Gia’s POV
The word exploded through the room.
A wave of murmurs and animal-like groans followed as their eyes raked across my body with callous hunger.
Vincenzo’s hand clamped around my arm.
His grip was cold and hard as he yanked me forward.
I resisted, taking a step back on shaking legs, but his fingers dug deeper, bruising.
He hissed in my ear, “Move.”
And then I stepped into the light.
It hit me, hot, blinding, exposing me completely.
The room erupted in a chaotic mix of cheers, whistles, groans, applause, and laughter.
Several men leaned forward, some rising to their feet with expressions so vile they turned my stomach.
How could they be this cruel?
Didn’t they have daughters? Sisters? Mothers?
I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to shield myself… what little there was left to protect. But their eyes devoured me anyway, mercilessly.
“Get her hands off that luscious body!” one of the men shouted. “We need to inspect the goods we’re buying, after all!”
Voices echoed in agreement.
“Yeah! Take her hands off!”
“Let us see what we’re bidding on!”
I staggered back as Vincenzo’s furious eyes locked onto mine. He lunged forward, grabbed my wrists, and yanked my arms apart.
He leaned into my ear, his breath harsh on my neck.
“If you don’t behave, I’ll chop your aunt’s head off. Do you understand me?”
I froze as terror gripped my insides.
My aunt… she may have sold me out, but she was still the only family I had left.
The only person who had ever stood by me.
So I obeyed.
I stood straighter, spine rigid, forcing myself not to flinch as I faced the crowd.
“Those breasts look juicy!” one man shouted.
“And those legs,” another leered, licking his lips. “I’d fuck her for days and still not get tired.”
Disgust crawled over my skin.
I scanned the room until I found him, the potbellied monster who had spoken.
Greasy brown hair. A face like a cow.
Then Vincenzo laughed.
“Dallio, for the right price,” he said smugly, “she could be yours.”
Another voice rose from the crowd, louder, meaner.
“I’ll be tasting the sweetness between her legs tonight! My revenge on that useless Lorenzo, who handed me to my enemies like trash!”
I stood there in disbelief. My vision blurred with tears. I refused to let fall.
My aunt was right. My father had enemies.
But I never realized how deep the hatred ran.
None of this was my fault.
My father kept me hidden in a small town with my aunt, isolated from the world.
No friends. No boys. No freedom.
He only let me attend university when I turned twenty, and only after years of arguments and begging.
He claimed it was for my protection.
Now…. I believed him.
But I hated him for it. Hated him for dying and leaving me alone in this cruel, filthy world.
I told myself to be brave.
Just one night. Just one night, and I’d survive.
Then my aunt and I would disappear, far, far away, with the twenty percent Vincenzo would pay us. Somewhere I wouldn’t have to sell myself just to stay alive.
I just had to make it through tonight. Even if it destroyed me.
“Let’s begin,” he announced.
“We’ll start the bidding at one hundred thousand.”
“ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND!” barked a voice from the front, thick, guttural.
It was him.
Dallio. The same man with the cow-like face. Sat smugly, raising his drink, the other hand gripping the armrest like he already believed he’d won.
“Two hundred thousand!” someone else shouted behind him.
The numbers started climbing. Fast.
“Three!”
“Three-fifty!”
“Four hundred!”
Voices layered on top of each other like wolves fighting for scraps.
I stood frozen, my body trembling, while they shouted out prices like I was cattle at an auction.
Tears burned behind my eyes again.
I bit down on my bottom lip until I tasted blood. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t fall apart now.
This was really happening.
Any second now, I’d be sold.
And I’d lose everything.
Even my virginity, something I hadn’t even shared with someone I loved.
And it would go to one of these monsters.
Dallio raised his hand again, voice loud and gleeful. “Five hundred thousand!”
A chill swept over me.
My eyes darted to him. I scanned him thoroughly.
He was old. Short. Sweaty.
His round belly pushed against the buttons of his shirt, and when he grinned, those golden teeth gleamed.
He looked like a man who would swallow you whole and leave nothing behind.
Please, God, not him.
I scanned the rest of the room, hoping someone else would win.
Anyone but him.
But he kept going. He was relentless.
“Six hundred!”
“Seven!”
“Eight hundred thousand!”
Others challenged him, but he didn’t back down.
If anything, it thrilled him.
“Nine hundred!”
The room grew louder, but fewer voices joined in now.
Then he stood, puffed up like he’d already won.
“ONE MILLION!” he roared, arms raised in triumph.
A hush fell.
The other men grumbled. Some cursed. Others chuckled and backed down, tipping their glasses in surrender.
My heart sank.
This was it. My fate was sealed.
He spun toward the crowd, laughing, smug. “None of you bastards can top that, right?”
He pointed at me, triumphant.
“Lorenzo’s little brat… is mine!”
My vision blurred.
And then—
From the far end of the room, a voice cut through the air.
Deep. Smooth. Dangerous.
“Five million dollars.”
Everything stopped.
The room fell deathly silent.
Even Vincenzo’s smug expression shifted and his head turned toward the voice. “What…?”
My eyes widened in shock.
Five million…?
Who the hell would offer five million dollars just for a night with me?
My stomach twisted. My mind tried to calculate… twenty percent of five million…
That was one million dollars.
Enough to escape.
To run from this twisted world, from my father’s sins, from the people who saw me as something to own.
Enough to disappear with my aunt and start over.
And thank God it wasn’t that horrible, vicious man who would’ve surely torn me apart.
Vincenzo recovered, his face stretching into an even wider grin than before.
“Well, well…”
Disbelief flowed through me like a fever.
“Sold to Dante De Luca,” Vincenzo declared, banging a tiny gavel on the podium like he was officiating a game, not auctioning off a human life.
My heart stopped.
That name… It sounded familiar. I’d heard it before. I was sure of it.
But everything was spinning, too loud, too fast, my mind couldn’t place it.
I searched for him.
The man who had just bought me like I was nothing more than a luxury possession.
But the lights were too bright. Blinding.
I searched frantically. Desperate. Terrified.
I had to see him. To know who I belonged to now.
My eyes moved through the figures—and then I saw him.
Sitting in the farthest, darkest corner of the room, untouched by light.
Like he belonged to the shadows.
Still, composed, but radiating danger in the calmest, most terrifying way.
His jaw was sharp, clean-cut like sculpted stone.
His suit molded to his body with effortless elegance, hugging broad shoulders and a frame built for power.
Then his eyes met mine.
Cold. Intense.
A strange, unsettling feeling rushed through me, like something buried deep inside had suddenly risen to the surface.
Those eyes…
I knew those eyes.
The memory slammed into me like a freight train.
No! It couldn’t be.
But it was.
My knees nearly gave out.
My lungs stopped working.
It was him.
The man from the study.
The one with the gray eyes.
The one who pulled the trigger.
Dante De Luca.
The man who shot my father.
The man who destroyed my life.
Now, owned me.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
