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Chapter 6
ISABELLA
Two years ago, when Isabella saved Ana.
I’ve been back from St. Monarch’s for two weeks when the yearly auction is held.
The mansion is draped in luxury, servers scurrying everywhere to prepare for the guests. I glance at the elevator that leads beneath the house. That’s where the girls are being kept in rooms and where the auction will take place. I’ve only been down there twice before, but it was enough to see what horrors take place beneath the house I call my home.
“Don’t embarrass me tonight,” Mother suddenly says as she comes up behind me.
I turn to face her and let out a sigh. “Do I have to attend?” I whine like a spoiled brat.
She gives me a cold glare. “Yes.”
I shrug and walk toward the elevator with her. “I’d rather go clubbing with Nadia and Gloria.”
Mother puts in the key, activating the elevator and the doors slide open. Once we step inside, her gaze sweeps over the revealing red dress I’m wearing. “Now that you’ve completed your training, I expect you to get involved in the business.”
“Nope.” I give her a sweet grin. “I plan on making up for the lost time. The training was tedious. I feel I deserve a couple of years off for the torture you had me endure.”
Mother’s eyes narrow on me. “How did I manage to raise a spoiled daughter? I despise that you don’t take after me.”
The elevator doors glide open, revealing a chamber with an octagon-shaped stage in the middle of the room. Chairs with bidding stations form a half-moon circle around the podium where the girls will be paraded.
Shrugging carelessly, I walk into the somber space. “You should’ve thought about that when you fucked my father.”
Mother’s face tightens with anger, and then she sneers, “You’re right, I should’ve. But, like you are now, I was young and stupid.”
I grin at her again. “See, I’m like you after all.”
I’m given a look of warning, and then the guests start to arrive, escorted down by Hugo, my mother’s lover and right-hand man.
My features turn to solid steel as I watch one depraved person after the other fill the room. Watching as the cesspool of humanity gathers, hatred begins to tremble in my chest.
I wish I could end them all with one blow, but knowing that’s an impossible task, I play the role of the Princess of Terror and dutiful daughter.
Soon the bidders take their seats, and then the auction begins. My heart bleeds as the young girls and boys are paraded, but it’s when the last girl is offered for auction that my muscles tense.
She’s fairy-like, giving me the impression that she could be killed by a simple slap, never mind whatever the winning bidder has planned for her.
My heartbeat speeds up as I listen to the bidding climb higher until she’s sold for one point two million dollars. Then, my focus turns to the man who just bought the girl, and stepping closer to my mother, I ask, “You must be happy with the price he’s paying?”
She hardly spares me a glance as she sneers, “You’ll probably spend it all in the next two weeks.”
I let out a fake amused chuckle. “Don’t mind if I do.” I let my gaze roam over the attendees. “Who are these people?”
“Mostly businessmen and bored wives of millionaires.” Luckily, Mother gestures to the man who just purchased the girl. “Mr. Sawiris is in construction. He’s been known to bury his slaves under the latest building he’s constructing.” Mother smiles at me. “Once he’s done with them, of course.”
The blood chills in my veins, but somehow I manage to keep up my act.