Chapter 172 - 172

"This is a secret whore house near the business district." Ian explained as he lifted a photo for her to see. "A lot of people who you know or worked for your family in the past actually frequent this place."

"You are sick!" Manuel's sister hissed as she glared at Ian.

Ian laughed and shook his head.

"You call me sick when your mother was willing to sell you to a man for his sexual pleasure just so that she could be free." Ian pointed out. "Do you know how messed up that is?"

"Shut up!" She shouted.

"Wow, you're suddenly brave." Camilla said as she looked at the younger woman. "And stupid." She added in a disgusted tone.

"It's not just your mother that's messed up but your whole family." Ian pointed out as he got up once more and walked over to her.

"I think she's mentally unstable." Seth said as he observed the woman.

"Will this affect our plans in any way?" Ian asked, not happy at the news his friend was giving him.

"No, it shouldn't. Her mental state doesn't matter. Although she might end up hurting the people she will be working for." Seth said as he continued to observe Manuel's sister.

"I really don't care about them." Ian replied as he waved off Seth's warning. 

Most of the people on the list where Manuel's sister was set to work were people that also looked down and threw some punches at Ian's family both literally and figuratively.

He wouldn't mind her attacking them due to her mental instability and he had no plans of going out of his way to help her or them. To him this would be the perfect revenge. 

Hitting two birds with one stone, saving him time, effort, and resources to go after them.

"Where were we?" Ian asked as he looked back at Manuel's sister.

Ian was now standing directly in front of her, looking down at the woman as she balled her hands into fists, grabbing the hem of her now soiled dress. 

She had been eating, sleeping, and relieving herself in the same clothes that she was wearing when they came in. 

"You disgust me." Ian told her as he slapped her across the cheek. 

The force was so strong that she was thrown down, her face hitting the couch as she tried to get back up.

"You truly are your mother's daughter." Ian said as he turned and walked back to his seat.

He picked up the final document which held a list of families where she would be working. Ian couldn't help but smile at the list of names on the list. He knew that these were her friends, people who her family tried to impress as well.

"I wonder if I should tell you about where you are going or if I should just watch as your life crumbles away?" Ian asked to no one in particular as he turned back around and considered the list.

Manuel's sister remained silent, afraid of offending Ian again. She knew that speaking would ruin her chances at having at least a respectable way of paying back their debts.

Of all the options Ian was well aware of what she disliked the most, and even if he didn't want to seem like a spiteful person, Ian was tempted to send her there. He wanted her and the rest of the Juan family to understand his message clearly.

They messed with the wrong people in the past and now it has returned to haunt them ten times over.

"I think it will be quite entertaining for you to find out who you will be serving when you get there." Ian finally decided with a grin. "But I will give you an idea of who we will be sending you to." 

Ian watched as she began to shake, visibly afraid of the clue Ian was about to give.

He was sure that she had an guess as to where she would be sent, but of course that was still quite different from hearing it from Ian himself.

There were very few places that a vengeful person would send you, so she knew that Ian would send her to one of those.

But in the end this fate was still better than any of the others. At least with this one she wouldn't have to spread her legs for men and women the she might or might not know

"Just like the other punishments, this one is much more than it seems." Ian began to say. "If I were you I would think hard and well about who among your friends, clients, classmates, and co-workers had indentured servants. You'll be sent to people and places that are just too familiar to you."

"No, please, no." She begged as she started to cry again

"It's the fate you chose. We didn't choose it for you." Ian said with a shrug.

"Take her back to her cell. She will make the statement tomorrow morning and in a few days she will be sent to the first family she will need to serve." Seth ordered.

The guards were quick to act on Seth's commands, they quickly detained her and dragged her out of the room.

She was clearly unhappy with Ian's decision as she had to made silent as she screamed profanities at people in the room.

When the door finally shut behind the guards, Ian and his friends were finally able to relax. The act was over.

"So their anger with you goes further than just you punching her brother?" Camilla asked.

"Apparently there is a past with my mother. I'll talk to them about it when I visit home this weekend." Ian said with a nod. "I owe all of them an apology and explanation after what happened last weekend."

"You aren't to blame, Ian." Seth told his friend. "I'm sure the emotions you felt were just too much and Camilla and I didn't help. We just nagged you."

"I appreciated it." Ian said with a thankful nod. "You guys weren't wrong and because of what you said it helped me realize that I will not always be right. That my gut feel isn't always right."

"What are you saying?" Camilla asked.

"If it weren't for you guys talking to me, scolding me even before I heard hard truths, I would have had a harder time accepting them." Ian admitted. 

"That's right, when you came back from that party hosted by the Ortega family there was something you wanted to tell us." Seth said as he recalled the night before.

Ian nodded and took a deep breath.

He could feel the hesitation, the doubts, all of the fears coming forward as he prepared to explain.

Just the thought of what Josephine had said already pained him, how much more would it hurt when he began to investigate.

"Ian?" Camilla asked.

"I'm fine." He said as he let out a breath he had been holding.

"Josephine told me that I shouldn't trust what Jas and her family told me long ago." Ian told his friends. "It seems that she had been lying that those relationships were just so that her family could build partnerships."

"So they were serious?" Camilla asked.

"I'm not sure." Ian frowned as he looked at his friend and shook his head. "The only way I can find out the truth is if Jas tells me and comes clean." Ian explained.

"You'll need to confront her." Camilla realized as she thought of Ian's situation. 

"I do, but I'm not sure if I'm ready." Ian told Camilla. "My relationship with her was just about to start healing and yet here we are now, being torn apart again. I don't want to doubt her anymore but she keeps giving me reason to."

"You do know that the longer you sit on this, the worse it will get." Seth pointed out.

"Of course I know that." Ian said with a sigh. 

"So are you ready for Friday?" Seth asked as he changed the topic. "Your lives will be completely different on that day."

"I don't think anything can prepare us for it." Camilla said with a chuckle, lightening the mood.

"I'm pretty sure people will start to look at us differently and the expectations will be high." Ian told his friends as he thought of how their lives would change starting that day.

"Add to that the fact that we won't even know who we can trust anymore. Everyone will want to either hate us or be our friend and use us." Camilla told Ian and Seth her worry.

"You two will always have me." Seth said with a wink as he gave them a kind smile. "I understand how you feel. The same thing happened to me when my dad revealed to everyone who I actually was."

"How did you end up trusting people again? I can't help but worry that everyone that approaches me has an ulterior motive and I'm afraid of that." Camilla confessed. 

"It took me a while. In the Mafia, trusting the wrong people could mean death, so I had to learn how to figure out what people's ambitions are. I'll admit to both of you, it wasn't in any way easy." Seth explained. "Until now, I don't trust people like I used to. Don't worry Camilla, I'm sure you and Ian will both do well."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Ian said with a grin.. He was glad that he now had friends like Seth and Camilla, it truly felt like life was changing for the better.