3

I could feel my tears burning the skin on my face and I was sure I had turned red from the anger that consumed me like breathing.

"Little girl, you look so exquisite in that outfit," the guy accompanying him caressed my face, while this one remained silent, indifferent; as if what he was looking at was a mere object.

I scrunched up my face in disgust, tensing my jaw until I heard my teeth grind.

"You fucking bastard, you're a filthy, disgusting piece of...!", I tried to throw myself at him, to kill him with my bare hands, but the men who had me were much stronger and no matter how much strength I tried to pull out, I couldn't overcome them, not even if I was so weak, "How the fuck could you sell me out? How could you do this," I questioned hurt, unable to believe that the man I once thought could be the love of my life, had been involved in such dark worlds and had the ability to do something like this to a human being.

They were going to sell me, they touched me all over my body to the point that I felt dirty and my whole being was exposed, every person could see me. I was prey to criminals, just like other women who were going through the same hell. However, I was sure that she was not being devoured by the Devil from the inside for having been sold by her boyfriend.

She had condemned me.

"It's business, precious. You're a valuable piece in a very dark market and I had a debt that was going to take my life; it was just picking one of two," Mauro clarified, with a seriousness that ate at my soul, but for a moment I saw him make a fateful expression, as if he was trying to hide something; as if he was scared, but then he returned to his previous position as soon as the man spoke again.

"Business, they're more important than women's stupid romanticism."

"You preferred to kill me, you're a selfish fucker and you're going to rot in hell," I sentenced aggressively towards Mauro, as I was dragged towards the inside of the room, where the first woman I had been taken to.

I had so much rage built up in my chest, I swore to myself that I was going to get away from whoever my captor was going to be and go back to find Mauro, whether he was in the deepest hole in the world; just as he put me in the line of death, I was going to kill him with my bare hands.

When I became aware of my reality again, I saw myself in front of a mirror, as I was being made up after my tears had been wiped away and drops had been put in my eyes, why they had turned blood red.

The girl watched me curiously; she didn't look as dangerous as the others I had come across.

"What," I questioned.

"Nothing, it's just that, you unlike all the girls I saw, you have a very hard face," she said, "You even look like you'd murder the one who bets the most on you."

"I'm doomed because of my boyfriend; death is mercy," I sentenced, tensing my jaw and she widened her eyes.

"I don't know you, but I advise you not to let that side of you show; it could present itself as a risk to the industry and you could be killed walking out of this room," she commented, finishing fixing my hair, "No one wanted this fate, but if you want to survive, adapting is always the best option. "

"Neither is the best option, I shouldn't be here, no one, not even you, does this look right to you," I frowned in annoyance and she looked down.

"My husband is a partner in this trade and I have no family," she confessed, "He is the only thing I have left. I had to enter this world out of obligation, I've seen things you can't imagine and that's why I'm telling you it's best if you go along," she sighed, "Or you could end up dead," she turned away from me, knocking on the door, "Aim to be the best of the bet; men with more power, can be more vulnerable."

The men who had held me in their arms came back and forcibly pulled me out. Fortunately Mauro was no longer there, or I would have tried to kill him with the small paintbrush I had taken from the girl.

As sad and unfair as I had found her story to be, it was my life and I was not about to be the victim of an unhinged man. She was not in my place; she was about to be sold as a prize to be won.

My heart stopped as soon as my friend Lexi appeared in front of my eyes, one aisle away from me, with other people holding her.

"Lexi!", I yelled at the top of my lungs and she raised her head in surprise.

"Evie, help me!" she pleaded, as she began to cry, but I didn't have the time to say anything, as she was pulled into a room next to mine.

My soul returned to my body knowing that at least she was alive, but that didn't take away the fact of our fate; we were both dressed in lingerie, although she seemed to have some bruises on her shoulders.

The light blinded my eyes and as soon as I adjusted to it, I realized where I was. The sound of manly voices and laughter around the room, where I was tucked in a glass box, quickened my pulse.

I couldn't make out the men in the chairs, nor their faces, as the light was pointed towards us, but it was clear that they were the ones; they were drinking like it was an everyday party, but they began to lower the volume when they noticed our presence.

I felt so uncovered and dirty, I couldn't believe what was happening.

<"Aim to be the best in the bet; men with more power, may be more vulnerable.">

An unstoppable pressure dominated my body and I tried to keep control, why I had no other choice. It wasn't like a movie, where I would find my way out or they would find me; I was doomed and it was the real world.

It wasn't like the books I wrote in the darkness of my room, like broken illusions in the dull, everyday life I led.

Before we started, a man rushed in to tie our hands in a line to the ceiling.

"Well gentlemen, it's time to start," a woman said over a loudspeaker, "We start the betting with our premium category, leaving the most delicious prize at the end," she finished saying and a light was pointed directly at one of the women. I gulped, as the others became nervous, "We start with twenty thousand dollars."

My stomach contracted as they took the girls one by one, at each auction, where the price kept getting higher and higher and I was at the end, with no idea what to do or what was in store for me after that night.

My heart started beating like crazy as soon as the light fell on me and I could feel it pounding, leaving me almost without visibility.

"And for our first session, a virgin, who besides that, could slip out between my fingers," the woman said, before hearing around my voice along with my best friend's when we were escaping that time. Off to the side I could tell they were showing video from a security camera and there I was, running and dodging cars. Which didn't really result in anything.

It was all planned and calculated by Mauro, they could see us the whole time.

"The bet starts at six hundred thousand dollars, who gives more?," he questioned and I saw how a man raised his hand, "Six hundred thousand dollars, who gives seven hundred thousand?," I saw again how another man raised his arm, "Seven hundred thousand going once...,"

"One million dollars," I heard the voice of one of those present and my skin turned cold.

"Wow, one million to the man in the brown vest, who'll give two million?," he questioned and they kept raising their hands, "Two million, who'll give three?"

"Me."

"Who's up for four?"

"Four million fifty thousand," I heard another voice.

"Well, who'll give fifty thousand more?," scoffed the woman.

"Ten million," the same man from the first time again came first, still not knowing who it was, but I had an unwelcome feeling when I heard his raspy voice.

"Ten million dollars for the young lady, who turned out to be more valuable to us than expected. Who'll give eleven?," he asked, however they began to hesitate, leaving this man who didn't look good to me, "Ten million going once, ten million going twice, ten million going..."

"Fifty million dollars, cash," said a deep voice in the back of the room, putting all around in silence, for the exorbitant amount he bet.

The woman I could half see went blank, and so did everyone else present. I had no idea who she was, let alone that this was the beginning of a roller coaster ride with no end in sight.