Filthy Rich, Filthier Vows

Chapter Five The Man My Father Sold Me To

The man in the suit smiled like he had already won.

That was the worst part.

Not the gun pointed at him. Not the armed men behind him. Not even the blood on the floor from the fight upstairs.

It was the calmness.

Like this was a business meeting.

Like I was not standing there shaking between two sides of something I still did not understand.

Raze’s gun did not move.

But his voice dropped lower.

“Say that again.”

The stranger tilted his head slightly, amused.

“You heard me.”

My father sold me.

The words did not land all at once.

They came in pieces.

Slow. Heavy. Wrong.

My stomach twisted so hard I thought I might fall.

“No,” I said before I could stop myself.

Both men looked at me at the same time.

The stranger smiled wider.

“Oh, she talks.”

Raze stepped half a step in front of me without looking away from him.

“Get to the point,” Raze said coldly.

The stranger sighed like he was bored.

“Fine. I will simplify it for you.”

He adjusted his cufflinks like we were discussing weather.

“Your father owed us money. A very large amount. He could not pay.”

He looked at me now.

Really looked at me.

“So he offered something else.”

My hands went cold.

“That is not possible,” I whispered.

Raze finally glanced at me briefly.

Just once.

But it was enough for me to feel it.

He was not surprised.

That hurt more than the stranger’s words.

The man in the suit continued.

“A trade,” he said. “One life for debt clearance. The heir of the De Luca family.”

He nodded toward me.

“You.”

My knees nearly gave out.

The world felt too loud and too far away at the same time.

Gunfire echoed somewhere above us, but it sounded distant now. Like it belonged to another life.

I shook my head slowly.

“No. My father would never.”

The stranger laughed softly.

“That is what daughters always say.”

Raze’s jaw tightened.

“You are lying,” he said flatly.

The stranger raised his hands slightly.

“Am I?”

He reached into his jacket slowly.

Every gun in the room lifted instantly.

But he only pulled out a small folded document.

And threw it onto the floor between us.

It slid across the concrete and stopped at Raze’s boots.

Raze did not move.

But I saw his hand tighten around the gun.

The stranger smiled again.

“Open it.”

Silence.

Heavy silence.

Then Raze bent down and picked it up.

He unfolded it slowly.

I could not see his face fully, but I saw enough.

The way his eyes changed.

The smallest shift.

Like something inside him had just confirmed a truth he already suspected.

My throat went dry.

“What is it?” I asked.

Raze did not answer.

He just held the paper there for a moment longer.

Then finally he said one word.

“Contract.”

My heart stopped.

“No,” I said again, louder this time. “That is not real.”

The stranger shrugged.

“It is very real. Signed. Witnessed. Paid in advance.”

He pointed at me casually.

“Death clause included.”

My vision blurred slightly.

I felt like I was falling without moving.

Raze straightened slowly.

“You bought her,” he said.

The stranger smiled.

“We secured her.”

“That is the same thing.”

“Not in business.”

Raze took one step forward.

The air in the room changed immediately.

Everyone felt it.

Even me.

The stranger’s men shifted slightly behind him.

But the stranger himself did not move.

He looked almost entertained.

“You should be careful, Valentino,” he said calmly. “You are holding stolen property.”

Something inside me snapped at that word.

Property.

“I am not property,” I said sharply.

My voice surprised even me.

It came out stronger than I felt.

The stranger finally looked at me again.

“Oh,” he said softly. “You have spirit. Your father did not mention that.”

Raze’s eyes flicked to me again.

But this time longer.

He was watching me differently now.

Like he was recalculating something.

That scared me more than anything else.

Because I did not know what he was thinking.

And men like him did not protect things they did not value.

“Why me?” I asked suddenly.

My voice cracked slightly.

“Why would my father do this?”

The stranger tilted his head.

“Because you were inconvenient.”

That answer hit harder than I expected.

“Inconvenient?”

“You asked questions,” he said simply. “About things you should not have.”

My heart started racing again.

My mother.

That thought came instantly.

The stranger noticed my reaction.

And smiled like he enjoyed it.

Raze finally spoke again.

“You are trespassing on my territory.”

The stranger laughed.

“Your territory?”

He gestured around the underground garage.

“This is neutral ground. Or did you forget the rules already?”

Raze did not respond.

But I saw the tension in his shoulders.

He knew him.

Not just knew.

There was history here.

Bad history.

The stranger took a slow step forward.

“Give me the girl,” he said casually. “We finish the agreement, and nobody has to die tonight.”

My body went cold.

Raze moved instantly.

One step in front of me.

Blocking him completely.

“No.”

Just one word.

But it felt final.

The stranger sighed again like Raze was being difficult.

“You always were emotional about assets that do not belong to you.”

Raze’s grip tightened on the gun.

“I said no.”

The stranger’s smile faded slightly.

For the first time.

“Then you are choosing war.”

Raze did not hesitate.

“I already chose it.”

The silence after that felt different.

Heavier.

Final.

The stranger stared at him for a long moment.

Then he nodded slowly.

“Interesting.”

He looked at me again.

“This is where it gets complicated, sweetheart.”

I hated that word.

Sweetheart.

Like I was something soft.

Something owned.

“I am not going anywhere with you,” I said firmly.

The stranger looked almost amused again.

“You do not get to decide that.”

Raze’s voice cut in immediately.

“She does.”

That surprised me.

I looked at him.

Just a quick glance.

But something in his expression shifted slightly when our eyes met.

Not softness.

Something closer to anger held back too tightly.

The stranger sighed.

“This is going to get messy.”

He snapped his fingers once.

Instantly, the men behind him raised their weapons.

Raze did the same.

And for a moment, everything froze.

Gun barrels facing gun barrels.

One wrong movement away from chaos.

I stepped forward without thinking.

“No,” I said loudly.

Both sides looked at me.

My voice shook, but I did not stop.

“Stop talking about me like I am not here.”

Silence again.

Even Raze turned slightly.

The stranger raised an eyebrow.

“You are brave,” he said.

“No,” I replied. “I am tired.”

That surprised even me.

Something inside me cracked open at that moment.

All the fear.

All the confusion.

All the years of being controlled without explanation.

It all pressed forward at once.

“I want the truth,” I said, looking between them. “Both of you. Right now.”

Raze exhaled slowly.

The stranger smiled faintly.

“You will not like it,” he said.

“I already do not like anything about this,” I snapped.

That earned a quiet laugh from him.

Then he looked at Raze.

“Tell her then.”

Raze did not move.

Seconds passed.

Then he finally said, “Your father did not sell you to just one group.”

My chest tightened.

“What does that mean?”

Raze looked at me now.

Fully.

“Multiple contracts,” he said quietly. “Competing buyers.”

The words did not make sense at first.

Then they did.

Slowly.

Terribly.

“I am not a person,” I whispered.

Raze did not correct me.

That silence answered everything.

The stranger nodded slightly.

“She is valuable,” he said. “For reasons she does not understand yet.”

I felt sick.

“I am leaving,” I said suddenly.

I turned toward the exit.

Instantly, someone raised a gun.

Raze’s voice stopped them.

“Do not touch her.”

I froze.

That one sentence did something strange to me.

Because it was not about control.

It sounded like protection.

The stranger watched all of this carefully.

Then he spoke again.

“This is what happens when you mix emotion with business, Valentino.”

Raze did not look away from me.

“I told you,” he said quietly. “She is not part of your deal anymore.”

The stranger smiled again.

“Then she becomes the problem.”

Before anyone could react, alarms suddenly blared through the underground garage.

Red lights flashed across the walls.

Explosions echoed somewhere above again.

And the stranger sighed like he was running out of patience.

“Fine,” he said. “We do this the hard way.”

He looked at me one last time.

“You should have stayed with your father.”

Then everything exploded into movement.

Gunfire erupted.

Chaos swallowed the room.

And Raze grabbed my arm so hard it pulled me backward.

“Run,” he said.

And for the first time since meeting him.

I did.