Chapter One
GAbrIELLA-ROSE
I WAS CURRENTLY sitting in the front room of my apartment with Vincent. It had been another three weeks since he’d last hit me, and the bruises were finally starting to fade from my body after his last attack. So far, this evening, he had stayed away from both the alcohol and the drugs. This usually meant that he wanted to talk. He only tended to stay clean for the evening if this was the case, or if he had an important meeting.
For the past few weeks, he went out every night and didn’t come home until the early hours, when he would usually just crash out on the sofa. I had considered packing a bag and just walking out, but I had nowhere to go. He would have found me soon enough.
So I spent my nights in my bedroom and locked the door, hoping that he wouldn’t come back and break it down. He had told me to move into one of the spare bedrooms a while ago, as he hated the sight of me. I hadn't complained because it gave me a place to escape him when I needed space. Which had been most of the time.
As I sat there across from him, I watched as he lifted his head and looked at me before he spoke.
“Have you heard of Club Lust, Ella?”
I hated the nickname he had decided to call me, but I was too afraid of the consequences if I told him. So I just let it go and smiled sweetly whenever he said it.
“I heard some of the girls mention it last time we went to the club. Isn’t that an elite club where they hold the auctions?”
The reason I had heard about it was because I was interested in getting into one of the auctions. You were either invited by recommendation from someone who had already been, or scouted by one of the workers at the club. Being with Vincent, I had little or no chance of any of that happening, but I lived in hope. The five-hundred-thousand-dollar payday for being sold would be just what I needed to get out of this relationship and far away.
Vincent carried on the conversation. “Yes, that’s right. It is a very exclusive club, and I have managed to get you an interview for the next auction.”
Why the hell did he want me to go into the auction? There had to be some reason, but this could be my way out. I didn’t want to seem too keen, though, so I answered as unenthusiastically as I could.
“Why have you done that? I wouldn’t have thought you would be happy with selling me off to the highest bidder for a whole weekend.”
A sadistic laugh came from him as he sat there and looked at me. “There is a very good reason why I have done it. The five hundred thousand dollars it would give me. It would solve all of my financial worries, and keep me happy for a while as well. All you have to do is open your legs, and I know you are good at that. Anyway, you won’t be bought by anyone I need to worry about. The only people who would be interested in you are the middle-aged and old fat guys at the clubs. I mean, look at you. Look at how much weight you have put on. I’m starting to feel embarrassed to be out with you.”
I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy sitting in front of me. I knew I had put on a little weight, but that was only thanks to having three miscarriages at his hands. As for me being good at opening my legs, I really didn’t have much choice. It was either that or pay the consequences later on. While I wasn’t that happy with the suggestion, or the fact that once again I was being forced to have sex with a complete stranger, especially to sort out Vincent’s money worries yet again, it started me thinking.
“You are my Dom, so of course I will do anything you tell me to, sir.”
I thought I would start to get him on my good side so I could hatch a plan of escape at some point over the weekend. I continued as though I had no idea of the process I had to go through when I really knew it down to every last detail.
“What am I required to do at this interview?”
Vincent got up from his seat and headed over to his desk in the corner of the room. Unlocking the drawer, he pulled out a document and proceeded to lock the drawer again. I wasn’t trusted with anything in any of his desks. Even as his PA, I hardly got involved with anything. Sometimes I thought the only reason I was there was so he could keep an eye on me, or give him a blow job under the desk when he was feeling stressed. He walked back over and passed me the document.
I read the front page of the document.
Application to Attend “A Night to Remember” Auction at Club Lust.
I flicked through the application, partly shocked at the number of questions and the information that they wanted to know. It was all pretty standard stuff: name, age, measurements, and all that. I guessed it wasn’t the questions, but just the sheer number of them. I looked at one of the last questions and wondered how the hell I was going to answer it. I looked up toward Vincent, who was just sitting there watching me and dared to ask a question that I couldn’t answer.
“Who do I put as the name of my reference, seeing as I wasn’t personally recruited?”
I watched as a sly grin came across his face before he answered me.
“Why? I would have thought that was obvious.” He paused, never once removing the smirk from his face or losing eye contact with me. “You put Mikhail Orlov.”
As soon as he said the name, a feeling of dread came over me. I should have known that he would have something to do with this. Vincent owed him so much money I was often ferreted into a room with him and his other cronies to pay off his debts. I didn’t know much about Mikhail, except that he was a senior member of the Russian mafia. I looked down at the form and then back at Vincent.
“Will Master Orlov be at the auction?” I used the name I was meant to call him in the club.
I hoped to hell that he wouldn’t be there, but I had a strange feeling he would be.
“Of course. He is looking forward to it. A weekend alone with you, to be able to do whatever he wants. He wouldn’t turn that down. Now, if you agree to this, then you can be assured that I will not touch you until after the weekend. I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression, either at the interview or during the weekend. As far as anyone is concerned, you are single and are looking to use the money to move abroad. I will check your form once you have completed it, so be careful what you put.”
The one thing I was pleased about was that it didn’t ask for bank details. I assumed that would be requested once you had been accepted into the auction. That gave me a chance. I could give them my secret personal account and when Vincent was out one evening, I could just leave. I wouldn’t go anywhere near my family; I wouldn’t have wanted Vincent to send his associates to do anything to them. I would make sure I was far away before I contacted them.
I could see that Vincent was waiting for me to acknowledge or answer him, so I spoke.
“If you think it is for the best, then I will do this for you. But what happens if Mikhail doesn’t win the auction and I end up with someone else?”
Vincent let out a raucous laugh at my question. Did he really think that little of me, that he assumed no one else would be interested in me? After all, he had been once.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that. Mikhail has his ways of stopping the competition. Plus, who else out there would want a slut like you? I don’t even find you attractive anymore after all the men you’ve slept with. Even though it may seem strange that Mikhail will be paying for his own debt, he will get a weekend with you without me around, so can do whatever he wants to you. You never know. He may even want to keep you, and then you will be out of my life forever.”
If he wanted me out of his life, why didn’t he just let me go?
Yeah, I knew the reason why: because I was the one that always got him out of his drug debts by opening my legs.
How had I ended up like this? Why had I let Vincent control my life for so long? I knew I couldn’t ask him that question, though, and knew that it would be too much of a red flag to him.
“When do I have to have this form completed?”
“You have a few days, but the sooner you complete it, the more chance you have of being included in the next auction. It is on Friday, May the tenth, so you have a couple of months of complete rest from the club and me.”
This was starting to sound more attractive the more I thought about it. I was usually taken down to the club at least twice a month, sometimes more. To have two months of complete rest was just what I needed, and it gave me time to plan everything. Looking at the clock on the wall, I could see it was only seven in the evening, and there was no time like the present.
“Would you mind if I sat at your desk and completed this? I will leave it there once I have finished so you can check it.”
A wide smile appeared on his face. He thought he had won, but he couldn’t have been further from the truth. If anyone was going to win, it would be me, for once in my life. Plus, there was always a chance that I wouldn’t get into the auction, and then where would that leave me?
“Of course, Ella. I will leave you for now while you spend time running through the questions. I have a couple of people I need to meet tonight, so I may not be home until late, if at all. Just leave the questionnaire on my desk and I will get it sent off for you. Unless I need any changes made, that is.”
He got up from his seat and stepped over to me, pressing a kiss onto my hair. It sent shivers down my body whenever he touched me, and not the kind that I relished. No, they were more chills, the kind you get from watching a horror movie or walking down a dark alley on your own.
He lifted up and turned to walk out of the room. “Don’t wait up.”
I listened as he walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind him, and I sat there for a moment. Even though I hated the idea of ending up with Mikhail for a whole weekend, there was a chance that I wouldn’t. There was also the chance that Mikhail would treat me well. He had never really treated me badly before. It was his underlings who had done that, and it was usually only until Mikhail spoke.
I picked up the questionnaire, walked over to Vincent’s desk, and sat down. There was a pen lying on top that I picked up. Opening up the questionnaire, I started to write. Hopes of escaping this prison ran through my head.