The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tʜɪʀᴛʏ﹣Fᴏᴜʀ ❊

I swatted Vince's hand away from me. I fought against him as he pulled me to him and threw me to the floor. Pain shot up my back and I cringed, a quiet sound escaping through my clenched teeth.

He climbed on top of me and pinned my arms by my sides with his legs before he began his search, slowly kneading his fingers against my skin. I remembered a time when I enjoyed the feel of his touch. But with him feeling every inch of me, in front of Enzo, I hated it. I hated him.

"You're a coward," I spat through my teeth as he began kneading the tops of my breasts. "You didn't even take the time to ask me. You just assumed."

He continued without a word, barely even reacting to my words. His fingers slipped under my bra and I heard Enzo growl by the door.

I kept my eyes on Vince. "So you send Maverick to me. A slave trader."

He continued over my other breast. Why wouldn't he look at me?

"I loved you, Vince. I would have never cheated on you. No one could have made me turn away from you in the way you turned away from me."

His fingers stilled on my left arm. I thought he was going to say something back, but his fingers began moving again at an even quicker pace, as if he couldn't get done searching me quick enough. The good thing about knowing him for so long is the fact that I knew exactly when his mood shifted and what it shifted to.

He wasn't angry anymore. He was agitated, sure. But not angry.

He twisted around and gave me his back as he continued running fingers over my flesh. When his hand slid under the waistband of my pants, I forced my arms out from under his legs and twisted under his weight.

"Don't you fucking touch me anywhere near there," I yelled, punching him as hard as I could. "You lost that right a long fucking time ago! You're just a bastard who left when the goings got too hard for you to handle. You left because you thought I fucked some other man while we were together. I lost your baby. I get it. But I lost her too! And you left me to deal with everything on my own! You never called, never texted...you didn't even truly say goodbye. You know what? Fuck you, Vince. Fuck...you."

He spun around and wrapped his fingers around my throat. It was constricting, but I didn't let the pain show on my face. I only looked up into his beautiful blue eyes and allowed my own eyes to tell him everything. I wasn't lying to him. I never slept with anyone other than him since I had known him. I did love him back then. But I hated the man sitting above me.

But I allowed him to choke me. My hands rested by my sides. I didn't struggle against him. I just laid there, my eyes on his even when my vision began to blacken at the corners. Tears began to stream down my face, but it wasn't from the pain. That pain was beginning to numb. But it was the pain of what he did. He didn't just leave me. He sold me off.

Vince was pulled off of me and I curled myself into a ball on the floor. I tried not to choke on the sudden rush of air in my lungs, but it was no use. I cried while I choked in air, wanting to scream and die all at the same time.

Maverick leaned over me, pushing me onto my back. I narrowed my eyes and swung my arm up and out, slamming my fist against his face. He barely even moved.

He pulled me to my feet, tying my hands behind my back with a zip tie. The plastic dug into my wrists, cutting the flesh as I moved. I tried to fight back. I did. But he was too strong.

Enzo was standing at the far end of the room being held onto by Thomas. Sophia was crying and reaching for me, but Thomas held her back too.

"She's not strong enough for this," she was screaming. "Don't let him take her! Enzo, don't let them take her! She won't live through it! Get off of me, Thomas!"

Enzo's jaw was tight.

Thomas closed his eyes. "She is strong enough. Either we let her go or we watch her die. She has a better chance if we let her go."

"She'll die anyway!" Sophia was putting up more of a fight than I thought she could.

I didn't really know what was going on, but I gathered from their conversation that Maverick was taking me from them. Thomas looked pained, having to be the only rational one in the room. I understood his predicament, and I understood why he was allowing them to take me.

I was a fighter, even when I didn't want to be. But I highly doubted that I would live through it.

Maverick leaned down next to my ear so that no one else could hear him speak. "Either you'll act like a good little slave and do as I say, or I will break you into submission. I'll return you to Enzo after you're nothing but a shell of yourself and he won't be able to revive that spunk he loves so much."

I looked over at Enzo. His eyes were narrowed as he looked at both Vince and Maverick. When his eyes met mine though, they softened into unabashed concern. I wanted to ask him why the hell he wasn't trying to get me from them. Why he wasn't fighting against the hand holding him away from me.

"Enzo!" Sophia pulled hard against the hold Thomas had on her, her face screwed up in rage even though tears rolled down her face. "Stop them, Enzo! There's three of us!"

When Enzo looked like he was about to take her up on that command, Maverick stuck his gun to the back of my neck and smiled into my hair. "Tell them that you'll be okay and you'll be back soon. I won't keep you long. Just long enough to break you. I'm not in the business of allowing all of my hard work to just slip through my fingers. I sell slaves, Eva. Not spunky little vixens who get off on running free."

I clenched my hands into fists. I wasn't going to tell them that I would be fine. If I knew anything about Maverick, it was the fact that he was ruthless. He wouldn't go easy on me. He would take his time in breaking me and would enjoy every second of it. I just hoped that Vince would be there during the process to see just how horrible of a predicament he put me in.

"I'll be back," I said loud enough to make Sophia stop struggling. I forced a smile on my face as the three of them looked back at me. I knew it didn't look real, but I wasn't going for real. I was scared and they all knew it.

"You're just going to let them take her," Sophia screeched at Enzo. "I thought you cared for her! I thought you loved her!"

Enzo ground his teeth together. "If I take a step towards her, she's dead. She has a better chance of living if I let her go. And that's the only reason why I'm letting her go. Because I care for her. Don't you dare assume that I don't."

I felt the backs of my eyes burn with the threat of tears. I held my breath, trying so hard not to show how afraid I truly was.

Maverick motioned for Vince to follow him out of the room with a jerk of his head. Even when we were walking down the seemingly abandoned corridors, I could hear Sophia's screaming and mumbled words coming from Thomas. But Enzo didn't speak. Not once.

The front of the house had no guards. I hoped that someone would shoot the two men down, allowing me to run back to Enzo. But there was no one. No one at all.

A sharp pain had me reeling within seconds. I turned on unsteady feet once Maverick let me go to try and start running. But the drug was fast-acting and I fell to the ground within seconds, my vision going blurry, then dark, as it forced me into unconsciousness.

*****

A/N: I'm a fan of writing cliffhangers...especially during parts like this so I'm sorry in advance.