The clouds began to cover Metropolis's sky, the rumbling sound of thunder coming from afar. Roy Hawkins, Steven Mandragora's right-hand man and the one runner of Mandragora's operations in this city, was standing in front of the glass wall, watching the sky with a drink in hand when he heard the door open. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
"Miss Jones, I'm happy to see that you're improving, it only took you about forty-five minutes to get here after receiving the message," Roy spoke.
Skylar bit her tongue to avoid talking back.
She was never one to hide her opinions but it was her mouth and stubbornness that led her there in the first place and she did not need more trouble. She rubbed the latest bruise on her arm as she tried to crack a smile.
"Of course Mr. Hawkins, I'm sorry it even took this long, I was in the other part of the city," she responded as politely as she could, despite the growing urge to swear at him.
Roy turned around. "Would you like a drink?" he asked, gesturing his glass.
Skylar shook her head. " No sir, thank you," she declined. After all, who knew what he'd put in there. Besides, she'd never accept anything from him.
He nodded. "Very well, now we can talk about why I asked you here in the first place," he said taking a seat and gesturing for her to do the same.
"As you guess, to avoid legal trouble Mr. Mandragora has some companies under his name. They're there to make sure his 'work' doesn't become suspicious. Do you know how this works Miss Jones?"
Skylar watched enough movies and TV shows to know what was up.
"I believe they are called shell companies?" she clarified.
Roy nodded. "Exactly, and to keep up the facade, we often make business deals with legit companies, where we don't really need to do work but invest in the other company a bit, keeping the public eye satisfied," he explained.
She frowned. Why was he telling her this?
"Now, the part where you come in. I'm sure you've heard of Wayne Enterprises, correct?"
Skylar furrowed her brows. " Of course I have."
"They're considering expanding their business to Metropolis for some unknown reason and are looking for partner companies for that. They're specifically interested in working with us and if we were to take the deal, our 'shell company' would be safe for at least the next five years, so it is imperial we get this deal, do you understand?"
Skylar nodded. "I understand the importance but what do I need to do?"
Roy laid back on his chair and a twisted smirk appeared on his lips. "You're aware that Bruce Wayne, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises' whole reputation is based on being a billionaire playboy, aren't you Miss Jones?"
She didn't speak, waiting for him to finish, hoping it wouldn't lead where she thought it was.
"You are a fine young lady, enough to charm Mr. Wayne for the night and make sure he chooses us for the deal," he finished, taking a sip from his drink and eyeing Skylar.
She was shocked—definitely uncomfortable, to say the least. The jobs she usually did for them were simple; be the scout and, if necessary, the distraction during their illegal operations.
But this—this was a whole other level.
"Are you aware of what you're asking of me?" she blurted out, her forced politeness jumping out the window. "You never mentioned I'd be doing something like this when you caught me, this is outrageous—!"
"—Enough!" Roy interrupted sharply, face twisted unflatteringly. "You owe us two hundred fifty-thousand for the incident, and if my calculations are correct, you are in no way near closing your debt. If you refuse, I'm not afraid to go after your lovely parents, as you know. You do not get to choose the work you're given Miss Jones. You do what I say—unless you think you can come up with that much money overnight?" he spat.
Skylar's heart raced with the mention of her parents and their safety, and it was all because of her stupidness. He was right, she needed to pay off her debt—or her parents would, with their lives.
He composed himself. "I'm sure you can't, so you do as I say, understand?"
Skylar nodded in defeat.
"Great!" he approved and got up.
"I would prefer not to see that lovely body of yours hurt again Miss Jones, as you see it could be used in our interest in...multiple ways," he smirked, looking down her body lecherously.
Skylar was wearing normal clothes, nothing revealing but as the horrible man looked at him like that, she felt naked and embarrassed.
"Mr. Wayne is throwing a little gathering tonight with all of the possible companies, I expect you to be there on your best behavior, the details will be sent to you. I'll send a car to fetch you," he said.
Skylar nodded, unable to say anything and walking out of the room.
Skylar came home, a little apartment she was sharing with a few other girls close to the campus, mentally exhausted. Her housemates were sitting in the living room, watching TV.
"—And Superman saves the day again," the female reporter said as Ashley, one of the girls, lowered the volume.
"Hey S! How was your day?" she asked cheerfully.
Skylar got the apartment four months ago, a little after she started working for Mandragora, to save more money to pay off her debt. Since they had her work almost all the time, and if she refused the repercussions would be too heavy for her, she usually had to stay in bed for a couple of days. In short, she never really had time to get close to the girls.
"Fine, I'm tired," she replied.
"Yeah, you could say that by just looking at you," Crystal, the other girl said.
Skylar shrugged. " Yeah, I'm gonna go take a nap then get ready. My boss wants me working again tonight," she mumbled.
"What?" Ashley let out. " This is the fourth time this week, does he know you're human?" she ranted.
"Yeah, he needs to respect you and give you some time off, this is too much," Crystal added.
Skylar sighed. "Yeah, I wish, but this is the only decent paying job I could find, anyway, I'm off," she said before she walked to her room.
She took off her clothes and threw herself to her bed, getting lost in her thoughts and mentally digesting what she had to do tonight. Eventually, she managed to fall asleep.
Two hours later she woke up. There was a text from Roy saying a car would take her from her apartment in a bit more than an hour. She quickly got out of the bed, rushing to the shower to clean her body.
After showering, Skylar stood in front of her dresser, trying to pick up an appropriate dress for the night. She didn't want it to be too revealing to avoid any looks from Roy and others like him, but it couldn't be too un-revealing so Mr.Wayne wouldn't lose interest.
Finally choosing a dress and doing her makeup, she took a deep breath. With every second she was getting closer to doing something she'd never forgive herself for.
But whether she'd do it or not, she knew she'd never forgive herself because no matter what she did, something awful would happen.
Being a worthless play toy to a famous playboy for a night? It was like the worst thing possible for her dignity.
Twenty minutes was left when her stomach growled.
"Great," she muttered to herself and walked to her kitchen. There, she found a note from her friends saying they went out for dinner. That was a relief because her outfit would be hard to explain without giving all the details.
Skylar quickly made herself a bowl of cornflakes and ate it. By the time she was done her time was almost up so she grabbed her coat, purse and went out.
She quickly spotted the black car waiting outside of her apartment. It had started to rain slightly and a guy was waiting by the door with an umbrella on his hand. The guy recognized her and walked toward her, putting the umbrella above her to avoid ruining her outfit.
It took about a good thirty minutes with the rain and the traffic for them to get to the city center.
"The thirtieth-floor miss," the driver directed.
Skylar gulped as she nodded and opened the door. The doorman rushed to her side, opening another umbrella to keep her dry.
With every step she took toward the elevator, the wait, silently counting the floors didn't help her anxiety. When she stepped off the elevator she was welcomed by a big room, with about sixty people, drinks in their hands chatting. One of the men, standing at the entrance of the elevator grabbed her arm.
"Mr. Hawkins is expecting you," he said and started walking.
Roy Hawkins was standing with two of his men, talking with them.
"Ah, Miss Jones, just in time!" he said when the men left Skylar there and left. "And may I say what an exquisite dress! You look ravishing," he murmured with one of his disgusting smirks again.
From Skylar's point, she didn't stand out from the rest of the women there, if anything she was worse than them. It only took a quick glance but she could already list at least five more women looking better than her.
That only made her question whether she'd be able to comply with her task and the fear of failure—mostly what would follow it. She gulped as Roy extended his arm and once she complied, they started walking.
"Don't forget what we talked about. I'd hate for things to go wrong," he murmured as they made their way to three men standing and drinking together. Skylar nodded.
"Mr. Wayne, so good to have you here in Metropolis! Welcome, I'm Roy Hawkins," he said cheerfully, pulling out his fake nice personality. The ever so charming Bruce Wayne turned to them as the other two men walked away with frowns.
"Thank you, I must say I'm excited to discover the potential of this city," Bruce said with one his signature smiles as his eyes drifted to Skylar in curiosity.
She forced herself to smile. "Delighted to meet you Mr. Wayne, I'm Marie Jones," she said.
Skylar usually never used her middle name but she thought if she introduced herself as 'Marie' she could pretend to be someone else for the night and maybe, just maybe, it would help her get through the night.
Bruce took her hand and kissed it softly. His lips were warm and they twirled up when Skylar flushed from the action. " Nice to meet you, Marie," he said flirtatiously, emphasizing her name.
"I hope you can get to see everything we have to offer you if you do choose us Mr.Wayne," Roy said.
Bruce smiled. " Yes, Mr.Hawkins, I can certainly see it," he started, "If you don't mind, we can talk about the arrangements tomorrow at ten? Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the evening," he finished.
Roy immediately smiled. " Of course, Mr. Wayne, we'd be delighted to have you over. I'll let you two get acquainted, for now, see you tomorrow," he said and left the two together.
Bruce turned to Skylar.
"What do you say, Miss Jones, should we dance?" he asked her.
What choice did she even have?
She smiled. " Of course Mr. Wayne," she said.
Within minutes they were at the center of the room, slow dancing to the song, along with a few other couples.
"Tell me, do you think making the deal with Mr.Hawkins is a good idea?" he asked her.
Skylar was taken aback by his question. She didn't exactly expect him to ask her questions and actually converse with her.
"Uhm, I would say it's a very wise choice, Mr. Wayne, although I hardly think you should value my opinion on the matter," she responded.
Bruce furrowed his brows slightly, " Why do you think so?" he asked.
Skylar smiled. " You're the businessman, I don't have enough knowledge nor expertise on the field to advise you," she replied.
He tilted his head. " I could only assume that you work for Mr.Hawkins and as an employer, I'd just like to get advice from the point of an employee. I think you're qualified enough,"
Skylar bit her bottom lip. " Yes, I work for Mr.Hawkins. And I think you made the right choice," she replied quickly. She felt awkward enough and she couldn't help but picture where the night would take her.
A couple of minutes and a little small talk later Bruce excused himself to go make a phone call.
As he walked to the edge of the room, Roy appeared.
"What did you talk about?" he asked.
Skylar huffed. " A lot of small talk and he also asked me what I thought of him doing business with you."
Roy raised his brows, "And I expect you said something positive?"
Skylar rolled her eyes, did he even need to ask that at this point?
But what she did was taken as an act of disrespect from Roy and he grabbed Skylar's arm, specifically the part where her injury was.
"Right Miss Jones?" he gritted through his teeth.
She clenched her jaw to keep her hatred in and not to make a scene.
"Of course, sir," she let out.
Then Skylar spotted Bruce Wayne, looking over to them with a phone to his ear, watching them curiously.
"Good, keep it up," Roy whispered as he let go of her arm and Bruce rejoined them.
" You know, I have early meetings tomorrow at Gotham before I meet with you, I think I'll leave early if that's not a problem, Mr. Hawkins?" he said charismatically.
Roy nodded. "No worries, Mr. Wayne," he replied.
Bruce turned to Skylar. "Miss Jones, would you like to join me?" he asked.
Blood rushed to her cheeks, and all the logic within her screamed 'no', but under Roy's glares Skylar forced herself to smile and nod.
He took her arm gently and started walking, saying good night to the people who greeted him. Skylar focused her gaze to the floor to avoid looking at everyone, she could almost hear what everyone was thinking: Mr. Wayne's whore for tonight.
She tried to calm herself as they got inside the elevator by focusing on her breathing. They went up to the top floor, where the elevator opened up to the room. It was just as big as the one downstairs, but it was a hotel room. A very luxurious one.
"Would you like a drink to calm your nerves, Miss Jones?" Bruce asked as he made his way over to the table where various bottles and empty glasses stood.
"Yes please," Skylar immediately agreed. She definitely needed alcohol for the rest of the night. She wasn't drunk enough for this crap.
Bruce poured two glasses of wine then gestured for her to sit on one of the two separate sofas facing each other next to the big window.
He handed her the glass then sat, laying back comfortably.
"If it was what you're wondering, I will not sleep with you tonight Miss Jones," he commented nonchalantly.
Immediate shock appeared on her face. What the hell? she thought.
"I'd rather spend the night talking, wouldn't you agree?" he asked.
Skylar was able to nod, not trusting herself to speak.
"You can be honest, did they ask you to come specifically for you to spend the night with me?" he questioned.
Skylar took a big sip from her glass. " Yes," she said.
He nodded. " Against your wishes?" he followed up.
She didn't answer. Was it that obvious?
"Miss Jones, you see, for us to spend the night talking you have to answer me. I'm sure you wouldn't want me sending you back downstairs? I hardly think your boss would be pleased with that," he said.
"Please, don't do that," Skylar quickly let out.
Bruce faintly smiled.
"Yes, it was against my wishes, but can you blame me Mr.Wayne? Being used for men's benefits against all my choice is hardly pleasing to any woman, especially to someone with a reputation for being a playboy," she said, instantly regretting it. Her mouth got the best of her, again.
She expected him to get angry and send her down, but she was surprised to hear a chuckle instead.
"No need to be frightened, I did ask you to be honest. And, no, I can't blame you, Marie, I'm sure not having your freedom in matters like this must be frustrating," he softly said, drinking from his wine.
"W-Well, thank you for understanding, and, uhm, not forcing me," Skylar muttered, "I honestly didn't expect this."
Bruce faintly nodded. "And in return, you can start telling me why are you working for Mr. Hawkins in the first place, along with the scene I caught downstairs."
Skylar furrowed her brows, frowning. It wasn't like he actually cared, right? He would forget about her tomorrow, so why bother?
"Let's just say I owe Mr. Hawkins a lot of money and I'm working for him to pay off my debt," she told him, mind racing. "As for the 'scene' as you put it, I had tripped over my feet and he was just helping me," Skylar quickly lied.
Bruce took a sip from the glass. " I thought we agreed to be honest, Miss Jones."
Skylar bit her lip. " I am, I have no reason to lie to you Mr. Wayne," she insisted.
At that moment, his phone, which was left on the side of his seat, vibrated. He grabbed it and quickly read over what was sent.
"Then perhaps you can start by telling me why you introduced yourself as Marie Jones," he replied after a moment, looking up from his phone. "I'm a resourceful man and there's no record of a Marie Jones in Metropolis, but rather a Skylar Marie Jones," he said, turning the screen toward her, revealing her file, showing a picture from her license as well as a full history of her family and education—and she knew that there was likely more.
Skylar swallowed thickly. " I decided to use my middle name, which I don't normally prefer, to survive the night, as we have already established, this night wasn't something I wanted to do," she explained honestly.
Bruce nodded in understanding and put his phone away.
" How much money do you owe them?" he demanded.
Skylar frowned, she was caught between telling him the truth and telling him to shove his curious nose away and out of her business.
"Two hundred fifty thousand," she replied after a moment of hesitance.
He nodded. "And if you were to give this money to them, you would be free of them, correct?" he asked.
Skylar nodded, somewhat confused. "Evidently."
Bruce took out his checkbook and a pen, quickly scribbled something down and then ripped the page.
"What would you say if I were to give you a check for that exact amount, right now?" he asked.
Skylar downed the glass. What was he playing at?
"I would ask you why the fucking hell you would do that, especially for me, someone you don't even know," she muttered.
Bruce just shrugged. " You remind me of a friend I have, strong-willed with a sharp tongue, and just as her, I would hate to see any women being in difficult situations such as yours. It would also affect my conscience if I did nothing when I so easily can," he explained.
She scoffed and laughed mockingly. "What, Mr. Wayne, are you insinuating that for an amount of money I'll sleep with you? A girl who is oh so grateful to you for helping her pay off her debt that she'd do anything to please you?" she shot back.
This time Bruce Wayne seemed aback by her sudden burst. "Skylar," he started but quickly coughed and corrected himself when she gave him a glare. "Miss Jones, I had no such intentions, truthfully," he said.
Skylar scoffed again. "Yeah, sure. Then why else Mr.Wayne?" she asked skeptically.
Bruce tilted his head. " As you are not giving me the details of your employment, I'll not share my reasoning. The money is yours if you want it," he stated.
Skylar didn't respond. Instead, she turned her head and started watching the view.
"How about this? I'll give you some time to think about it, you can think through it and also see I have no ulterior plans for you or for tonight," he said.
Skylar turned back to him curiously. " What do you mean Mr. Wayne?"
Bruce shrugged. "How about my driver takes you out of the building in secret and drives you home, I go to bed, and your boss doesn't suspect a thing?" he suggested.
With every new thing he said, he continuously shattered the image Skylar had drawn for him in her mind.
"You would do that?" she blurted out incredulously.
Bruce's lips quirked up in amusement. "Why so surprised, Miss Jones?" he asked in return.
Skylar stammered. "I-I, well, if it's alright with you and my boss won't hear about it, I'd really like that, thank you," she said, somewhat calmed down, more tired than anything else.
Bruce nodded, taking his phone out and texting someone.
A few moments later the elevator doors opened up and a man walked in. Both of them got up and started walking toward the men.
"Also, Miss Jones, before you leave, I'd like to remind you that, as you were not the person you were forced to be tonight, I'm also not the man the tabloids make me out to be," he smirked, "Good night."
He turned, walking toward one of his rooms while Skylar stood watching after him in yet another shocked stupor.