Chapter 75 - Homeland

- "Holy shit..."

— Dad, how did you know?.. — panting, Rosa said, not daring to look at her father's face

— How did I know!? How did I know!? — the man shouted — From friends! I found out from friends! I thought it was some fucking joke: 'Your daughter works as a whore, will you ask for a discount for me?'I thought I was going to kill the bastard there in the mine, but he bitch said the name of the brothel! Said the exact cost! He told me where your birthmark was, although no one could know where it was!..

— Dad...

— Shut up! — hoarsely exclaimed the man, tearing his voice — How dare you!? Yes, your mother! She's in a coffin!..

— We needed money! — exclaimed the girl — And!..

— Me! I needed money! — my father barked — These are my fucking debts! These are my problems! Did I take bad care of you?! Dressed, shod, fed!

— But you're already dying in this mine! Rose barked back

— Yes, I'd rather die, bitch, working in this mine for days on a span, than my daughter will become a cheap whore!

— Actually, not cheap. Rose said , embarrassed

— Ah! Well, then that changes everything. — the father abruptly calmed down

- Yes?.. — the girl bent her head a little and asked quietly

— no! — the man shouted again — It doesn't change a fucking thing! I don't give a shit even if you get in one go like I did in two weeks of fucking in the mine!

— Well... only for a week...

— Didn't you hear me?! I don't give a shit! Come home immediately and forget even the way here!

— I'm already an adult! And I'll decide what to do myself!

- "Interesting Santa Barbara." — grinned O'Dim

- "No." — Jack replied sourly, feeling like his head was ready to ache, and after all, with his characteristics, you need to try to make her sick

— Ah! Precisely! After all, you are an adult girl who can decide for herself whether to work as a whore or not!

- yes!

— Cunt! — the 'pre—retirement' man barked and began to look around - Where is this cunning fucker that turned my girl into a whore! Show yourself faggot!

All at once looked at Jack, who was standing quietly beside him.

— Ahem. — he coughed, smiling wryly — I am the director of Ishtar.

The man looked at him sharply in disbelief — You?!..

— Yes, I am. — he nodded

— Well fucked up... The director of this brothel is a brat? No wonder such a brat thought of seducing my daughter!

The man's head abruptly hit the floor with force when the guard with an evil look, with his right hand pinned her — Shut your mouth, old. You don't know anything about the Boss, you...

— Tim, don't. Jack quickly stopped the guard

"All right, Boss," said Tim, a big Asian guy

The man raised his head again and looked at Jack with an unkind look, turned his eyes to his daughter — How could you succumb to the tricks of the boy! He's got a dick in a glass to fit! You're seven years older than him!

Rose was very nervous, looking at Jack — Sorry-sorry-sorry! Don't listen to him, he's just on edge!

Jack massaged his forehead and waved his hand — Lift him up and take him outside.

— Mr. Jack, he!..

— I won't do anything to him. — Jack shook his head, looking at Rose — Go and change, your father will wait for you outside. Sort things out with him and come back to work tomorrow or really get it over with.

— Thank you-thank you-save me!..

— That's enough. — Jack waved off and took the tray that Leah brought, went upstairs

Getting up, he looked up and saw the grinning face of Revie, who was standing and looking at all this.

Before he got up, the girl went back into the office.

...

The door opened and Jack came in with a tray, and Revie was sitting at the table with a grin at that moment.

"I didn't know you were a wizard." she raised an eyebrow

- what? — Jack was confused from misunderstanding, coming up and putting the tray on the table

— Well, how... — Revi shrugged her shoulders and bared her teeth — If your penis fits in a glass, then it's nothing but magic, because after you, a beer can will easily fly into my vagina, as it seems to me.

— God, what a vulgarity... — shaking his head, Jack said, sitting down at the table

Revie looked at him with irony—You shouldn't say that after you fucked the soul out of me.

— Kha!

— Oh, how many delicious things here! Revie grabbed her fork

Jack smiled wryly and put a pill in front of the girl.

"What's that?" she raised an eyebrow

— When I woke up, I found that one of the used condoms... I got lost.

After blinking a couple of times, Revi squinted — I see.

Jack felt uneasy from this squint — Roar?..

The girl folded her arms on her chest — What if I don't want to take a pill?

"Critical strike!" cried Gunther, clutching his heart

Jack ignored O'Dim and tensed up a bit—That is? You want to become... mom?

"Don't you want to be a father?" — the girl raised the corner of her lips

— No. — Jack answered instantly, swallowing saliva - I'm not ready and I don't think I'll be ready for this at all. You know mine... our situation. And anyway, I'm only sixteen.

The girl grinned — All of you guys are like that.

Jack smiled and leaned back in his chair, even though his back was covered in cold sweat—You don't want that yourself. This life is not for you and not for us. Moreover, you are not crazy enough to give birth to a child in a place like Ruanapur.

Revie grinned — Well, he immediately turned on serious mode, and I just wanted to laugh.

— You can't joke with that. — the guy jerked his nose

— Pf. — Revi threw her head back, and then looked at the pill, wincing — But I still don't want to drink this stuff. You may not know, but it really hits the hormonal background.

Following the girl's words, Jack looked at her the way a person who knows how healthy a lifestyle she leads should look at Revie.

"Don't look at me like that. — Revi grinned — In general, what makes you think that I'm going to get pregnant? I have safe days now...

- "What a fucking security you have! You're already pregnant!" — Jack shouted mentally, but said out loud — It's not about you, it's about me. I was examined, quite recently, and found out that I am extremely fertile. Let's just say your 'defense' is too weak in front of my energetic and tenacious 'tadpoles".

— I get it, I get it. — Revi waved her hand and printed out the tablet —...although the consequences of pregnancy seem so 'delicious".

Jack tilted his head to the side, looking at her smirk—You should have given me more time... we would have become much closer, because I am the mother of your child. Hell, maybe you'd just be mine at all...

Jack's mind quickly found its arguments.

It's not for nothing that he pumped it.

The guy began to slowly bend his fingers — Yeah. You'd also have to stop drinking, smoking, and working with Dutch...

He didn't even finish listing how Revie's face twisted, and she quickly took a pill, washed down with coffee — Wow...

—...I would have to become a housewife, change diapers, sit alone with the child for days, since I work and the only friends you will have will be crazy moms who discuss the color and smell of their child's feces...

Revie shuddered a few times from the list, but Jack continued with a grin.

— In general, you would have to become...

— Don't tell me!

— ...a normal average woman.

Revi shuddered violently, and it itched, as if a herd of lice ran over her — You don't say such terrible things anymore!

— good. — Jack grinned and shrugged — After all, the pill will save you from this fate. Probably.

— You're a giver without 'probably". — Revie said quickly, grimacing — Is the pill really reliable? Can I have another drink? Definitely me...

— No need. Why poison the body for nothing?

— For nothing? — Revi's eyes bulged — Not a damn thing for nothing! The stakes are worse here than in Vegas! I'm going to the doctor! — she got up quickly

— What? he chuckled

— I need to make sure that everything is 'fine'! — the girl was almost running towards the door

— But what about eating?

— Later! — finally she shouted and quickly left the office

— "A masterpiece work, student." — Gunther said with a wise look, scratching his non-existent mustache, as if he was an old Buddhist who spent decades in Tibet accumulating life wisdom

- "Thank you, sensei."

...

It didn't take long after Revie's quick departure, Jack didn't even have time to finish his breakfast before his phone rang.

Surprised, he replied — Yes?

From the speaker of the phone came the caring voice of a mature woman — How are you, Jack?

— Sophie... — he quickly recognized the Balalaika — How did you find out my number?

— You answer first, then I do.

— Relatively normal... I don't blame you...

— I know. — She sighed — Only I blame myself. Still, it's partly my fault.

— I don't think so.

— I'm glad of course, but you shouldn't forgive people so quickly, Jack. Sophie said, leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed, "People may take this for weakness.

— Do you think I'm weak?..

- no. — Balalaika quickly replied, nervous as a schoolgirl at the prom — I'm talking in general, you understand, right?

- of course. — the guy smiled, hearing a slight tremor in the voice of a woman who went through the war and is the Boss of one of the strongest criminal gangs in the city — I would never think badly of you.

Jack clearly heard the woman exhale with relief—Nice to hear. You wanted to know how I got your number? Well, Revie sent it to me. For such a jealous girl, she is very sensible.

The guy grinned.

— So, I didn't call just to make sure you were feeling well.

— I'm listening.

— I have recently started a new business... — Balalaika said in a strange tone —...one person has been injured and cannot perform his own... role. Deadlines are burning and it is very difficult to find a suitable replacement, and if you miss the time, there will be tangible losses in money. To be honest, when I heard about it, I immediately thought of you.

Jack blinked a couple of times — What kind of work?

— Would you like to become an actor?

— An actor? — Jack was surprised — I don't think I can do it...

— It's not difficult there. — Sophie spoke in a light tone — With yours... you will succeed with your talents.

Jack sighed — I'll try just for you. What's it? Theater? A movie?

— Movies.

— I see. Jack nodded slightly, a little nervous

He wasn't sure he could play normally...

— Time...

— It's better right now if you're free.

— Well, I have a training session with Valmet and Chiquita in the morning, so...

— Hmm, good... I'll drive up now, show you everything, and then you yourself, after training, will already decide everything.

— I agree. Jack smiled

"I'll be there in five minutes."

...

After a while, Jack was already sitting in the car with Sophie while the driver drove them to a certain place.

They were chatting about all sorts of nonsense, until Jack accidentally asked — You know, I was thinking about something...

"About what?" Balalaika asked with interest

— Well... I was thinking that you want to return to your homeland...

Balalaika raised an eyebrow in surprise — What makes you think?

Jack shrugged his shoulders — Sometimes when I see your thoughtful face with traces of longing, these thoughts find me by themselves.

Balalaika smiled — When did I have such a face, huh?

— Sometimes it happens. — Jack returned her smile — You just don't notice it.

— Okay. — the woman waved her hand slightly — I really miss my own... in our country, but I'm not going back. At all.

- why? — he tilted his head to the side — Just don't think that I myself intend to 'return', just...

— I get it. — Balalaika smiled sweetly — It's just that we have nowhere to go back to. Our country is no more. The union has collapsed, now there are different rules, different customs, another country...

— But the homeland is still the same... and so are your relatives...

Balalaika interrupted Jack, raising her hand — The motherland may be the same and I still love her and long for her, but this love is unrequited...

While the woman was saying this, memories flashed through her mind of how she was thrown out of the army in disgrace for simply saving a civilian child.

Yes, the child may have been the child of 'enemies', but clearly should not have borne the burden of their parents' choice.

Of course it was a secret operation and this was not allowed, but still...

Then she was 'abandoned' by all her relatives and her career was not saved even by the fact that her grandfather was a general.

Actually, that's how she ended up in this God-forsaken place with the guys who followed her.

— ...and I'm not stupid enough to continue to pursue this love to my own detriment. I have relatives... not left.

Jack, looking at the sad and melancholy face of the woman, said with a sweet smile — All this does not add up.

Balalaika looked at him— Hmm?

"You say you're not stupid, but you let a sixteen—year-old boy play with your heart...

Sophie's eyes widened in surprise, looking at the smile of a loved one.

— That's what I'm saying. It doesn't add up. Jack shook his head

Balalaika grinned and leaned forward, kissed the guy — You know how to find words to please a woman's heart.

— I'm trying. — Jack smiled with his eyes

— We've arrived. — said the driver, who had been silent all the way before, on whose face you could see a barely noticeable slight smile

— Come on. Balalaika nodded

...

Jack and Balalaika entered an unremarkable building.

The further they went, the more strange and listening sounds came to his ears.

Finally, when they opened the door and entered a large room, Jack's mouth dropped open in surprise...

- yes! Yes, yes, yes! More!

— Do you like it, baby?

— You're the best!

"Better than your husband?"

— Much more!

— The infection, I'm going to finish now...

— Listen, you're fucked up. I have to mount all this.

— What can I do? And anyway, it's your job!

A dozen meters from Jack, there was a bed on which a woman was lying in a nightgown barely covering her body, and on it was a forty-year-old man in a plumber's uniform.

There were also two people standing next to the bed.

A forty-year-old woman with a frowning face and a middle-aged man with a camera.

Jack abruptly turned his head in the direction of the Balalaika and realized that the woman was already looking at him— Sophie... — he asked quietly in a dry voice — This...

— Shooting a movie... for adults.

The guy couldn't see, but O'Dim was rubbing his hands vigorously in his mind, like a man who had hit the jackpot.