Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Time seems to slow, and I feel as though I’ve been standing here for hours. With everyone confident about where they want to place their bids, most of the men in the room have resigned to talking shit between themselves while sipping on their drinks, leaving us girls in peace. However, that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve felt their sickening stares on my body all night long.
My feet ache in these heels, and I’m on the brink of passing out when a loud static squeal of a microphone tears through the warehouse. My blood turns cold as an auctioneer takes his place on a pedestal overlooking the crowd. “Gentlemen, if I could kindly have your attention. Tonight’s event is about to commence.”
2
CHIARA
As if on cue, the bidders begin shuffling toward the auctioneer, abandoning their conversations as the men they were just talking to suddenly become their greatest competition. As I watch them move around the warehouse, I realize this isn’t just a case of highest bidder takes all. It’s a pissing contest, proving to the elite men around them who has the deepest pockets.
Once everyone is where they need to be, the auctioneer gets on with it. “Standard auction rules apply,” he says into his microphone. “Raise your hand to make a bid. We’re moving up in hundreds with a starting bid of five hundred thousand. No half bids permitted. Once the auction has finished, all winners will be required to make payment within the hour before they will be permitted to collect their prize. We will accept cash or a wire transfer, considering immediate clearance in our account. If you do not possess the funds or cannot arrange payment within the hour, then you are not permitted to bid. Do not waste our time. Otherwise, your name will be blacklisted, and you will not be invited to attend another event.”
He glances around the room, making sure his instructions are received clearly before waving a hand toward the first girl, her nameplate reading Stacey. “Alright, I know you are all eager to get this started. So, without further ado, let’s start the bidding. For our first girl of the night, Stacey, do I hear five hundred thousand?”
“Right here,” someone says, raising their hand. My gaze snaps across the room to find the asshole with the virgin kink eagerly watching the auctioneer. He clearly found what he was looking for.
“Six hundred,” another man responds, prompting the auctioneer to do his thing, his voice like nails on a chalkboard as he seeks new bidders.
Another hand flies up. “Eight.”
“Nine.”
My stomach starts to crawl.
“A million,” the virgin kink asshole fires back.
Fucking hell. I can’t watch.
Spinning around, I grip the bars of my cage, struggling to breathe as I try to block out the auction behind me. Tears well in my eyes as it all becomes too real. I’m being trafficked—sold to a high-end purchaser to do with as they please.
I brace my head against the bars, feeling a panic attack coming on as I will myself to take slow, deep breaths. The thought of these monsters relishing in my tears makes me sick. I need to be stronger than this. I can’t allow them to break me.
The first girl goes for just under two million dollars, and as the word “sold” comes from the auctioneer, I hear the girl let out a pained sob. Knowing there’s not a damn thing I can do to help her, I don’t even bother turning around to find her purchaser or to get a look at her face. All it’s going to do is leave me with nightmares.
A tear falls to my cheek as the auctioneer moves on to girl number two, Brittany, and my hands shake violently against the bars, knowing I’m next. The bidding starts, and as I go to wipe my tears away, I feel someone’s stare on my face.
It’s intense, and I lift my teary gaze to the back of the room, and right there, deep in the darkest corner and away from the bidding, I find a man covered in shadows. He’s tall with dark features, Mediterranean maybe. It’s hard to tell from so far away. All I know is that there’s something dangerous about him, something that warns me to run in the opposite direction.
Those dark, piercing eyes seem to penetrate right through me, capturing my stare and holding it hostage. He’s too far away to hold a conversation, but even with this distance, the silence between us is deafening.
My heart races, and he refuses to look away, the intensity growing by the second. He doesn’t try to look at my body, doesn’t try to gauge what kind of fight I’ll put up in bed. He simply stares back at me with those lethal black eyes.
The name Misty rings through the warehouse, and my eyes widen with fear. Breaking my stare away from the scary stranger in the shadows, I whip around, my gaze locked and loaded on the auctioneer.