Pushed to the Limit

Audrey did not hesitate for a single second. She stepped forward in the suffocating darkness of the cramped dormitory and bowed low. Her jagged hair fell forward, shadowing the deadened, oceanic indifference in her eyes.

"I am sorry for disturbing your rest." Her voice rang out hollow and robotic in the tight space.

Hazel let out a loud, mocking scoff from her bed. She shifted aggressively under her thin blankets, desperate to shatter that lofty demeanor. "What is with that flat attitude? Do you feel aggrieved apologizing to me? Do you want to bet that I can easily make you jobless if you piss me off?"

Penelope stepped forward, her hands balled into tight fists. "Do not cross the line, Hazel!"

Hazel ignored the outburst. She kept her eyes fixed on Audrey's shadowed silhouette. "Hey, I am talking to you! Say something!"

Audrey bowed deferentially once more, letting her choppy bangs conceal her gaze. "I am sorry for disturbing your rest."

To Audrey, Hazel's petty high-school stunts were nothing. They paled in comparison to the life-threatening beatings and horrific psychological torture she had endured daily in the penitentiary. Emotional detachment was a survival tool drilled deep into her very bones.

Denied the explosive, tearful reaction she so desperately craved, Hazel glared daggers at the quiet figure. She let out a frustrated huff, turning her back to them and snatching her blankets up to her chin to sleep.

The rest of the night offered no reprieve for Audrey. Waves of severe, agonizing gastric pain ripped through her stomach. She swallowed her medication in the dark, curling into a tight ball under her thin sheets. The pain kept her agonizingly awake, sweating and shivering until dawn. When morning finally broke, she dragged her pallid, trembling frame out of the narrow bed. Penelope hovered nearby, desperately offering to call in sick on her behalf. Audrey flatly refused the gesture. Dominic’s standing, malicious order meant Supervisor Bronson would never approve a sick day.

Audrey stood before the clock-in machine, fighting a wave of nausea. Her vision swam as she pushed the button. The red numbers flashed on the screen, indicating she was exactly one minute late.

"You are one minute late!" Bronson’s voice exploded down the hallway.

He stormed up to her, his thick finger jabbing the air so close it nearly poked her pale cheek. "You can forget about your salary for the month now!"

A few other cleaners strolled through the double doors behind her, chatting casually as they clocked in late. Bronson turned a blind eye to them, focusing his manufactured wrath squarely on the scrawny woman in the oversized uniform.

Audrey lowered her head. "I am sorry. I am feeling somewhat unwell today. It will not happen again."

Bronson turned red in the face, his hot spit flying directly onto her cheek. "Do not apologize to me! If every apology could change a situation, what would the world need cops for? I do not give a damn who you used to be! Right now, you are nothing but dirt on my shoe, and you must obey me!"

Audrey lifted a shaking hand and slowly, meticulously wiped the disgusting spit from her cheek. "Yes, sir."

Bronson sneered, handing down his targeted punishment. "Since you are late today, you get to scrub another floor. The fourth and fifth floors are yours alone. I will be inspecting them myself."

Each floor at the Apex Club housed around sixteen private VIP rooms, alongside endless stretches of long corridors, mirrored walls, and sprawling washrooms. It was a crushing, physically impossible workload meant for a full cleaning team, designed specifically to break a sick, frail worker.

Beneath her oversized sleeves, Audrey's fists clenched until her knuckles turned white. Her muscles locked rigid as she forcibly swallowed down her surging, blinding fury. The injustice of it all burned in her chest, but she knew arguing would only result in worse treatment.

Bronson leaned in closer, his sour breath washing over her. "What? Do you have a problem with it?"

"No." Her voice was as calm and dead as still water.

Bronson checked his watch with a scoff. "You better not. What are you still standing here for? Get to work! Are you expecting me to bring the trolley over to you?"

A few passing staff members sniggered under their breath. Audrey lowered her gaze, retrieved her heavy cleaning equipment from the supply closet, and dragged the cumbersome metal trolley toward the stairwell.

Two older cleaning ladies approached her with hushed sympathy as she hauled her supplies onto the fourth floor.

One of the women sighed heavily, a look of deep pity etched on her lined face. "Is the fifth floor yours to clean now too?"

Audrey gave a curt nod.

The second woman grabbed her arm gently. "But you will literally exhaust yourself to death before you even finish half the area! If you have issues with Bronson, just quit and run away. You are young and beautiful. You can definitely find a job somewhere else."

Audrey offered a faint ghost of a smile and shook her head. She knew the cruel truth. If she could simply leave this torturous place, she would have fled a long time ago. She was trapped here by Dominic's invisible chains.

"You stubborn child." The first woman sighed in defeat while the second dragged her away back to their own duties, casting sympathetic glances over their shoulders.

Taking hold of her heavy mop, Audrey began the grueling, endless work. The cold, soapy water sloshed in the bucket as she dragged the damp, heavy strings across the polished floorboards. Her back throbbed with every sweeping motion, and her empty stomach cramped relentlessly.

Suddenly, a pair of expensive, polished leather shoes planted themselves directly in her wet path.

She stared blankly at the dark leather. "I am sorry, but if possible, please move your feet. Thank you."

The imposing figure did not budge an inch.

Audrey slowly looked up. Her deadened gaze met the burning, complex amber eyes of Gideon Langdon.

"Welcome to the club. Please mind the wet floor." She spoke with a chilling, robotic indifference.

Without missing a beat, Audrey stepped aside, dragging her heavy mop with her. She moved to another section of the hallway to continue cleaning, refusing to spare another single glance at his intense stare. She focused solely on the dirty floorboards, treating the powerful man standing before her as nothing more than a minor obstacle in her punishing routine.