her chair. She looked surprised. Usually, the drifters lied until they were caught.
"Why are you here, Dottie?" Alicia asked, crossing her arms. "This isn't a halfway house. It's a high-end club. We cater to billionaires and politicians."
Dorothea looked her straight in the eye. "I need money. I need a bed. I have no degree, no references, and I've been out of society for three years. I have nothing but my hands and a strong back."
She paused, a bitter, self-deprecating smile touching her cracked lips. "It's better than selling my body on the street, isn't it?"
Alicia stared at her in silence. The ticking of the wall clock sounded incredibly loud.
Alicia had hired hundreds of desperate people. But she had never seen someone wear their desperation with such terrifying, unapologetic honesty. There was a raw, unbreakable grit in this skinny woman's eyes.
Alicia opened her desk drawer and pulled out a single sheet of paper. She slid it across the desk.
"Fill this out," Alicia said. "You're on a one-week trial. You get a bed in the basement staff dorm and one hot meal a shift. But I hold half your pay until you pass the trial. If you steal so much as a napkin, or if you bring any drama to my club, you're out on your ass."
Dorothea's hands shook as she took the paper. The physical relief was so intense her knees felt weak.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Don't thank me. Prove it," Alicia said, looking back at her laptop.
Dorothea filled out the basic information. When she reached the line for Emergency Contact, she stared at it for a long time. She left it blank.
Alicia noticed the blank space when she took the paper back, but she didn't comment. She pressed a button on her phone. "Alex, get down here and show the new girl to the dorms."
A young guy in a staff polo walked in. He took one look at Dorothea's ragged clothes and sneered, but he nodded at Alicia.
Dorothea followed him down another dark hallway. He pushed open a door to a cramped, windowless room containing two sets of metal bunk beds. The air was stale and smelled like cheap perfume and sweat.
Three other women were in the room. They stopped talking and glared at Dorothea with open hostility.
Dorothea ignored them. She walked to the only empty bed-a bottom bunk with a thin, lumpy mattress. She set her plastic bag down.
She sat on the edge of the bed. The springs dug into her thighs. It was uncomfortable, ugly, and hostile.
But it wasn't a prison cell. She had a job. She was alive.
