In the basement

Emma was a bit worried that Chet was leading her to the basement, but her curiosity won out in the end. They ended up in a large hall, with a lot of doors, some with name plaques, others with numbers on them.

The closest name read A. Lockman.

"Chet? What's going on here?" Emma asked, her voice trembling. "It's quite simple really". Chet said. "Since they were broke, the only thing they had to pay us back with was themselves."

Emmaline's mouth fell open in surprise. "You mean, they...they're?"

"Back in ancient Rome", Chet continued, "When people could not pay off their debts, they sometimes opted for slavery, they would become the slaves of their debtor and work until the money they owed them had been earned. Of course nowadays actual slavery is frowned upon, and certainly not legal, so this is all a bit informal. But no less enforceable."

"Alicia and her parents were given a choice" Chet went on "Nicolas could keep his job, at least symbolically, and they could keep the house, their status and their way of living, up to a point naturally, and in return they would be our indentured servants. They would have to obey us in everything, until such times as their debts were settled. It was all formalized in a contract. And because slavery has such a negative connotation, it was agreed that they could leave at any time."

"They could?" Asked Emma disbelieving "But then what's the point in them being slaves in the first place?"

At this Chet smiled, as if he enjoyed what was coming next.

"They could leave at any time, but there's a catch. They've signed over everything they have as part of the agreement. You could call it collateral. So if they leave they lose everything. And not just that, they're renting their stuff at the moment, we've been paying their instalments according to the contract. But if they leave our service before we allow them too, those instalments become a loan. At 35% interest. On top of everything else, they would owe us at least several million dollars. The longer they stay, the higher that potential debt becomes. Of course if we dismiss them, that debt is cancelled."

"So until you let her leave, Alicia is your ****?" Emma asked.

Now Chet grinned. "That's the case, yes."

"Have you been fucking her?" Emma asked, angrily.

"Of course, she is my property after all, and while she's not a hot as you are, she's still a great lay. Especially now that she follows directions. Before, she treated sex more like a chore, now, well let's just say there've been improvements. She knows her place now."

It was the way Chet said that last bit that evaporated Emma's anger. The idea of that haughty whore being put in her place had a large appeal to her. Chet seemed to notice Emma's change of mind.

"Would you like to see her? I'm sure she'd welcome a familiar sight" He said, smiling nastily.

See her? Emma thought. She's here now? "I...I don't know?" Emma stammered.

"Don't worry, she'll be meek as a kitten." Chet said. "Well, okay" said Emma.

He walked over to the door with Alicia's name on it. He knocked on it twice. "Your master's here" he said.

Emma heard a rustling sound coming from within the room, as if the occupant was trying to get ready in a hurry.

Chet opened the door, and inside was Alicia. Naked except for a pink thong, she was kneeling on the ground. "Good afternoon master" she said.

Emma gasped in shock, even after what Chet had told her she hadn't expected this, hadn't expected Alicia to be broken in already to this extent. It had only been a month, and already she was behaving like this?

Of course, she reasoned, Alicia had always been a whore deep down, it probably hadn't taken much to get her to accept this.

On seeing Emmaline however Alicia freaked. "No! What?s she doing here?? Alicia nearly screamed, trying to cover herself. "You promised you wouldn't!" At this Chet casually backhanded her.

That's right, thought Emma perversely, that's how you treat a whore who speaks before her turn. This is how you treat a **** when forgets her place in front of her betters. Seeing Chet discipline Alicia turned Emma on quite a bit, her legs rubbing together as she started getting wet.

"You know the rules Ally, speak when spoken to. As for Emma, well I just thought you might like to see an old friend. And this is how you repay me? If it's like this, I might have to rethink our agreement."

At this Alicia crawled to Chet's feet and started begging.

"Please Chet, I'm sorry, it'll never happen again, please?"

Emma smiled, this was going to be fun.