Everybody has their own personal lines they're willing to cross: What are you willing to do for fun? What are you willing to do for money? What are willing to do at gunpoint? And where do you draw your line?

People had lines with violence, drugs, anything really. But for a woman in the underworld, one of the biggest questions was sex. Runa had never felt comfortable using sex as part of her job gathering information for Jack, Nick and the rest of Race Street. She'd flirted with a few guys, but she'd avoided anything too serious. She didn't begrudge the women who did, of course; some women need to use sex just to survive. 

And so when Runa heard the prostitute arrive in the room next door, she didn't judge the girl. Based on their exchange, he was a new client. Before things got too interesting, Runa rolled over in her bed and turned up the radio, counting on the jazz to compensate for the thin walls. Illaria had sent Runa around to different hotels to get a feel for them, but somehow Runa suspected this wasn't what her lawyer friend had in mind.

The moaning had stopped a while back, but not the noise. There was shouting now- loud enough to make Runa open her eyes. When she heard a loud thump and a cry, Runa froze for a moment, indecisive. Then she rolled out of bed and dressed quickly. She was out in the hallway and knocking on the door next to hers within 30 seconds. As she heard the man's voice get closer and shout through the door, Runa took out her switchblade and opened it behind her back. When the man opened the door, she held the knife to his throat and forced him back inside.

The woman, a redhead, was obviously injured and crying. She was dressing slowly.

"Get in the bathroom," growled Runa at the man, brandishing the knife. She'd never actually used it before, but he didn't seem so tough. More like an accountant than a fighter. The man glared at her, but eventually walked into the bathroom. Runa grabbed a chair and propped it against the bathroom door to keep the man inside, then turned her attention to the woman.

"What's your name? I'm Runa."

"Celia." The woman looked a little shaken- based on the room, the man must've thrown her into the wall. She was in her mid twenties, with her auburn red hair falling to the shoulder straps of her short black dress. The girl was a knockout, and Runa felt a pang of jealousy despite their current circumstances before she dismissed the emotion.

"Alright, Celia. Come with me. We can chat in the car. You can tell me what happened, and maybe I can find someone else to help you, huh?"

*

When Adriana answered the door, she saw two women waiting for her. Runa was a young woman who looked under twenty, dressed in a brown jacket, slacks, and boots. Her chestnut hair was pulled behind her in a ponytail, and she seemed more ready to go for a walk in the woods than a stroll downtown, especially when compared to Celia in her dress and heels.

"Adriana," said Runa, "I know we've only met brief in the HQ, but I figured you could help me out with something, if you've got some time. This is Celia."

"Uh, hi," Celia said.

"Celia's got a problem here. She's been working as a pro skirt for six months or so, doin' damn well for herself. She and a couple other girls had a place downtown they were working out of. But the madam there got into drugs. Coke, I think?"

Celia nodded, "Yes. She... well, Miss Lorraine is not much of a madam anymore. We've mostly been fending for ourselves, but when we run into problems..."

"Problems like tonight, where someone was close to roughing her up." Runa nodded. "Based on the chat we had before, I figured you might be able to help out Celia here?"

Adriana is sitting in her living room after a long day hard at work trying to make a living and earn her bones in the family, thinking back on her life before she got tied up in this thing

As she looks up at the roof to watch her cigarette smoke slowly linger, the soothing sounds of her Duke Ellington record take her back to much simpler times. She looks back on everything from her mother, her home growing up, her old friends

Life couldn't have been better. That was until- That piece of shit Chris came along and ruined everything and took all that away. He was a two-bit hood from around the area, they'd grown up together. Deep down she never could stand him but there was something about that cheesy charm and the cheap suits that drew her in

She is suddenly reminded of why she had to flee her home and come to Philly which ultimately led her to the situation she's in now. Coming home from slaving her ass out in that hot kitchen at work for chump change that barely covered the rent. She remembers coming home from work to see that son-of-a-bitch in HER bed fooling around with her sister

Something snapped inside that once innocent girl that day, something snapped and she hasn't been the same since

Adriana's quickly snapped back to reality when she hears a knock at the door, she gets up and peaks through her window to see who it is. She sees Runa, a new recruit of the family and someone she thinks could be becoming a good friend. She has another young girl with her, it seems she's upset

She unlocks the door and opens it

"Heya hun. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Runa proceeds to explain the young girl's newfound situation and introduces her as Celia

"I'll tell you something, you came to the right person. So this madam of yours doll, Lorraine or whatever, this piece of shit just lets her girls go out into the concrete jungle just fending for themselves while she sits tucked away putting blow up her nostrils?"

Celia nods

"Is she just using or is she selling too?" Adriana says

Celia replies with

"I think she sells too. A lot of men come and go from the brothel but don't see anybody- They just head upstairs, then they leave real quick"

Adriana becomes infuriated

"So this whore thinks she can call herself a madam simply by putting girls to work with no care for their safety, reap the benefits of their hard earnings and on top of that, do this shit AND push dope in our neighbourhood? I don't think so!"

"Runa, Celia, come on inside, make yourselves at home. I gotta go get myself ready and we're going to go pay this bitch a visit!"

Adriana heads towards her bedroom to presumably get herself ready to go confront the madam

Runa hung back as Adriana spoke with Celia. She'd definitely come to the right place.

"Sounds like it could be a lucrative business." Runa glanced at Adriana. "Do you have a plan here? Take her out? Replace her? What do you think?"

Celia had walked inside and sat down at the table; she was doing great, but seeing Adriana's anger had helped her get a handle on things. 

Adriana rushed into her bedroom and picked up her coat, putting it on. She scrounged through her nightstand looking for her gun

She finds her gun, opens it to check if it's loaded and then conceals it in her coat. She heads back out in to the living room.

"We're gonna head over there and I'm gonna go introduce myself to this bitch posing like I'm looking for a job, get a feel for how she is and play it off cool until she shows me around the place and then once I get her alone I'm gonna either give her the option to kick me back some profit from her coke running in exchange for protection of her dope and her girls or I'm gonna take her out and take the whole lot for myself. Celia hun, I need you to take me in there and introduce me to her as a friend of yours from the neighbourhood, maybe our parents knew each other or something? You figure it out, I'll go along with it."

Adriana throws her keys to Runa

"I'm gonna need you to drive though, I've had a bit to drink and am already about to do some highly illegal shit. I gotta draw the line somewhere."

Runa's eyes widened at the sight of the gun. She had her knife, but had never actually fired the weapon. Seemed like Adriana was more prepared for conflict than Runa was.

"Uh, right. Definitely."

When Adriana spoke again and tossed her keys, Runa handed them off to Celia.

"Celia... you'd better take these. I've never actually learned how to drive."

Celia nodded, happy to have even a small role in any plan to get revenge.

"Of course," said Celia, turning to Adriana. "And I like your plan, Miss Adriana. I will help however I can."

*

45 minutes later, Celia had cleaned herself up and driven Adriana over to the old brothel. Runa leaned against the outside of the building, keeping a lookout, while Celia led Adriana up the stairs outside.

"Miss Adriana," whispered Celia. "I know you said that you might let Miss Lorraine stay, but please don't.  I have only known you briefly, but even from talking to you in the ride over... well, if you would take over for her, I am sure it would be better for the girls. Even I could do better than she could!"

Her voice quieted as they approached the door and Celia let herself with a key. The door opened to a marble foyer, once ornate but now scuffed and dirty. On the second floor there seemed to be bedrooms, but the whole place was dimly lit and neglected. There was no sound, but a middle aged woman wearing a scowl and an ill-fitting dress sat on a couch in the main room, leaning down about to snort one of the lines of coke on a mirror.

"Celia," the woman growled. "Took you long enough. Who the hell is this?"

Celia seemed to cower for a moment, then found her voice. 

"Uh, hello Miss Lorraine, this is an old friend of mine from the neighborhood. She might be looking for... work. With us, I mean."

Lorraine snorted the line of coke and lurched to her feet, studying Adriana.

"Come with me, girl."

She led Adriana upstairs, to a bedroom that functioned as her office. When Adriana entered, Lorraine closed the door behind her.

"You want in the business, huh? Good lookin' girl like you- I could really use you."

Runa leaned against the lamppost as Celia emerged from the building and gave her a nod.

"What happened in there?" asked Runa.

"She handled it," said Celia, smirking. "Very well. I think I've got a new boss."

Runa nodded. "Well let's take a walk. You can tell me how it happened, and we'll see if Adriana emerges as well."

Adriana walks out of the former madam's office and heads downstairs to the bar to join Runa and Celia. She sees the two girls and goes and takes a seat next to Celia

"Miss Adriana, you have something on your face. I'm not sure you've realised or not."

Celia said nervous and curiously

Adriana wipes her face to realise there's a few spots of blood on her cheek

"Ah oh well, shit happens I guess."

Adriana chuckles slightly. She then takes out a cigarette and lights it

"I got some good news and good news dollface. Good news is you don't gotta worry about that old boss of yours no more, her brain is the wall's problem now. And the other good news is, I kinda like this place, so I be thinkin you're looking at your new boss! And trust me, you don't have a thing to worry about sweetheart. Me and Runa here will get some friends of ours onto this place and by the girls' sides on all outcalls and you won't ever have to show a stitch of pussy ever again. I'm gonna need a manager and that my dear will be you. So, sound good or what?"

Runa grinned at Adriana. She hadn't expected quite that solution, but the old madam obviously had to go. Adriana obviously knew what she was doing, and Runa suspected that her girls would become quite the asset for Race Street.

Celia, for one, seemed shocked by the idea of 'manager'. 

"I... well... I mean, as long as I wouldn't make the big decisions then I... yes. Okay, yes."

As they turned to head back to the car awaiting them, Runa patted Adriana lightly on her shoulder.

"Nice work- not surprised you were able to handle this so smoothly. And hey, now you've got a new business to run." 

"All in a day's work I guess"

Adriana chuckles and pulls Runa to the side to speak to her privately

"And I know what you're thinking about me putting the kid in charge. I'll be running the show, just from the shadows. I'd rather her name on the paperwork and her face in the office since I'll be using the basement space to be running my other ventures. That way, if shit goes south for any reason, she'll get leant on and I'll be a ghost in the joint."

Adriana flicks away her cigarette

"And if our sweet little thang doesn't meet up to our expectations or crosses lines that shouldn't be crossed, she can go to live on a farm upstate somewhere and it'll fall under 'New Management'. Nobody's gonna go looking for a runaway whore that fled a cat house. I think I'm on top of this. Let's go grab a drink, I'm thirsty! Celia hun, you drive"

Runa spoke quietly to Adriana. 

"You're definitely on top of this, and I like the idea of you running from the shadows, but check in with me before Celia... loses her position. Even if she doesn't make for a good manager, I might have another use for her. If she crosses lines, of course, then that's a different story and something you can handle."

She leaned back in the car as Celia drove them a local speakeasy. Adriana and Runa could keep their voices down so the driver wouldn't overhear.

"So what are these other ventures you mentioned that you'd be running from the basement?"

Adriana leans in close to Runa and covers her mouth with her hand to minimise her chances of Celia hearing the conversation 

"I've made some friends through being in the right place at the right time and giving a sexy wink or two where it's been needed, Important friends. You're the first soul I've mentioned this to. I'm getting into the dope trade and I'm gonna have the basement set up as my storage and re-manufacturing hub. In simple terms, I've been hooking up with this guy Santiago, he's from South America somewhere. His cousins move coke up here from wherever it is they're from and he's gonna do me good prices per kilo, whether he likes it or not."

Adriana chuckles

"Anyway, I'm gonna buy a boatload of cheap South American blow off this guy as long as I tell him I love him every once in a while, keep it all in the basement of 'Celia's' brothel, cut the crap out of it and quadruple it's quantity, re-bag it there and distribute it all over the city for a pretty penny. There's a couple of people I know who are born salesmen and will work a corner nicely!"

Adriana smiles and laughs a little bit

"It's funny how I went from working the corner for chump change to owning the corner."

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out, Adriana. If you need an investor, or if you ever need anything..."

She raised her voice so Celia could hear her as well.

"... and if you need anything, Celia, just let me know."

As the car pulled over, Runa nodded at both women and exited. She watched the car pull away into the morning fog of downtown Philly. From her angle, it looked like the car was climbing upwards. No doubt the direction that the impressive- and ambitious- Adriana was heading.