"Susannah, this is how the big leagues work."
"Broke little nobodies are supposed to sit there and take it. Who told you to play hero?"
"You're a punk from a roller rink who can't scrape together five grand, and you think you can go toe-to-toe with our corporation?"
Mila was behind me, shaking from head to toe.
She tore free of my grip and dropped to her knees in front of Lucas Perry with a hard thud.
"Mr. Perry… please… let Suse go…"
She slammed her forehead against the floor, over and over, each impact loud enough to hear.
"I signed the agreement myself, it has nothing to do with her… I'll go, I'll go entertain the clients… just please don't go after her…"
Her forehead was scraped raw from pressing it against the floor, a bright red mark spreading across the skin.
Watching her kneel there, begging those animals, made my eyes burn.
I grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet, then backhanded her across the face.
She froze.
"Mila Pruitt, you stand the hell up straight."
"You kneel to these animals one more time and we're done. I mean it."
She bit her lip. Tears rolled down in long, unbroken strings.
Footsteps flooded the corridor, dense and closing fast.
Combat boots thudded against the carpet.