Lorelei POV

By the second week, I had completely lost hope that anyone was coming to rescue me and instead found myself praying that whoever bought me wouldn’t be as cruel as the rogues.

It was pathetic, honestly.

But fear could make you desperate for even the smallest scraps of mercy.

Sometimes I caught myself wondering how guilty Raven must be feeling right now, even though none of this was actually her fault.

I wished I could tell her that.

Then one evening, for the first time since being brought there, I was finally led out of the room.

Drax shoved me down a narrow hallway before dragging me into another room, and the second I looked up, my stomach dropped.

A man who looked to be in his forties was sitting across from us.

Something about him immediately made my skin crawl.

"This is her?" he asked in a low, calm voice.

Drax nodded proudly. "As promised. Healthy. Unmarked. A rare beauty, wouldn’t you say?"

The man slowly rose to his feet and walked toward me, making me instinctively flinch backward.

His brown eyes scanned me carefully from head to toe in a way that made me feel less like a person and more like an object being inspected before purchase.

Then he turned back toward Drax.

"We have a deal."

Drax instantly grinned, exposing his yellowed teeth. "Pleasure doing business with you."

The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick envelope before tossing it carelessly onto the table.

Silas immediately snatched it up, greedily tearing it open to count the stacks of cash inside while the man’s gaze remained fixed on me the entire time.

"Stand up straight," he ordered calmly.

When I didn’t move fast enough, he suddenly grabbed my arm roughly, his fingers digging directly into the bruises left behind from the crash.

Pain shot through me so sharply that my eyes instantly watered, but I bit down hard on my lip, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing me cry out.

"She doesn’t speak much, does she?" the man murmured, brushing his thumb slowly across my cheek.

My skin crawled violently beneath his touch.

"She’s quiet," Drax chimed in from behind us as he stuffed his share of the money into his pocket. "But that shouldn’t be a problem. Nobody wants a loud bitch as a wife anyway."

"I wish that were the case," the man replied dryly.

His head tilted slightly as he studied me again before letting out a quiet sigh.

"Take her out to the van."

My entire body went cold.

Wife?

Before I could even properly process what exactly I had just been sold for, two large heavily armed guards who had been standing silently near the wall suddenly stepped forward.

One of them gripped my bound arms tightly and hauled me upright when my trembling legs refused to cooperate, while the other yanked a heavy black hood over my head, instantly swallowing me in suffocating darkness.

****

For days, I was moved around constantly.

The van barely ever stopped during that time, which only meant one thing.

I was getting farther and farther away from any place where someone could possibly find me.

By what I guessed was the fourth day, the black hood covering my face was finally ripped off.

I immediately squinted against the sudden light as cold night air hit my skin.

The moon hung high above us while I was roughly dragged out of the van. My legs wobbled painfully beneath me after being cramped inside for so long, but somehow I still managed to stay upright.

Then I looked around and froze.

Tall buildings towered around me from every direction, so massive and unfamiliar that for a second, I could only stare in stunned silence.

Where the hell was I?

The man who had bought me immediately stepped to my side before leading me through a back entrance into what looked like a sprawling estate.

And it was huge.

At least ten times larger than Silver Fang Pack.

The sheer size of it made my stomach twist uneasily.

I was eventually led deeper inside through another set of doors into what looked more like a smaller private compound separated from the main estate.

That was where I saw the other women.

Several of them.

All dressed in simple gray maid uniforms with their hair pulled tightly back. The moment they noticed me, their eyes immediately shifted toward me with expressions that made me shrink into myself even more.

Some looked curious.

Others looked pitying.

A few gave me looks of disgust.

The realization that none of them were prisoners screaming for help made my chest tighten painfully.

No one was coming to rescue me.

I swallowed hard as I was pushed into another room and flinched the second the door slammed shut behind us, leaving only the man and me inside.

"Do you know why you’re here?" he asked calmly as he settled behind a large desk.

My stomach twisted violently.

The only explanation my mind could come up with was sex trafficking.

Women being bought and sold to satisfy disgusting powerful men like him.

I had heard stories about things like this before, whispered quietly between servants, but realizing I might actually be trapped in one made my blood run completely cold.

"You are aware you were sold to me," he continued, stating the obvious as he reached for a pack of cigarettes and lit one.

The sharp scent immediately filled the room, and he took a slow drag before exhaling smoke lazily toward the ceiling.

"You know, out of all the women we’ve brought here, you are one of the most expensive." His eyes flicked toward me again. "Usually, we take girls from poor villages or women who simply can’t survive on their own in this world."

"Why are you telling me all this?" I cut in suddenly, my fists clenching tightly at my sides.

Because honestly, what exactly was I supposed to say to that?

Thank you for buying me?

Even if I knew what would have happened if he hadn’t, I still never asked for any of this.

He paused with the cigarette hovering inches from his lips as he stared at me.

Then slowly, his mouth curled into a faint smirk.

"So you speak?"

I didn’t respond.

I just held his gaze even as my heart pounded hard enough that I could feel it climbing into my throat.

Slowly, he placed the cigarette into the ashtray before leaning back in his chair, studying me like I was some strange puzzle he was trying to figure out.

"Most of the women brought here," he said slowly, "cry. They beg. They bargain. They offer me things they don’t even have in exchange for freedom they’ll never get."

Then he stood up and walked around the desk toward me.

My entire body immediately tensed.

"But you..." He stopped directly in front of me, close enough for me to smell the tobacco lingering on him. "You’re different. You’re scared. I can smell it on you. But you’re not begging. You’re not crying." His brows furrowed slightly. "You’re just... quiet. Why?"

Why?

Maybe because I was exhausted.

Exhausted of begging.

Exhausted of hoping.

I had already spent most of my life being manipulated, controlled, and discarded whenever people were done with me. Betrayed by my sister, my parents, and the man I stupidly thought loved me.

If it hadn’t been for Raven, I probably would have died long ago.

So at this point, what exactly was left to fear?

I had already touched the bottom of hell.

Begging didn’t save me from the rogues.

Why would it save me now?

When he realized I still wasn’t going to answer him, he let out a low chuckle before suddenly reaching for the bindings around my wrists and undoing them.

Pain immediately shot through my arms as blood rushed back into them.

"From now on, you’ll be working as a maid in this estate, Ella."

My brows instantly pulled together.

"My name is Lorelei," I said quietly, trying to defend at least that much of myself.

"You will be called Ella," he replied firmly.

His hand moved to grip my shoulder tightly as his expression darkened enough to send chills crawling down my spine.

"You are an orphan from the outer villages desperate to make a living. If anyone asks, that is your story. Do you understand me?"

His grip tightened harder.

"Y-Yes," I choked out immediately from the pain, and only then did his hand loosen.

He gave my shoulder a slow pat that almost felt gentle, which somehow disturbed me even more. Like a master rewarding a dog for obeying properly.

"Good girl." His lips curved faintly. "Now, Ella, you’ll be shown to your quarters. Your duties begin in the morning."

Then he leaned down slightly, his warm breath brushing against my ear.

"And remember something very carefully," he said. "I own you now. Your old life is dead. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be for you."

He finally pulled back and smiled, a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"Guards," he called calmly, finally taking his eyes off me. "Take her to the servants’ quarters."