Jenny had never felt so stressed or uncomfortable in such a familiar place. The lobby of Jasmine and Diana's mansion. It seemed exactly as she remembered it, despite Jasmine's claim otherwise. Cleaned to every expectation the Mistresses had.

I don't miss it, she told herself. I remember just how relieved I was when I first got out of this madhouse.

A familiar sound echoed from an adjoining room. Each footfall of those fine heels was like a thunderous pall of an ominous bell. Jenny braced herself. This was it. This is where she gave herself up.

Jasmine appeared in the room, the force of her presence arriving with it. Jenny was finding it hard to breathe, but she showed no outward emotion.

'So you did come back,' Jasmine stated flatly, her voice full of utter disdain.

Aside from just her mere presence on her sacred ground being an affront to her authority, Jenny had purposefully worn the one shirt she knew Jasmine hated the most under her jacket: plain black with jagged white letters which read "fuck you." One final, petty insult to show them both that she was still in charge of her mind. She still had control.

Jasmine stepped towards Jenny. It took everything she had not to flee in terror. It was as she was only a metre from Jenny that Jasmine stopped, her words seething, ‘You will not speak until instructed to. You will follow me, and I will explain your new role within the mansion. You will keep your eyes to the ground, and not make eye contact with anyone, including the maids and staff. Am I understood?’

Jenny’s jaw didn’t move. Her words refused to come forth. But she nodded. Even that small motion felt as difficult and painful as intentionally breaking a bone.
Recognising she likely wasn’t going to get a much more elaborate response, Jasmine turned and began walking quickly with Jenny stepping in time to match her pace. She was led through the mansion, up to Jasmine’s personal office, the one she used when she worked from home.

Like the rest of the mansion, it was huge and needlessly ornate. The hardwood floor was immaculately polished, the herringbone pattern perfectly accentuated by the natural wood grain. Jenny was sure most of the furniture in the room was made from trees which had gone extinct some time before their manufacture. But worryingly, there was only one chair in the office, that being the one Jasmine had stepped behind her desk to sit in.

‘Kneel.’

Knowing better than to argue at this stage, Jenny knelt on the bare hardwood floor. Already uncomfortable, this just made things worse as she now had to crane her neck upwards to look at her- this woman.

‘In all honesty,’ Jasmine began, attempting to keep her tone civil and breaths measured, ‘I would have preferred it if you had run. It would have been better if you were more of a spineless coward.’

Jenny glowered, but said nothing.

‘But I am not one to renege on those I hold dear. And so here you are.’

‘I want-’

‘This is no longer about what you want!’ Jasmine bellowed, the sudden outburst startling the words out of Jenny’s brain, ‘This whole mess is because of your impulsive, selfish behaviour in the first place! And so,’ she continued, managing to get her tone under control, ‘We are going to work on correcting it.’

She pulled a drawer open forcefully, extracting numerous sheets of paper from the desk and tossing a copy bound by a paperclip in front of Jenny before examining her own copy.

‘This is a contract similar to the previous one you have signed, however contains several additional stipulations. One: you will not receive payment for your work, though you will still be provided with clothing, food, and living arrangements. Two: you are forbidden from owning personal property of any kind and will forfeit any private assets and personal belongings you possess to us, which will be returned in full once your indentured service is concluded. Three: during your indenture you are forbidden from leaving the manor grounds without supervision. Four: you are forbidden from speaking directly to any member of staff or our harem for longer than five minutes. Additionally, you will address them all as your direct superiors, and follow any instructions they might give. And Five: while you are not working in the manor you will be confined to your room unless you are accompanying either myself, my wife, or one of our slaves.’

‘It sounds like you’re just making me one of them,’ Jenny mumbled venomously under her breath.

Jasmine stood up from her chair, palms flat on her desk, ‘Do not think for a second that you are anything like our slaves, you presumptuous bitch.’

The insult genuinely took Jenny off her guard, as Jasmine stepped around her desk and Jenny leaned further back on her heels.

‘You will be beneath them, beneath the maids, beneath everyone. You will fulfil every degrading, unwanted and servile task demanded of you until your debt is repaid to our satisfaction. And this will be a mercy to you. Because if I had my way, I would do everything in my power to destroy you utterly for what you’ve taken from Precious.’

Jenny let her head drop, downcast, and whispered to herself; ‘From Nicole.’

If Jasmine had heard her, she did not chastise her. She understood enough. A pen dropped onto the collected pages.

‘If you agree to the terms,’ Jasmine said, her breathing slowly becoming more regulated, ‘You will sign where instructed. If not, you are welcome to leave; in which case our lawyers will be in contact with you shortly.’

A devil’s bargain, two impossible choices.

But Jenny knew one was more impossible than the other.

Jenny returned the signed papers to Jasmine – her Mistress, once again – who flicked through them and gave a nod not of satisfaction, but neutral confirmation.

‘Good. It would seem we have reached an agreement. Pray that you do not disappoint us,’ Mistress waved her hand in dismissal, ‘One of the maids will take you to your room.’

Jenny forced the words out of her throat, spilling through her clenched teeth like minced meat, ‘Yes, Mistress.’

There was a knock at the door which opened quietly at Mistress’ request, revealing a maid with sullen eyes and long inky black hair. Jenny was dismissed, who stood and left with the maid without attempting another verbal barb, keeping her eyes firmly affixed on the floor and trying not to think about the pain in her knees and ankles.

As the door shut behind them, Jasmine was only able to keep her composure for another two minutes before she had to strangle the sounds her throat made, tears beginning to well at her eyes.

Inside the office, Agatha was trying to stretch her arm just a tiny bit more, just a tiiiiiiiiiny bit more, to reach the fountain pen which was stuck in its decorative holder at the back of the antique davenport writing desk, located just to the side of the wider desk which Agatha sat before. Her thighs were burning as she tried not to tilt the chair, convinced that it was somehow part of the test to keep all four legs flat, reaching over herself to try and get at the pen. She looked like an idiot, she was sure, but at least no one was around to-

The door suddenly swung open, revealing a very surprised blonde maid with a cleaning cart. They both exchanged pleasantries.

‘Um.’

‘Hello.’

‘Hi.’

‘You’re new, aren’t you?’

‘I suppose you could say that? Technically I’m still at the end of the interview stage but the, uh … the Mistress of the house didn’t give me a pen.’

‘Can I … help you?’

‘Please.’