Chapter 22

"Come on now,honey. Take off your clothes, and I will help you slip into this gown." A blonde, blue-eyed woman waits for me to strip while in a dressing room.

She's assigned to help me. All the girls have someone, I was told. I guess the owner of the club wants to make sure none of us change our minds and run off. Which, I'll be honest, sounds tempting right about now.

The hairs on my nape prickle. I'm shivering, yet the room is warm. My arms curl around my body, and I can't seem to do this. I can't take off my clothes in front of her. This is humiliating!

"Sweetie, if you don't do what you're told, the boss is going to be very disappointed, and I don't want to be around when that happens."

She grimaces, crossing a long, tanned leg over the other. A tight black corset is the only thing she's wearing as she watches me from the red leather sofa.

When I don't listen, she shakes her head and rises, strutting right up to me. "Give me your hand."

Trembling, I remove one from my body, barely able to make it move. She pulls it into hers and looks right at me, running the fingers of her other hand over the top of mine.

"I know you're scared. Of course you are. Many of the girls are, but it's my job to make you feel as comfortable as possible. There's no shame in this. Not here. In fact, all the girls are treated well. So be a good girl and take off your dress, or I can do it for you. It's up to you."

Though she smiles, there's something cold in her demeanor, and it only makes me quiver even more.

I have to do this. I have to fight my nerves and get it over with. When I close my eyes, I see Mason and how angry he was with me.

That's all it takes for me to force my arms down and start undoing the side zipper.

"That's it. Keep going." Her lips twist.

I unzip the rest, and when the straps start to fall down my shoulders, she's there pulling them down, exposing my breasts.

Her eyes narrow as she takes in my beaded tips, her hands dragging down the dress until I'm in nothing but a pair of cotton panties.

"Those too." She eyes my underwear, and my face turns beet red.

But with a quick inhale, I pull them until they're on the floor.

"Beautiful." She smiles salaciously. "Now, I'll put these on your nipples." She picks up a pair of teardrop-jeweled pasties, removing the strip of paper from one before she presses the cover up to my breast, then does the same thing to the other.

"Let's put on your gown now, shall we?"

I nod, my stomach in knots. I feel beyond embarrassed from the way she's looking at me. I can't wait until this entire thing is over.

I know Karen is out there, sitting in the audience with Adam, and I'm completely mortified already. They're gonna see me naked on that stage.

Oh my God, what am I doing? What am I doing?!

The woman slips the see-through white dress off the hanger and approaches. It's exactly the same as the ones I saw the girls wearing when I watched the auction. My entire body there for everyone to see.

"Arms up, sweetie."

She holds it out, and when I raise them, she drops it over me.

"You're quite stunning." She gives me a slow once-over. "The winner will be a very lucky man. Or woman."

A single seductive brow hikes up, and I want to crawl into a corner and die.

"Now for your mask." She moves to the closet and removes a white one made with lace and feathers around the eyes.

She helps me put it on, then runs her fingers through my hair and fluffs the strands over my shoulders. "Now you're ready. You will be the third one up, so it will give you some time to prepare. Once the act is done, you will come back here to collect your money. Understand?"

"Yes," I whisper, nausea battling in my throat.

"Smile," she says. "Today you become a woman."

Yeah. Sure. That's definitely how that works…

I roll my eyes in my head.

"Now come." She starts for the door. "We must wait backstage."

"Okay."

Nervously swallowing down my fear, I follow her down a long corridor lined by a few men with weapons in their holsters. They don't stare at me or make me feel uncomfortable, which is a relief. They seem to have their minds trained on their task, which includes just standing around and looking scary. They're doing a pretty good job.

We arrive at a large backstage area, and I count about fifteen girls here, all nervous-looking, all seated in the chairs. One blonde woman is playing with her hair, her foot bouncing. Another is drinking something red through a straw. Probably liquor.

"Would you like a drink? I'm Esther, by the way." She glances at me behind her shoulder. "I can get you whatever you want. There's a bar over there."

She points to the left, and I see it, with a guy serving a woman who's dressed like Esther.

"No. I think I'm fine. I can't handle too much alcohol."

She laughs. "Of course. Well, go have a seat, and they will let us know when it's your turn."

I scurry to an empty chair, and a young woman beside me glances at me.

All our masks and dresses are the same, and I can see her brown eyes.

"Hi," she says. "I'm Susanna. What's your name?"

Can't tell her that. Especially with how different my name is, but they allowed us to pick our own stage names on the application.

"I'm Ellen."

"Nice to meet you." She brings her chair closer and whispers, "Are you nervous too? I'm second-guessing this entire thing. All I wanted was money to pay for college. But this was stupid and now it's too late."

"I'm sorry."

I feel bad for her. I've lived a privileged life. I've never had to worry about money, but so many people do.

"It's fine." She sits up straighter, as though that'll make it all okay. "It will be over soon. For both of us."

"Yes. That's right." The sooner, the better.

The first girl is called and brought out by a woman in a gold mask and black corset. The second follows not long after.

And I know what's coming.

"Ellen. You're up," Esther calls.

My whole body spreads with a wave of ice-cold fear. The kind that stops you dead in your tracks.

"Oh, God…" I whisper, my knees bucking as I force my legs to work.

Just stand up and go before she calls the boss.

"You can do this," Susanna attempts to reassure me, but nothing will help.

Curling a fist, I make myself get to my feet, my flesh riding with goose bumps.

Esther saunters over and slips her arm through mine. "Take a breath, honey. You'll be okay."

What a lie.

She leads me out another door, and bright lights assault me.

When I blink a few times, I realize…I'm on a stage, so many masked faces in the audience. Hundreds of them.

Oh my God…

Esther remains by my side while the emcee's mouth curls, his attention zeroing in on me.

"Welcome Ellen, contestant number three. A beautiful young virgin who loves to write and enjoys taking care of her animals. She's a straight-A student and takes her studies very seriously."

He gathers my hand and lifts it in the air, spinning me once on my heels. "She's looking to uncover her sexuality, and maybe tonight, the lucky winner will help her do that."

He gives me a smirking look, while I'm shaking all over.

My eyes bounce around the audience but I don't see anyone I know. Not Karen. Not Adam. Not even the man in the mask. There are just too many people here.

"The bidding will start at one hundred thousand."

Shit.

DEVLIN

Where the feck is she?!

I can't find her anywhere. I'm stalking through rooms, wondering if she's hanging from some contraption from the ceiling. Or worse, if she has another man's hands on her, and this time it isn't me.

But after the ominous warning from Konstantin, I have to expect just about anything. As I head down the corridor, passing rooms on both sides, I find a larger open area with seating, like at a show.

Unsure what the hell this is, I walk in and see a girl on stage and…

No…

My pulse throbs in my ears. "Eriu?"

But no one can hear me while she's being displayed on stage like cattle, wearing a fecking see-through dress, her damn nipples covered in rhinestones.

"Three hundred thousand." A man with a red devil's mask raises his auction number.

"What the feck?" My heart races, and my feet are moving of their own accord, my hand on the weapon at my holster.

What are they bidding on?

"Five hundred," someone else calls.

And the numbers keep rising until they reach a million.

I grab the arm of one of the men standing beside a woman. "What is this?"

His mouth twitches and so does hers. "Auction. You can buy their virginity."

FECK!

She can't be doing this! I won't bloody allow it.

A vein throbs in my neck, my fist curling at my side as I walk toward the center of the room between the two sections of seats. And that's when she sees me.

But she has no idea who I am, does she? I'm a stranger yet again.

I won't be for long. I will not let her sell herself to anyone. Never. I'll maim and kill any bastard who thinks himself worthy of her.

My hand tightens around my weapon, heartbeats galloping in my throat. I know what would happen if I killed someone here. Konstantin would kill me.

But right now, I don't care if I live or die because I vowed to protect her, and this is what I must do.

"Three million dollars," a man with a deep Russian accent calls, and her audible gasp echoes.

He's not touching her. He won't even get the chance.

I prowl closer as he stands up, getting ready to claim her.

"Going once…"

I'm rushing toward the stage, hoping to cause a distraction and to reason with Konstantin somehow before I do something I can't take back.

My eyes land on hers, and I swear I want to rip my bloody mask off and tell her who I am. But I can't even think about that now. All I can do is concentrate on how to end this.

"Stop this shite!" I call, but besides a few passing glances, everyone ignores me.

She jerks back a step, body visibly trembling, and from my periphery, I find a few of the guards storming toward me.

"Going twice."

"Konstantin! You'd better put a stop to this!"

More people turn toward me, curious now that I've mentioned him.

But he never comes.

"Sold! To number 3762."

The rest happens in the blink of an eye.

The gun is out in seconds, and just as the winner starts toward the stage, my body roils with rage.

"Don't feckin' touch her!" A roar climbs out of my throat just as one of my bullets rips into the winner's head.

Screams erupt from the audience, and in the chaos, she stares at me, quivering.

"Devlin?"

Yeah, love. It's me.