Love Denied

Chapter 2: Sold Like Nothing

Years dragged on, and life never got better it only grew heavier. Elysha Benjamin turned eighteen, yet she still looked like a malnourished child: thin, fragile, with big sad eyes that had seen far too much suffering. She had grown up doing everything for everyone else, working odd jobs to bring home small coins, cleaning, cooking, and trying her best to be useful, hoping that if she worked hard enough, her mother would finally look at her with even a little bit of warmth.

But Enit John Roger remained exactly the same: cold, selfish, and empty. She never changed. She spent every bit of money Elysha earned on her own clothes, her own drinks, and her own entertainment. Debts were piling up higher and higher, and dangerous people were starting to come looking for their money. To Enit, Elysha was no longer just a burden she was an asset, something valuable she could trade to save herself.

Eloner Benjamin, now a young woman herself, was even more arrogant and cruel. She enjoyed seeing Elysha suffer, mocking her plain looks and quiet nature. She made sure everyone knew Elysha was the useless one, the mistake, the shadow of the family. She never lifted a finger to help, yet she always took the best of whatever little they had. Elysha endured it all, swallowing her tears, believing that perhaps she really was worth nothing.

Then came the day that sealed her fate forever.

Enit came home one evening, her eyes shining with a dark, greedy light. She had found her solution. She told them about Richard Vun Lee a wealthy, powerful man in the city. People whispered his name with fear; they said he was cruel, violent, and heavily addicted to drugs and wild habits. But he was rich, and that was the only thing that mattered to Enit.

Without asking Elysha’s opinion, without caring about her feelings, without even explaining what kind of man he was, Enit made a deal. She agreed to marry Elysha off to Richard in exchange for a large sum of money and the clearing of all her debts. It was a transaction, plain and simple. Elysha was sold like an object, like cattle, like nothing at all.

When Elysha cried and begged her mother not to do this, Enit only looked at her with cold, empty eyes. “Be grateful,” she snapped. “You are useless to me here. At least he can feed you. This is the only thing you are good for.”

Eloner stood by the side, laughing softly. “Maybe now you will finally be worth something to someone,” she said coldly.

Elysha’s heart shattered into a million pieces. She realized then that she had never been a daughter, never been family. She had only ever been a thing to be used, and now, sold away. She wasn’t just denied love she was being sent straight into the arms of a monster. And there was no one left to save her.