The day was long and yet the medical bills kept lining up, and as he stood with a bit of the ad from the paper in his hands before the Diamond Pony he took a deep breath. There had been rumors about this place, whispers among the ladies and men that were around him, and he swore that even a few times his father came home smelling like something he’d liken to that of starlight and vanilla. However, his mother never seemed to mind. 

She had her good son, her beautiful daughters and all the basic things to care for her family, and yet with every year that passed Henri could see the wear settling in. Their business did well, but with all the changing movements in furniture and design alike it was hard for them to keep up. 

This was what had him standing before The Diamond Pony with his heart pounding of all the hellfire that he could recall. 

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. [Jude 1:7]

Though the day was still too young for such horrid affairs that his own virginal self could pretend was happening, Henri wondered if perhaps there wasn’t something a little more sinister beneath the glittering glamour that he swore he almost imagined. 

With his heart pounding and his family depending on him he took a deep breath and went inside.

It was a quiet day at the Diamond Pony. Most of the courtesans lay abed after their nights of sin, while some woke to take care of their needs, such as more gowns or musical lessons, or what have you. The door to her office was open. Sonia lay on the fainting couch, her eyes closed as she rested, her hand settled on the round of her belly. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she had done so. Creating life was a tiresome thing, that was for certain.

It was the only open door there was at the moment, and it was right at the top of the double stairs leading down from the balcony of the great hall. A maid was the only person about besides her mistress in the vicinity, and she nodded to the newcomer.

Nights of sin….

The woman that came down the stairs with her round belly made Henri’s heart stop a moment. He knew he would be in the same room with true beauty but with her hand upon her stomach and her hair mused as it was from where she must have been sleeping, he understood what it was to find himself enchanted. 

That should have been his push to run, but he heard his mother’s voice and her desperation inside it for him to find a job local so that he could be there when she needed him. She hadn’t wanted him to work a second to begin with, but this was what they settled on.

‘Maybe you can teach them a bit of about forgiveness, and lead them back to the flock.’ 

“I—“ He began as he opened the folded paper in his hand to make sure he had the right place, and after a quick glance at it he let his hand fall to his side once more. 

“I’m here for the security job?” Was that even what it was called. He cleared his throat a moment and tried to recall if he’d worn a hat…he should remove it if so, but he was so damn off his rocker at the moment he just put out his hand to introduce himself. 

“Henri Lockwood, and I’m here to see a Mrs. DeAngelis?”

She peered at the man sleepily once she was out of her office. His voice brought her to a stop and she tilted her head at him, "That would be me..." She did not bother to correct him about her last name, for she didn't want to take on that last name anymore in any case. It was bad enough that she was branded a harlot, it would be worse to share her last name with her monster of a husband. She was glad that he wasn't around anymore, that was for sure and certain.

"I could use more people guarding the courtesans. Tell me about yourself, Signore Henri Lockwood." Her accent, while thick, did not impede her ability to speak English. In fact, she spoke it as well as a native speaker.

Signore. He tried so hard to place the accent and translate that word, but his education had holes in a mile long and he struggled sometimes with even just reading English let alone…Italian? Was that where she was from? 

Harlot or not, he’d come here for a job and was persistent upon it. 

“My father and I run Lockwood & Lockwood, the um, builders?” He glanced around the room at the fine furniture and didn’t see anything that came from their establishment…this was all way too nice. 

“So I work a great deal through the day and I’d like something to keep me busy through the night and on the weekends. My mother is a housekeeper for Captain McKenna’s estate and I have a few younger sisters.” He knew what a courtesan was by way of the stories they’d told in the schoolyard but those were of India and even further east. 

“I could fix anything too that broke. I don’t drink so you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

She waved for him to stop talking. "You do not need to beg me for a job," she said softly. "I will let you work here. I need more men to keep the courtesans safe. Good men who won't treat them like they are nothing because of what they do." She turned and gestured for him to follow her to her office. She puffed out a breath halfway up the stairs and slowed her movements. "My husband was a horrible man who treated the people that work here like filth. We are recovering from his notoriety." She went to the desk and pulled out the book of names. It was simply a book of the employees at the Diamond Pony. She wrote his name with no flourish, just simply, neat handwriting.

She then moved over to the fainting couch and spent the next minute trying to get comfortable. She gestured for him to sit wherever he liked. "If you are expecting a long interview, I haven't got one for you, Signore." She looked up toward the ceiling. "You may start tonight if you'd like. Or you may start tomorrow. The only things I ask is you respect the courtesans. If someone gets too rough, or angry, or what have you... Take care of it without killing people if you can. We're trying to run a more respectable place. For whatever it's worth," the last part being said a little flatly.

Sonia looked to the man who was now her employee, "You will forgive me, yes? Creating life takes so much out of a woman."