SOLD TO BETRAYAL
1339 Words
Alessia’s POV
The words echoed through the room like a cruel verdict, each syllable striking me like a blow. A wave of murmurs swept across the crowd, followed by low whistles and crude laughter that seemed to mock my very existence.
No one pitied me. They were simply entertained.
I lowered my gaze in shame, silently begging for this nightmare to end quickly, wishing I could disappear beneath the harsh spotlight.
Then a voice rose above the noise.
“I think we should see what we’re paying for.”
Cheers and approving murmurs rippled through the hall.
I recognized that voice. That face.
Oh no...
“Alice,” I whispered.
I had rejected her advances seven times back in high school.
How had she become this... this monster?
She looked nothing like the girl I once knew.
Now, she stared at me without a shred of sympathy.
Whatever kindness she once had was long gone.
“Well,” James said with a cruel smile, “the lady has spoken.”
Without warning, his hand clamped around my arm.
His grip was iron, pulling me forward.
I dug my heels into the floor, but it was useless.
His fingers tightened painfully.
He leaned in close, whispering just for me to hear,
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
I watched as he nodded to the two guards beside him.
They seized me instantly.
I struggled, panic surging through me, but they overpowered me with ease.
They dragged me to the center of the stage and pinned me against a wooden frame.
My wrists were secured above my head, leaving me exposed beneath the harsh spotlight.
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
Not here. Not in front of them.
The air shifted.
The whispers died completely. Every eye turned toward me.
I could feel their gazes burning into my skin.
I still couldn’t believe James Devoti was doing this to me.
He was supposed to be my father’s only brother—someone who should care for me.
But this wasn’t care.
Sometimes I wondered if he was really my uncle at all.
“Who is she?” a man called from the crowd.
James smiled. “Alessia Thompson.”
A murmur swept through the room.
“Thompson? As in Richard Thompson’s daughter?”
“The very same.”
Laughter erupted.
My stomach twisted. They knew my father.
How? I thought we lived a private life, hosting only trusted visitors.
“Your father was clearly a bastard, and I can’t wait to f**k you like one,” someone sneered.
“ yes.she’ll be sweet down there. Look at those breasts—I can’t wait to squeeze them hard,” another man said lecherously.
I shifted, trying to cover myself with what little I had.
“So, is she a virgin?” another voice asked.
I knew that voice. Vittorio Rinaldi.
My father’s oldest friend. The man who betrayed him.
Why was everyone betraying me now?
I was the reason they separated.
But it wasn’t truly my fault.
Maybe my past had finally caught up with me.
Cheers erupted, louder this time.
James looked at me expectantly.
I hesitated. How could I reveal something so private—my pride as a girl?
Then a sharp crack echoed—a whip striking me.
“No!” the crowd chorused. “Don’t spoil the fun.”
Tears slid down my cheeks before I could stop them.
“Yes. I am,” I whispered.
This was not the auction I had expected.
I had seen many auctions before, but nothing like this.
“Looks like his debts finally caught up with him,” someone sneered.
More laughter followed, each voice reminding me I was not a person to them—I was property.
Instinctively, I shrank back against the restraints, wishing I could disappear beneath the spotlight.
James raised a hand, silencing the room.
“Enough questions,” he said. “Let’s begin.”
My pulse thundered in my ears.
“We’ll open the bidding at two hundred thousand dollars.”
For a heartbeat, the room fell silent.
My worst nightmare was unfolding.
Then the first bid rang out.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
The bid came from the back of the room.
My hands trembled as strangers decided my fate.
For one foolish second, I wished my father were here to save me.
Then reality crashed down.
He was the reason I was here.
I had thought he was the perfect father—caring, protective.
But my whole life was a lie.
He was nothing but a monster. I hated him.
“Three hundred thousand dollars.”
“Three-fifty.”
“Four hundred.”
The bids came one after another, each number driving another nail into the coffin of my old life.
Then Alice rose to her feet, carrying her usual cold composure.
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
The room fell silent.
My heart lurched. I bit my lip until I tasted blood.
I was about to be sold to the woman I had rejected so many times in high school.
What did she want from me? I thought she had moved on.
We wwere just kids then. I didn’t know she meant every word she said.
No one spoke for what felt like an eternity.
Then Vittorio Rinaldi stood.
Of all the people in this room... anyone but him.
“One and a half million,” he said.
Gasps rippled through the hall.
A heartbeat later, the room erupted into applause, as if a champion had been crowned.
My gaze drifted to the far end of the hall.
The man dressed in black was still there, sitting silently. Unlike everyone else, he hadn’t placed a single bid. His expression never changed.
I found myself hoping—praying—that someone, anyone, would outbid Vittorio.
Even him.
But no one spoke.
The silence stretched on, crushing the last of my hope.
This was it.
This was how my story ended.
Everything I’d fought for... everything I’d tried to protect... had come to this.
“Any further bids?” James called, his voice echoing through the room.
No one answered.
“Going once...”
My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
“Going twice...”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Sold. To Vittorio Rinaldi for one point five million dollars.”
The gavel struck.
Vittorio lifted a hand in quiet triumph, accepting the applause with a satisfied smile.
I stared at him in disbelief.
No tears came this time—I had cried them all away.
A hollow numbness settled over me instead.
My eyes drifted back to the silent man at the end of the hall.
He hadn’t moved.
The hope that he might somehow change my fate faded with every passing second.
No one was coming to save me.
James signaled to his men.
They stepped forward and untied my wrists.
As soon as I was free, I stumbled, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.
The crowd began to disperse.
A few people tossed the remains of their cigarettes onto the stage as they walked away, barely sparing me a second glance.
To them, I was no longer the night’s entertainment.
I was simply someone else’s possession.
The guards ushered me toward the exit.
For the first time that night, I regretted not listening to my mother.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe somehow we could have found another way.
How would she feel when she learned who had bought me?
“Take her to the guest room,” Vittorio Rinaldi ordered. “Make sure she’s cleaned up. I’m coming to smash that p**sy.”
I glanced over my shoulder.
He stood surrounded by well-wishers, accepting their congratulations with a satisfied smile, as though he’d just closed the deal of a lifetime.
I lowered my gaze and kept walking.
There was no point looking back.
It was too late.
My old life had ended the moment the gavel fell.
- Writer
