“You know, the others who work here...you heard what they told me. Many of them are crooks. Thugs. Scums. Many of them know what is going on here and they did nothing to intervene. They are assholes who would do anything for money or drugs or sex. Whatever.” Cassie asked as she laid back on a leather sofa and crossed her legs. Oh...her head really hurt from using her powers this much and this frequently! 

“But you, Jesse...you are not like them. When I first came in here, you told me to leave. Now, clearly, that wouldn’t sit well with your superiors. Those people are too greedy to care about things like ethics. But you’re different. Unlike those people, you still have a heart left. So...why are you working here? I mean...you know about what the Reese Cartel is doing here, right?”

The bartender with curly blonde hair sighed. She glanced at a chair beside Cassie. “May I?”

Cassie shrugged, and Jesse sat down in that chair. She thought about this for a moment before replying.

“First of all, yes. I know that this club is owned by the Reese Cartel and what they are selling in the club. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to warn you.” She glanced down at her sexy bartender uniform. The disgust in her voice was clear. 

“And you’re right. I don’t like working here. I don’t like dressing like a whore and working around horny men all night long, and I definitely don’t enjoy working for a cartel. But I don’t have a choice.” 

She reached to a table on the side and picked up a cigarette and lit it up. Cassie frowned at the sight, but she remained silent. She really didn't like second-hand smoke. The bartender took a deep breath as she continued. 

“A while back, I had a boyfriend who held a computer science degree. He was...how should I put it? Arrogant. Overconfident. Maybe just outright stupid. Somehow, he thought a computer program he wrote was going to be the next Amazon or Facebook. He decided to start a company, and to do that, he needed money.”

“In his infinite wisdom, after the banks refused to lend him money because his business plan sucked and he had no one to borrow from, he decided it was okay to borrow some cash from folks on the street. You know...the same folks that charge a 500% interest a year? To finance a business! To this day I still have no god damn idea why he thought that would be a good idea...or why I didn't leave him the moment he did something this stupid.”

“Predatory lenders.” Cassie concluded. 

“Yes. Predatory Lenders. Well, my boyfriend failed miserably. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, really, considering he was at the bottom of his class in university. Even now, I still don’t get why he thought he was going to be the next Bezos. Either way, when the time came to pay, he couldn’t.”

“And when he couldn’t pay, the predators agreed to give him some more time...at the price of a higher interest, of course. After that time passed and my boyfriend still couldn’t pay, they started barging into the apartment we rented and began breaking things. They literally told my boyfriend to do whatever it takes, whether it was stealing his parents’ pension fund or selling their houses or even robbing a bank. They don’t care. All they want is their money back.”

“And the police?” Cassie couldn’t help but ask. “Did you go to them? Predatory lending contracts are generally not considered to be credible legal documents.” 

Jessie let out a snicker, as if mocking Cassie’s naivety. “Maybe those contracts don’t carry weight in court, but these people, they don’t collect money by going to a judge. They collect money by beating people up. We did go to the police and ask for help, but there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t post officers with us forever. All those thugs did was wait until the police were gone before coming back, and when they did, they doubled the debt for ratting them out to the cops.”

The bartender sighed, her arms hugging herself as she continued her story.

“Eventually, my boyfriend couldn’t take it anymore. He just couldn’t. One day, he left our apartment and never came back.” She bit her lips. “His body washed up on shore two days later.” 

Cassie stared at the young woman before her in sympathy. She sensed where this was going, and she didn't like it. 

“But those thugs didn't stop. No...they wanted their money back, and even death couldn’t stop them. My boyfriend was dead, so they said it was up to me to make up for his debt. I argued against it...and they beat me up and almost raped me.”

She looked up at Cassie. 

“Look, I don’t know who you are or how you are capable of doing all this, but you have to know that not everyone has the superpowers you do, ok? We can’t just brainwash people or hold them in place with...our minds? Those thugs want me to pay for the mistake of someone else, and since they are bigger and tougher than me, they can.”

“Of course, I couldn’t pay it. I just couldn’t. So they came up with a creative way to deal with me.” Jesse tossed her arms up in frustration. “They sold my debt to the Reese Cartel. Essentially, they handed my debt over to the Reese Cartel in exchange for a portion of the money I supposedly owe. Now, I owe the Reese Cartel money, and the cartel has me put to work in this club to ‘pay it off'. If I don't pay the entire debt, I can't quit my job."  

“That’s slavery.” Cassie’s voice was filled with disgust. 

“Yep. Until I can pay off my debt, I’m a slave to the cartel.” Jessie snickered and tapped her revealing clothes. “Keep in mind, the debt I owe is still incurring interest, and it’s literally impossible for me to pay it off with a bartender’s salary. Then again, that’s what the cartel wants. They are forcing me to do things I would never do to pay, including...including selling my body.”

“And the deal Rose and Theresa had? I was promised it too.”

“Yet you never did it.” Cassie realized. “When you saw me, you tried to get me to leave.” 

“Yeah, well…” Jesse could only shrug. “My life is already fucked. No need to drag another gal down with me.”

Cassie was very still as she stared into Jesse’s eyes. She could tell that Jesse wasn’t lying. Every word that she said was the truth, and not some elaborate attempt to exonerate herself from this mess. 

“Do you have an address for those people? Those lenders?” Cassie asked. Perhaps she should pay these people a visit after finishing with the cartel. At least the cartel sold drugs to people who wanted to buy them. These lenders...they were, in a way, even worse.

She was quickly disappointed.

“Unfortunately, no. As much as I want to see those thugs suffer, those people don’t have a specific office to operate from. I am not too sure where James found them first. After that, they came to my place, and not the other way around. They have a discreet way of operating.” 

“Hmmm…I will see what I can do.” Cassie nodded before standing up and making her way to the second floor. She returned later with several stacks of cash, which she handed to Jesse. “Take this money and go somewhere safe. Don’t go back to your old house. Find a hotel or a new apartment.”

“Wait, are you saying…” Jesse’s mouth opened in disbelief. 

“Yes. Go get a new job and start a new life. This mess, all the debt...it is behind you now.” The younger woman said quietly. Jesse looked grateful, but Cassie really didn't think this was anything that impressive. She merely gave Jesse what was taken from her in the first place. Her freedom. "The police should be looking into this club, but I doubt they'll put too much attention on someone as innocent and irrelevant as you. Plus, their hands will be full with much more important people very soon."

“But the Reese Cartel…”

“Trust me. Soon, the Reese Cartel will have much bigger problems to deal with than you. In fact, I doubt the cartel will still exist in a week.” Cassie’s gaze turned fierce as she said that. Of course, since she wasn’t going to wipe the woman’s memory, as that would make her forget a lot of important things, Cassie had to give Jesse the proper warning. 

“By the way, Jesse, it should go without saying that what happened here has to remain a secret. The others will never be able to talk about my involvement here, so if word gets out...I will know it’s you. If that happens…” Cassie’s voice turned a little cold. “Don’t make me regret doing this.”

Jesse quickly nodded. Of course she knew that. Messing with someone who could control dozens of people like they were puppets was stupid at best and suicidal at worst. Plus, Cassie saved her from this hell, and she was only grateful. 

Finally, Cassie wrote a number on a piece of paper and handed that to Jesse.

“This is my phone number. If you run into any trouble or the lenders come bothering you again, call me as soon as possible. Day or night, I’ve got you covered.” 

The former bartender received the paper and gave Cassie a smile. 

“I will.” 

Just as the older woman stood up to leave, she suddenly paused. Once again, Jesse turned back to Cassie. 

“Look...I just want to say thank you. You don’t have to do this, at all. In fact, with what you are capable of, you can easily make a ton of money and spend the rest of your life enjoying all that wealth has to offer. Instead, you are here, saving people like me that society doesn’t care about at the slightest. Thank you. People will say a lot of things if they find out about you, but to me, you will always be a hero.” 

She gave Cassie a gentle nod before turning and leaving. Behind her, Cassie allowed a small smile to climb onto her face. 

This was the first time a victim knew what she did, and this was the first time she was thanked. Cassie had to admit it felt terrific to be shown gratitude for her work. To her, a simple ‘thank you’ was better than any financial reward she could receive.

That was when Cassie pulled out her phone and saw the seemingly endless pile of notifications, all due to unanswered phone calls and messages from her parents, and the smile on her face disappeared.

“Oh crap…”