The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fɪғᴛʏ﹣Sᴇᴠᴇɴ ❊

Right at noon, the doorbell rang and I went to go answer it. Sophia was still forcing me not to work, telling me that she could get everything done without any problem. But since she was busy getting things ready for lunch, I went to the door.

Enzo tried to stop me, telling me that he'd get it. But I told him that I'd be fine. I needed to do something other than just sit around all day watching television until it was time to eat.

I opened the door and the practiced smile froze on my face.

A man and a woman stood there, staring down at me. The man had thick black hair, accenting his bright green eyes halfway hidden behind black-rimmed glasses. His mustache was trimmed and the rest of his face looked as if he had just shaved. He wore dark jeans and a black polo under a thick winter jacket.

The woman's strawberry blonde hair trailed over her shoulders in even waves. Her brown eyes searched me, locking on the scars on my arms. Her manicured nails tightened around her favorite black clutch that she always wore with those white pants and black boots. Her wool coat was hugged around her small frame, her attempt to try to keep warm.

My heart seemed to stop.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Whelan." Enzo's voice shook me out of my shock.

I took a step back, letting my mother and father into the house.

My mother's eyes never once left the scars.

"What happened to our daughter," my father growled.

That was why Enzo looked so sad earlier. Because his guests were my parents and he was afraid that they would take me from him. The sad part was, he could be right. My parents would drag me out of that house when they found out what happened to me. It didn't matter what my age was. Their baby was hurt. My mother would sue Enzo for purchasing a human being, not knowing that the government would overlook the case because of what he was to them. And then my father...he'd kill Enzo.

"I'll explain over lunch." Enzo motioned for them to follow him, which they did.

Normally, my mother would have commented on the house like I had. Her reaction would have been the exact same. But the fact that she saw my scars probably made all of those words leave her mind.

I sat down next to Enzo in the dining room, making sure to be able to see both of my parents when they heard the news. I wasn't sure what I would say to back up Enzo's claims, but I had to do something.

"Explain," my father prompted. "What the fuck happened to our daughter, Mr. Bianchi?"

"I would have to start from the beginning," Enzo answered, his voice calm. I reached over and entwined my fingers through his for support.

As he explained the situation, making sure to go around his job title, my mother and father's faces went from angry, to horror-stricken, then to livid.

"You bought my daughter from a human auction," my father hissed through clenched teeth. "How the hell did she get to the auction in the first place?"

"Vince." The name made my mother's face pale and my father's grow red with fury.

"You have to understand something though, dad." I cut into the conversation. "Enzo isn't the one at fault here, so your anger is being centered on the wrong person. He saved me from being purchased by a sex trafficker or a slave owner. And then he saved me again from Maverick after he took me."

"This would have never happened if the truth would have been told at the beginning," my mother shot back. "I would have understood Enzo's position if he would have just told me in that email instead of lying and saying that you chose to work with him. He could have told us when you were taken, or even when you were in a coma for a month and a half. But he just called the other day. And now, after six months of you being gone, he says that he actually purchased you. I'm sorry, but I think our anger isn't misplaced, Eva. He lied from the beginning."

I stood slowly. "Mother, you don't get it, do you? He had to lie to you. You would have come storming over here to take me back and then where would I be? Maverick would have found me again and Enzo would never have known what happened. I could be dead right now. He lied to you to protect me. I don't see how that's cause for your anger."

"Mr. and Mrs. Whelan." Enzo's voice was soft, but it got the attention of the entire room. "I do apologize for everything that this conversation has put you through. I know you're angry, and you have a right to be. But what Eva said was right. I couldn't tell you without endangering her life even more than it already was with Maverick's eyes on her. I did what I could to protect her."

"Look where that got you." My father sneered.

Enzo's eyes became sad. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at me, who was still standing. I couldn't believe what my father just implied.

I pointed at Enzo. "He didn't give me these scars. He didn't whip me or beat me until I was unconscious. He didn't rape me. He didn't starve me out until I was on the verge of death. He didn't make me crawl to him like a dog just to get some food. He didn't make me piss myself just to watch my embarrassment. He didn't make me drink out of a bucket with only my tongue. He didn't chain me up to a wall and force me to do things. Enzo saved me. He found me and saved me. Then he hired a doctor to heal me. Don't you dare put the blame on him."

I was angry for the first time in months. Never did I think my anger would be directed at my parents. But they were in the wrong. Enzo hadn't done a thing to hurt me, whether he wanted to believe it or not.

My parents stared at me through slightly-widened eyes. My father looked shocked at my outburst, finally hearing exactly what Maverick had done to me. My mother's face turned green. If I would have gone into detail about every little thing, I doubted that she would have been able to hold down her bile. Even thinking about it made me want to curl up and cry, but I didn't allow myself to. I had enough nightmares of Maverick as it was. I didn't need to think about him during the day.

I sat back down when Sophia came in with our food. It wasn't anything too fancy compared to what Enzo normally had. I think that he knew we'd be talking about what happened to me and knew that my parents wouldn't be able to stomach much. So it was only a cup of tomato soup with a salad.

I smiled at Sophia. "She's from the auction too."

She tilted her head and glanced at my parents from the corner of her eye. "I am. And I don't know where I'd be if Enzo wouldn't have saved me. So don't be too hard on him, please."

She turned and walked back into the kitchen, shooting me a wink just before the doors closed.

I smiled and took a bite of my salad. So passive-aggressive.

My mom looked down at her food, then back at me. "How can you eat?"

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm hungry."

Carmen walked in and scowled at me. "Eva Whelan."

I turned and smiled. I guessed I missed my shot again. And when he walked over to me and grabbed my arm, I knew I was right. The prick of the needle didn't make me flinch. Needles didn't scare me anymore. That was a part of the reason why I smiled at him. I had always been terrified of needles, and my parents knew that. And I knew my parents were watching for my reaction.

I wasn't afraid of needles anymore because I knew of things that hurt much worse than a small prick of a needle. And my parents were seeing that first-hand.

Good.