Page 17 of Traitor
I heard footsteps padding toward me, but no one spoke.
“Hello?” I asked again.
I heard something dragging across the floor before the sound stopped. Something creaked, then the sound stopped again.
And it wasn’t until I felt his breath against my face that I realized he was sitting in front of me.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the main event.”
Lorenzo’s voice filled my ears and I quickly backed up. Until my back fell against a wall, that is.
“Tonight,” he continued, “we have a very special prize to auction off.”
Panic flooded my stomach as tears rushed my eyes. It hurt to blink and it hurt to move. It even hurt to think. But, when Lorenzo continued on with the adage from the auction last night, I felt a growing sickness in my gut that I couldn’t suppress.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
I hated the fact that my voice shook.
“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” he said as the bed dipped in front of me, “we’re going to be auctioning off the daughter of one of the most powerful attorneys to ever grace the United States. And you better open up your wallets, fellas, because we’re not letting this prize go for less than ten million.”
I tried to hold back my tears. “You’re sick, you know that?”
Lorenzo didn’t stop. “Do I hear the starting bid of ten million? Ten million, anyone?”
He cleared his throat as if he were playing another character, and I regretted not letting Lyle kill me last night.
That was last night, right?
“Ten million,” Lorenzo said in a commanding voice.
Then, his voice shifted again. “Wonderful! Do I hear eleven million? Eleven, anyone?”
He cleared his throat and it sounded different again. “I’ll do eleven, sure.”
In a flash, I heard a gunshot ring out and I screamed. I jumped back so far that my body pressed against the wall the bed sat against, and I heard Lorenzo scramble for me. He gripped my hair with his hand and pulled me back to him, until I was perched on my knees on the edge of the bed.
Then, he pressed his lips against my ear. “Do I ear eleven million from anyone that’s still alive?”
He was role-playing my auction as if he had been the one to purchase me. There he was, playing auctioneer and bidders before popping off his gun as if he were shooting anyone else who bid on me. It was sick, and I wanted to vomit all over him. But, I was so tired and my head hurt so badly and the back of my neck felt so stiff that I was scared to make him do anything that might jerk me around more.
I should’ve let Lyle kill me.
Lorenzo’s voice puffed air against the side of my face. “Ten million going once. Ten million going twice. Sold, to the man in the dapper suit and the deep pockets, everybody! She’s all yours, Mr. Lucchese.”
He tossed me down onto the bed and my mind didn’t know which way to panic. One moment, I was reliving the absolute horrors of being sold off that day. And the next moment, I was reliving how stupid I felt for not succumbing to Lyle when I had the chance. At least then, I wouldn’t have to feel Lorenzo’s paws clamoring for my breasts. At least then, I wouldn’t have to endure the hell I knew was coming for me as he strapped my ankles and my wrists against the bed, with my legs spread wide.
“Please, don’t,” I whimpered helplessly.
Lorenzo cracked his hand against my inner thigh and I screamed.
“You’ll take it and you’ll like it. Or, I can kill you myself.”
I lifted my head despite the pain. “I would rather eat my own fucking grilled-up colon than willingly have sex with you.”
I heard his belt slip out of its loops. “Very well, then. I’m sure that can be arranged. One can live without a colon, after all.”
I tugged against the restraints. “Help! Somebody help me!”
