Chapter 1

Kimble

I saw his fist swinging in my direction. It hit my temple and I slid ten feet away on the wet ground of the forest floor, a scream ripping from my mouth. I almost blacked out, feeling warm blood trickling down my skin.

Through the pain, the only proof I was still alive was the rain pounding against my limp body. One of his accomplices scooped me up and carried me to their jeep. As he threw me into the back seat, he muttered, “You hit her too hard, idiot!”

“She was running wildly!” the other one hissed. He started the jeep and sped off, muttering curses.

I don’t remember anything after that and succumbed to the pain throbbing in my head. Nightmares of amber eyes and wolves chasing me hounded me.

I peeled open my eyes to a dimly lit room, my eyelids still heavy with the vestiges of nightmares. Was I alive or was I in hell? I tried moving my arms and legs but couldn’t. They were tied to the bed with ropes. I licked my chapped lips and let out a feeble cry of help. “Anyone there… help…”

The door opened immediately and my kidnapper walked in, his dark piercing gaze chilling me to the core, his muscular frame intimidating. He was wearing a black shirt and black slacks, his expression cold.

He sneered as he untied my hand, assessing the wound on my head. “It’s healed,” he said. It hadn’t. My head was pounding. “You’re supposed to be up on the stage in two hours.” He leaned toward the side table and gave me a bottle of water.

I gulped it greedily, water spluttering out of my mouth. Once I was done and wiping my lips with my hands, he slapped some red lingerie into my lap. “Wear it. Madam Nella has sent it specially for you,” he growled.

These people had come to my house and kidnapped me because my mother wasn’t able to pay her debts. You see, she was an addict. Neglected me for years. Forced various liquids down my throat.

Somehow, I managed to get into a community school and was about to graduate. When Mom’s “clients” would come, she’d lock me in a cupboard so they wouldn’t see me. I’d stay quiet until she let me out again.

I was a month short of my eighteenth birthday and had collected enough money to leave this fucking town by waitressing in a local restaurant for the last two years. But just as I was about to leave Mom for good, she sold me to Madam Nella to clear her debts.

These bastards had been waiting for me at my home. One look at them and I ran for my life, racing through the woods behind our shabby cottage. But they’d got the better of me, so here I was.

“Where are you taking me, Brute?” I asked, trying to appear tough, but shaking visibly.

Brute narrowed his eyes. “You’ll be auctioned today.”

I clenched my fists. “Don’t…” I murmured. “I’ll pay my mom’s debt.”

He grabbed my jaw hard and shook my face. “Just fucking get ready. Now!” He shoved me back and got up to untie my legs.

“Please…” I urged through my tears, which broke the dam of my hope and rolled out uncontrollably.

The door opened again and an old woman with a walking stick walked in. Her cold gray eyes narrowed on me as she watched me like a hawk through her netted black veil. She was wearing a black silk blouse with a black pleated skirt that fell to her calves. Her white hair was tied in a neat bun hidden behind a hat.

Brute rose to his feet in fear. “Madam Nella, I was getting her ready,” he said in a clipped, tense tone.

“Please let me go,” I begged through wet eyes.

Without looking at him, she said in an icy voice, devoid of emotion, “There’s no escape from here, Kimble. You better accept your fate. Your mother owes me a million dollars. By selling you to the wolves, I’ll be able to get at least half of that. Put on that lingerie so the bidders can see your assets.”

A million dollars? Wolves? My jaw dropped. “I’ll do anything to repay you, Madam Nella. Don’t do this to me.”

She gave me a once-over and signaled, with a jerk of her chin, for Brute to get me ready for the auction. As soon as she left, Brute untied my legs and walked out. “I’ll be back in an hour.” He closed the door behind him and I heard the distinctive click of the lock.

As soon as he left, a tsunami of emotions surged through me. I curled my knees up and hugged them. And then I cried. No sobbed. Couldn’t you wait for one more day, God? Just one more day and I would’ve been hundreds of miles away from here. My mother had been so cruel to me when I was a child, yet I endured her cruelty because I had no one else to go to. I remembered how she would make me eat food so hot it would scald my tongue, but I had it while crying and not making a noise because she was my safe haven. She was my normal.

Then suddenly, she became everything… abnormal.

Seconds turned into minutes, and I lost all sense of time as I cried until I could cry no more. My eyes hurt, my lips were swollen, and my cheeks were flushed when I looked at myself in the mirror. And realization dawned upon me that there was literally no escape. I took a cold bath.

I’d probably be free if someone bought me.

The red teddy barely covered my breasts and fell short on my hips. It was so horribly revealing. So I picked up my shorts and put them on over the top.

When Brute came in, he hissed at the shorts. Grabbing me roughly by my waist, he pulled them off, even as I protested.

“Shut up!” he yelled. He grasped my hand and dragged me out of the room toward a flight of stairs. It was hard to keep up with him, but I rushed as fast as I could.

When we arrived in a small foyer, he pushed me toward a group of five girls, all wearing matching red teddies. Like a fragile leaf, trembling in the storm of my fear, I collided with one of them. She whimpered as she caught me. “Steady…” she whispered. “And don’t protest, else he’ll tie you up and beat you here. It’s better to be out of here than in here.”

My lips quivered as I stood quietly in the foyer and waited with the rest of the girls for someone to bid for me. I tried to understand how my mom could betray me like this, but my bitterness toward her had already evolved into hatred.

“You have beautiful baby blue eyes and pale blonde hair,” a brunette beside me whispered, touching it. “You might be auctioned at a higher price.”

Before I could say anything, Brute appeared. “Time to go on the stage,” he barked at us. “You better behave out there, ’cause if you don’t, I’ll fucking drag you back here and choke you, got it?”

We all nodded, clutching each other for comfort, our faces pale, and breaths coming in quick, shallow gasps. Some of the girls had tear-streaked cheeks, while others stared blankly ahead, their minds overwhelmed by the nightmare they were living. The sound of muffled sobs and occasional whispered reassurances filled the oppressive silence.

One by one, the girls were called, and I heard people shouting and passing snide remarks. I was the last to go.

I entered a room with my hands clasped in front of me and scanned the audience, but I couldn’t see anyone. There were cameras everywhere. Blinding lights hit me while these monsters hid in the darkness, sitting upstairs in private balconies, enjoying the trade in flesh.

Brute was on the stage waiting for me as Madam Nella announced, “Here comes our most beautiful possession. She’s a virgin, loves to exercise.” She laughed softly. “My men had to run to catch her.” Shaking her head, she added, “She was about to graduate from high school, but we got her! You can chase her all you like, or make her study… you.”

Loud, unruly laughter rose from the crowd. Some whistled and some hooted.

Madam Nella signaled Brute to come forward. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders from behind, pinning me to his chest. One hand snaked to my hips, which he squeezed painfully.

“Look at her luscious skin,” Madam Nella chuckled. “The bidding starts at thirty thousand dollars.”

“No!” I cried.

“Thirty thousand!” said a nasally voice.

“Fifty thousand,” a man shouted gruffly.

I gulped as Brute brought his hand to my thigh and pinched me. I yelped in pain, jumping away, but he pulled me hard against him, not allowing me to move.

“Eighty thousand!” I heard a woman’s soft voice from my left.

I whimpered in pain. If God gave me superpowers, I was going to kill Brute first and then Madam Nella. “Let me go!”

Brute leaned closer and nibbled my ear. “Don’t move. The bidding’s going better than we expected.”

“Hundred thousand dollars,” the nasally voice came again, this time more aggressively.

“Hundred and fifty thousand,” two voices came simultaneously.

“One hundred and seventy-five,” the woman upped her bid.

Everyone fell silent. A soft chuckle emanated from the shadows. “She’s mine,” the woman said. “Wrap it up.”

Madam Nella looked at me proudly. “Hundred and seventy-five, going once. Hundred and seventy-five, going twice. Hundred and seventy-five—”

“Three million dollars,” a deep, dark voice came from the balcony right in front of me.

I gasped as an icy block of dread dropped in my belly. Who would bid that much for me? And what was he going to make me do? Would he rape and kill me? What kind of kink was he into?

“Please don’t!” I shouted.

Brute immediately slapped his hand over my mouth as he growled. “Shut the fuck up, bitch!”

Madam Nella chortled. “That’s the highest bid I’ve ever received for any girl!” She glanced at me with a smile. “Is there anyone who’d like to bid higher?”

There were rustles and muffled murmurs, but no one had the nerve to raise their bid.

Madam Nella grinned. “Three million dollars, going once.” She scanned the balconies. “Three million dollars, going twice.” She paused, greedily hoping for more. “Three million dollars, sold!” she brought the hammer down on the podium. “Please collect your girl from the office.”