I do not own Taming of the Shrew nor do I own the story of Iceberg Slim.
Katherine looked behind her as she entered her apartment building. A young woman, early twenties, she was returning home from her Ethical Dilemma's classes. Her family hadn't been able to send her to state, considering they had been down on their luck for some time and whatever money they had was being held for her father's clear favorite, Bianca. Her father and her always but heads, he felt as if she had to provide for the family as much as him. He was their father, that was his job. Her job was to make sure she could make a life for herself, but it didn't help when her father disappointed her at every turn.
As she entered, she put her bag on the counter in their small apartment. As she walked down the little hall and looked in the living room, there was her father on the couch. An older man from Cuba named Baptista, dressed in a wife-beater and sweatpants, bald with a scruff of grayish facial hair covering the lower half of his face. Katherine didn't know how to feel about him. She remembered as a child, how close they had been, how loving their relationship had been, yet ever since she grew into her teens and her mom had left, she was expected to carry a bigger load. Which was maybe the burden of being an older sister, but it sometimes felt like she needed to be a replacement for their mother.
Next to her father was a man that looked much younger than her father, but also a bit older than the girl. He was handsome, slightly rugged. He was dressed nice, however he gave the most unsettling smile upon seeing Katherine.
"Hey, baby." Her father spoke.
"Who's this?" She didn't hesitate.
There was a small pause and her father winced. "Mija, do you always have to be so rude?" He asked.
"I'm sorry." Katherine said again. "Who the fuck is this?" A tone of sarcasm in her voice.
The man got up, his pearly white teeth in a smile that complimented his ebony skin quite well. "Katherine, right? Your father was right, you are a beautiful girl." He said, oozing charisma. "Hell, all the dudes in this neighborhood be talkin' about how fine you are... If only you weren't such a hardass. How about you relax for a moment?"
"How about you go fuck yourself?" She replied rather quickly.
The man turned around rather quickly to face Baptista and smiled. "You're right, B." A grimness in his voice. "I do like her."
This took Katherine off guard. She looked angry and confused, her emotions very visible on her face. "What?"
Baptista looked hesitant to look his daughter in the eyes. "Kat." He said. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes. "I'm going to lose the house."
Katherine's eyes widened. "What? Did you ask for an extension? Did you let the landlord know that we could pay both next month?"
He looked away. "Yes, I did." He sighed. "But it didn't work. Ruccio here," He pointed at the smiling man. Katherine wished to slap him across the face and wipe the smirk off of it. "He said he'd cover the cost... But..."
Katherine looked at the man for a moment, Ruccio was a familiar name. Where had she heard it before? Her eyes widened when she realized. "You're a pimp." She growled. "I know you!" Anger filled her veins, and disgust at her father did too. She knew old friends who had gone into the business because of this mans scheming and manipulations. But the anger soon faded as she was hit with a cold realization. "What does he want in return?" She said.
"I promised him Bianca." Baptista said, but before he had even finished his sentence, Katherine had jumped across the living room, swinging on her father.
"YOU SOLD YOUR OWN DAUGHTER TO A PIMP?!" She yelled, attacking him. That was when Ruccio pulled her back.
"Calm down, now, baby." He said. "I don't wanna witness a murder, I got too much shit to do."
Katherine turned around and punched Ruccio straight in the jaw. There was a silence, her eyes widened as he looked at her with his own eyes. "How about you?" He said. "I'll cut you a deal, you do one job for me, your sister doesn't have to do anything."
"You want me to fuck someone just so I can save his miserable ass?" Katherine gestured at her father, who was recovering from the beating Katherine put on him.
"Look, Kat." He smiled, nearing her. "I promise you, the job I got for you, you won't have to do no one, you wont have to kiss no one, one job, thats it, and your debt is paid."
Katherine looked at him for a moment, there was something in his way of talking that made her think he wasn't all too bad. But his line of work spoke for itself, he used women as his property and made a business out of them. There was nothing respectable about it. However, she did not want Bianca anywhere near that life, nor did she really want to end up homeless. "I'm listening."
"There's this one rich dude that always gets one of my girls. He goes to the same motel room down the street." He folded his arm, leaning against the wall, he grabbed a small vial out of his pocket, the liquid was clear and white. "I want you to go up there, dressed nice and shit, slip this into his drink when he's not looking, and then when he passes out, take his briefcase and give it to me. There should be about five hundred grand in there in total, do your job and I'll give you two hundred of it."
Katherine studied the man. This job... It was almost too good to pass up. She wouldn't have to sleep with anyone, she would just have to pretend to like the man, converse with him, and then when need be, drug him and steal his money and she would earn a good dollar on that too. She looked over at her father and wanted to say now and continue to beat the miserable man to death, but then she thought about her little sister Bianca, and the bright future she could have ahead of her.
"Okay, fine." Katherine said.
The very next day, Katherine was dressed in what was arguably he sexiest dress, a tight black dress that didn't show too much in the way of skin, but pressed onto her so tight that every shape and curve in her body was visible. As she walked out of her building and towards Ruccio's Dodge Challenger, he smiled as he rolled the window down.
"God damn, girl." He smirked. "I didn't know you had that body on you."
Katherine sneered at him with disgust. "Fuck off." She replied.
"C'mon, Kat." He nudged her. "I'm just trynna be nice."
"Well, I don't exactly care to entertain pimps." She replied.
"You think I'm a bad Pimp, dont you?" He asked. "One of those dudes that tricks women into working for him, one of those that beats on women. Nah, I ain't nothing like that."
"Does it matter? You still make profit off of women's bodies."
"They come to me willingly, baby. I don't make them do anything they don't want to do, and I pay them their just due. I just take a cut for myself because I keep them fed, warm, and organized."
"Sounds like a slave master to me. You almost took my underage sister."
Ruccio sneered, "I would have offered her the same deal I'm offering you." And there was a silence for a moment. "My Aunt used to run this business. When there were girls homeless and on the street, she took them in, fed them, and gave them a place to sleep. They had a choice, do some work for my aunt or go back on the street. And it isn't always just fuckin', a lot of the times it's jobs like the ones you got."
"You're such an angel, Ruccio." She muttered. There was something genuine about his tone, he wasn't like most criminals she had met, still she had to keep her guard on her.
The rest of the car ride was in silence until the pulled into the small motel. It looked like a shithole, a perfect place for a rich man to sleep with a prostitute. Katherine took a deep breath as her heart raced. Ruccio looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, forreal, it'll be okay, I'll be waiting for you once you get out. Here-" He handed her a small burner phone. "If at any moment things go south, if he tries to make you do something you don't want to do, or he puts you in harms way, hit the green button and I will be there in a heartbeat, I promise."
Katherine looked at him for a moment, shit... It was hard not to believe him. She looked away. "Whatever." She stepped out of the car and took a deep breath before heading upstairs, the sound of her heels clanking on the metal panels as the balcony for the upstairs floor. Room 245, that was the one. She looked back at Ruccio's car, who gave her the thumbs up.
She closed her eyes and entered the room. On the bed was a white man, he looked to be in his fifties, he was balding except for the hair on the side of his head, he wore glasses, a blue dress shirt and khaki pants. She scanned the room and saw the briefcase, target had been acquired. The man turned around and saw her.
"Hiya!" He said with a grin, looking her up and down. "Oh wow, I love Latin chicks." He exhaled.
Katherine was already itching to get this done, especially after his first words. "Hi... My name's Kate." She said.
"I'm Bill." He replied, nearing her. Without a warning his hands clasped on her ass, squeezing tight. She was ready to rock his jaw, but remembered where they were and she took a deep breath before pushing the man away slightly. "How about we start with a drink?"
"Oh yeah! I knew he was gonna bring me someone... Exotic" He said, she gagged mentally. "So I got some tequila." He walked over and set two cups. Pouring the drinks. "I also brought lemons." Bill turned around to go into the mini fridge, that was when Katherine walked over and emptied out the vial into Bill's drink before disposing of the small vial in her purse.
Bill returned with some lemons cut up already before holding up the drink. "Salut!" Katherine did the same and they both immediately drank, however, Bill took the whole drink down immediately, which worried Katherine for a moment.
They set their cups down and Bill smiled. "So, how about we lose the cloth-" Before he could finish, he put his hand on his chest. Katherine looked slightly shocked.
"Bill, you okay?" She asked. His face began to get red as his eyes began to widen. He was starting to shake.
"Bill!" She exclaimed. But it was too late, with a sickening thud, Bill fell to the ground. Kate's eyes widened as she stepped back into the corner of the room, unsure of what to do until she remembered Ruccio's phone. She pulled it out and pressed the green button. Within seconds, Ruccio was banging at the door, Katherine let him in.
"Kat, baby, what's wrong?" He asked as he entered, stopping in his tracks as he saw Bill on the floor. "Oh, shit... Is he-"
"I don't know!" Katherine said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Ruccio looked at her, eyes widened before walking towards Bill and pressing his two fingers on the white man's neck. "He... He's dead"
Katherine began to sob, but Ruccio got up. "How did this happen?" He asked.
"I did what you said I emptied the vial into his dri-"
"You emptied the vial?!" He exclaimed. "Kat, baby, you were supposed to sprinkle a little bit! You gave him enough chloroform to take out a gorilla!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" She began to weep, freaking out. Thoughts and emotions running through her mind. She had just murdered a person, her life was ruined. She looked at Ruccio. "Please, please, help me."
He looked at her. "I-"
"Ruccio, please." She begged. "I'll do anything."
Ruccio's eyes were widened, he seemed to be just as visibly shaken as he turned to look at the dead body. "Katherine, I can make some calls, but... This is going to take a lot of work. I'm going to need all of that money." He replied. "I'll even have to spend my cut. You know that means..." He took a deep breath. "That means that if I do this you have to work for me, Kat. You gotta do pay your part and pay for your family's house."
Katherine looked at him, her mouth dropping slightly open. She hesitated, but then looked at Bill's lifeless body. "Okay." She agreed. She knew that this was her best chance at continuing with life. The options were work for Ruccio and eventually pay her due, or a life in prison. Ruccio seemed like the better option.
He looked at her, even sympathetic. "I'll make some calls, you go into the bathroom and wash up." He took his phone out and stepped out, while she did what she was told.
A few moments later, she sat on the seat, and two men dressed as carpenters entered the motel room as Ruccio sat with Katherine, comforting her.
They held a big rug, and wrapped Bill inside the rug, before taking it down to a moving truck they had parked out in the front. Ruccio grabbed the briefcase and looked at her. "I ordered you an Uber, take the weekend and relax. I'll come pick you up on Monday and we can get to work."
Katherine got up and nodded, before looking at Ruccio. "Thank you... Really, for your help..." She said. "You're uh... Not so bad."
With that, she entered the Uber. Things could have gone a lot worse that night, and the outcome hadn't been that great either. She was now indebted to a Pimp and had to work off the money she had cost him, but with the stories around the neighborhood from other pimps, the situation got a lot worse.
With that, she entered the Uber and was off on her way home.
Ruccio on the other hand was still right in front of the motel. He walked won the stairs and got into Dodge Challenger, driving for a while until he came across a small Warehouse. He pulled up. The car right in front of him was the moving truck from earlier, with the carpenters that entered the motel room.
The stepped out of the truck, taking off their hats. One of the men was a young white man, but the other was none other than Baptista, who looked sickeningly pleased with himself. They opened the back of the truck to find Bill alive and well, standing up.
"Bill, excellent performance, my brother." Ruccio said, opening the suitcase and handing him two stacks of money which were probably around One hundred thousand dollars. He then handed some stacks to both Baptista and the other man. "The best way to tame 'em is to break 'em down so badly, that when you fix them, they'll thank you and forget that you were the motherfucker that tore her down in the first place." He told them. "That is how you tame a shrew."