Chapter 2 Audrey's POV

I remember the night everything changed. The night my whole world fell apart. It was exactly a year ago, just an ordinary evening. I had been out with some of my friends, walking back home late in the night. The streets were quiet, but I had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. I was naive and unaware of the dangers lurking in the shadow.   When I stepped inside our house, my whole world shattered. There was blood everywhere. My parents lay on the floor, their bodies broken and tore apart. My father was barely conscious, his breathing shallow.   While my mother clung to her life, struggling to speak. I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. My mind was unable to process the horror in front of me. "Mom , Dad...." my voice trembled.   Tears blurring my vision as I watched to the side. "Go," my mother urged, her voice weak, but filled with urgency. "Take your sister and run."   My little sister, who was just little, stood in the corner crying, too young to understand what was happening. But I couldn't leave without answers. Kneeling beside my mother, I tried to make sense of it all.   "Who did this?." I asked my voice barely a whisper. As I held my hands, desperate for some explanation.   Her grip was weak, but she managed to tell me. "It was the Mafia man,..... Audrey. He had a scar on his face......he came for the blue diamond...... our family's secret and heirloom.... Your father tried to stop him, but.....it's gone.. he took it away!."   A mafia man. I had seen him. The scarred face I'd never forget. I'd caught a glimpse of him as I reached our house that night. He had been leaving, his dark figure disappearing into the shadow. But that scar was unmistakable. It has haunted my dreams ever since.   The red diamond. I had heard whispers about it from my parents before. But I never knew it was something so important. Something dangerous enough to get them killed.   My mother's hands trembling in mine, her breath growing weaker by the second. "You have to go, Audrey," she whispered. "Take your sister. Leave. And be careful."   There were tears streaming down my face. I wanted to scream, to fight back. But there was nothing I could do. My father was already gone, and now my mother was slipping away.   Her last words echoed in my mind as her eyes closed and her hands fell limp in mine. "I'll make them pay." I promised my voice, shaking with anger and grief.   "I'll find him." I grabbed my sister and ran. We didn't stop until we were far from that nightmare.   But I never stopped thinking about the man with the scar. That man. The man who had taken everything from me for a year. I had been searching for him, piecing together whatever I could about the mafia that killed my parents. I didn't know his name yet, but I knew that one day I could find him.   But now, a year later, I have another problem. My sister was sick. Deadly sick. The doctor said she needed surgery, something that would cost 40 million. Where was I supposed to get that kind of money? I had sold everything, taken all jobs, and begged for help. But it wasn't enough. Fear consumed me every day. I couldn't lose her, either. She was all I had left.   One evening, as I sat in our tiny apartment, my friend Sofia came over, offering me a solution - though it was one I never thought I'd ever consider.   "There is a way, Audrey."  She said quietly. Sitting beside me. "It's not easy, but it's fast."   "What do you mean?." I asked, my voice hollow.   And Sofia began, her face shallow "There is a club," she explained. "A mask club, Men go there. Rich, powerful men. Billionaires, mafia, men who don't care about anything except getting what they want. If you entertain one of them, they'll pay you a fortune, enough to cover your sister's surgery."   The thoughts of it only made me sick to my stomach. "You mean I'd have to sleep with them?." I couldn't believe I was even having this conversation.   Sophia nodded. "Yes, but Audrey, these men will pay millions for one night. I know it's not what you want to do, but your sister needs it. What other option do you have?."   I stared at her, my mind reasoned. The idea horrified me. I had never even been with a man. I was still a virgin. How could I really do this? Could I sell my body to save my sister's life?.   " I can't," I whispered, shaking my head. "I can't do it........I'm not......... I can't."   Sophia sighed, looking at me with empathy. "I know it's hard, but think about your sister. You've done everything you could do to protect her, Audrey. This might be your only chance."   My heart pounded in my chest as I thought about it. The memory of the scarred face man flashed in my mind.   What if the men at the club were connected to the mafias? What if he was there? I had been searching for him for a year, and this could be the way to finally get to him, to make him pay for what he did to my parents.   But could I really go through it? I stood up, pacing the room. My thoughts were immense, my emotions were all over the place. On one hand, I was desperate. My sister needed that surgery. But on the other hand, I felt sick as a sort of cell in my body, of giving away something I had kept pure for so long. The streets outside were dark, the city alive with usual chaos. I looked out the window, my reflection staring back at me, hollow and lost. What was I supposed to do now? Could I really go through with it?