Gabriella sat on her "bed" and brushed through her long, black hair. She could barely call a filthy mattress on the floor a bed, but she wasn't complaining. At least she wasn't in Bolton's bed. She shivered and continued to brush her hair. She had been living like this for four years now. It all started after her parents gave her away when she was fifteen. A court ruled Gabriella insane after her parents filed false paperwork. Lies upon lies upon lies… After the court declared Gabriella criminally insane, even though she had never committed a crime in her life, she was brought here to what appeared to be an asylum. However, with the amount of connections the owner of the building had, the "asylum" was now a brothel. Troy Bolton had enough money to keep his clients, and the cops quiet. The girls he owned didn't dare say anything because they had nowhere else to go, so this beat becoming a prostitute in the streets; Besides Bolton was known for killing girls attempting to escape.

The outside of the building was what a normal asylum looked like; Gray, dark, dreary and worn. It was gated, of course and the front read "Birchwood Asylum". The outer appearance would fool anyone who drove by, not that many people did. In the building lobby, everything was still set up to look like a hospital. A few corridors also were staged to look like hospital hallways. Random gurneys lined the hallways and scrubs were hung up on a coat rack by the nurse's station. This was all a cover up though for the real horror happening behind the closed double doors at the end of the main corridor.

Gold, deep red, smoke and alcohol greeted anyone who entered. Poles, lights and a stage were all set up, each highlighting a dancing girl; one on each of the six poles and at least four on stage. All kinds of men drank and smoked while watching Bolton's "toys" perform, trying to win satisfaction from their keeper; Old men, young men all alike, their eyes gleaming with untamed lust. As the enchanting music played, girls stripped and danced, and Troy sat back in his private booth, a drink in one hand, a cigar in the other, girls lying across his lap so his image would be maintained.

Troy looked not amused. He motioned for one of his waitresses to get him another drink. As soon as the drink touched his hand, he brought it up and downed it. Pushing the girls off of him, he walked towards the right of the stage, to the entrance of the dressing rooms. All of his girls were supposed to be working tonight, and they had all shown up, all except one.

Troy burst through the door that was labeled "Gabriella".

"GABRIELLA!" He yelled through the room, looking through the mountains and racks of costumes Gabriella had. As soon as the sound reached her ears, she shot up from behind a clothes rack. She trembled slightly at the look on Troy's face. He was mad, very mad.

She stammered as she walked up to him, "Mr. Bolton…I…I'm so sorry…I didn't realize…"

"You didn't realize what: That it's almost 11 fucking 30 at night and you were SUPPOSED to be out on the floor by 10?!" He brought his hand back quickly and slapped her across the face. The force knocked her to the ground.

Don't cry Gabriella, you'll ruin your makeup and it'll take even longer for you to get out there…

"I'm…sorry…I just checked the schedule…I thought I was off tonight with Cassie. When I saw she wasn't in her room…I checked…and…we both were working…" She tried to pull herself together. Even though she was used to this, it still hurt, a lot.

Troy bent down and took her by the arm gently, helping her up. He wiped her face free of the few tears that had escaped her eyes. She winced at his touch. "Shh…" He cooed.

"It's ok; you can have the night off." He smirked. She looked at him, confused. Troy never gave nights off unless he was exhausted (which was rare) or he was busy with new "toys". As she tried to figure out his reasoning, he grabbed her ass and pulled her close to him. He held her there tightly and suddenly she realized: she had the night off from the floor, but not…

"It's ok, sweetheart," he repeated. "My room, tonight, 2:30. DO NOT be late." He pulled her in and gave her a hard kiss on the lips, the released her. As he left, he turned around in the door and smiled,

"You know what to wear, right?" Gabriella nodded. "That's my girl." And with that, he was gone.

Gabriella sat down and sighed. She looked in the mirror and started fixing her makeup. She was Troy's favorite toy, always had been. All the girls knew it, too. Some of the girls were even jealous that Gabriella received extra attention. It wasn't that Troy treated her better. She just ended up in his bedroom a lot more often than the other girls. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even seen another girl in Troy's personal quarters except when he needed a drink or food. She didn't know why the other girls were jealous though. Troy Bolton was physically gorgeous. If he weren't such an asshole and he was a normal person, Gabriella might have seen herself with him. His blue eyes, sandy blonde hair, his muscles…his career though was such a turn off. She wanted nothing to do with him, but she couldn't leave. She wasn't sure why she was Troy's favorite either…

Gabriella finished perfecting her makeup and stood up to make sure she could find her special "Troy outfit". Troy told her when she first wore this special outfit on stage that she was so sexy in it that he wanted to be the only person that saw her in it. Therefore, it was what she would wear every time Troy wanted her for the night. As she searched for it, Cassie came into the dressing room.

"What the hell are you doing? I told you we were working tonight! Where have you been? Troy is going to freak out!" As she spoke, she walked to her makeup stand and reapplied lipstick. Gabrielle continued to look through her clothes.

"He already found me…and I'm off the floor tonight." Cassie froze and looked at Gabriella through the mirror. Cassie knew what those words meant and how much Gabriella hated saying them. Cassie had never been to Troy's room, but she knew from what Gabriella told her: Troy was aggressive normally, but when Gabriella was in trouble, he was even worse. He took out his anger on her. Cassie knew it was going to be a terrible night for Gabi.

"Gabi…I'm sorry. It'll be ok. It's just for tonight…" Cassie placed her lipstick on her vanity and walked over to hug Gabriella. "Maybe, with the new girls coming in next week, Troy will find a new favorite and you'll be off the hook."

As Gabriella hugged Cassie back, she didn't notice she was crying. She pulled away, and sniffed. "Yeah…hopefully…" Gabriella smiled and wiped her eyes.

"Dammit, I just redid this!" She laughed, trying to lighten to situation. Cassie smiled sympathetically.

"Well, you know you can use any of my makeup. I'll tell the girls why you won't be in the room tonight. I'm sorry again Gabi. Good luck." Gabriella walked to the door and gave Cassie another quick hug.

"Thanks, I'm sure I'll be ok." She smiled as Cassie walked down the hallway back to the main room. Before she walked out, a man walked in, grabbed her and pushed her against the wall, kissing her furiously. She kissed back. Gabriella sighed. This was their life. She closed the dressing room door and looked at the clock. It was only 12:06. She had just enough time to get in a quick nap before she had to see Troy. She pulled together the last pieces of her outfit and laid back in a recliner chair in the corner of the room.

Gabriella knew sleeping could be dangerous, but she was so tired. So she set her alarm for 2 AM, and closed her eyes, dreaming of being anywhere but here. Anywhere where Troy Bolton didn't exist.

Gabriella woke with a start to the sound of the alarm blaring. She rolled over, turned it off and sat up. Looking around everything was the same as when she fell asleep. She was still in the brothel, she was still to meet Troy in 30 minutes and she still had to act like she liked it. Gabriella stood up, stretched and walked over to her vanity where he outfit was laid out. A tight black, lace corset, with a garter, stockings, a black choker and high heels. It was typical lingerie but for some reason, Troy loved it when she wore it, and she hadn't worn it in a while. She knew tonight was going to be long and tiring.

By the time she pulled on the outfit, fixed her hair and makeup, and put on perfume, it was 2:20. Gabriella walked down to the hallway where Troy's room was. As she walked, other girls were making out with men all over the place, probably all making their way to the private rooms. Other girls noticed her and saw what she was wearing. When they recognized it, the glares began. All the other girls knew she was going to see Troy.

Gabriella finally made it to Troy's room. No one was around. Troy's room was in a private corridor. Gabriella took a deep breath and lifted her hand. She knocked three, slow times and then waited, for what was going to be one of the worst nights of her life.