Chapter 1

​​Chapter 1

LYZZA awkwardly stepped out of the dressing room after she managed to wear something that Danielle gave her: a micro denim skirt and a crop top that only covered her bust. She would pull her micro skirt down habitually in prayer that it would become longer if she pulled it even more. She could feel the cold beneath her ass as her panties were showing off.

She just realized that someone had already slapped her hand, making her come to her senses.

“Stop pulling it down!” Danielle hissed at her while chewing gum. “You’re ruining your sexiness!” The woman began to stare at her speculatively from head to toe. Seconds later, a tiny grin suddenly crept up from her round face, still looking at Lyzza’s whole physique. “Holy Mama Mia! What did I tell you? I’m never wrong about my gut. You are really something!”

The woman continued to move her around like a top while her satisfaction wasn’t enough. “Perfect! Your face would make a thousand ships sink at this moment, girl! I bet the guys would drool all over this place to have a taste of you.” Danielle even touched her breast by pushing it using her index finger. “Is this real?”

Lyzza flinched. Her heart was racing, and she was slightly annoyed at how Danielle pushed her delicate breasts. “Of course. What do you take me for?”

The woman must be crazy, she thought. Lyzza wasn’t the type of woman to spend a dime on plastic surgery to correct her body. Besides, she didn’t even have enough money to support her mother’s hospital bills, and now Danielle had time to think about that stupid question. Her boobs were naturally big, which was one of her assets as a woman.

But on the other hand, Lyzza couldn’t blame her. When she turned nineteen years old, she was already blessed with big boobs compared to other girls her age. She was also a stunner with her natural fair complexion. It was because her father was half-British and half-Filipino, while her mother was a pure Filipino. Her father died when Caius, her younger brother, was 3 years old. Since then, her mother had no choice but to work for their sake.

Her father was a businessman during his lifetime. They had a small business back in the day. But when he died, his business faced a huge loss. They didn’t even have anyone from their relatives that they could ask for help since they all avoided them when their company was out of business, and so they lived a poor life.

Lyzza’s family chose to stay away from them and lived peacefully without any relatives who would judge them. And now that her mother was taken to a hospital and in dire need of a bypass operation, Lyzza didn’t have anyone she could ask for help but herself.

Danielle snorted and started to fix Lyzza’s hair. “You know what to do later, okay? Always remember your mom’s condition and the money you need for her surgery. If you’re still having second thoughts, you still have enough time to back out now, so we won’t be in trouble later.”

Lyzza gulped a lump in her throat and shook her head. Beads of sweat started to form on her temples. “N-no. I won’t back out,” she said with determination.

“Are you sure?”

She bit her lower lip and nodded as she answered.

When she was satisfied with her answer, Danielle pulled Lyzza toward the back of the make-stage.

Inside this hotel, an auction of young women was about to take place. Lyzza agreed to sign up for this job as one of the women to be sold off for that night. She didn’t have any choice either. She was desperate enough to do this for her mother’s sake. She didn’t care anymore if she’d lose something in the process.

Danielle then introduced her to the organizer named Mama Lovie, a transgender woman who looked more like a wrestler than a beautician and an organizer.

The organizer started explaining to her the auction’s rules. The client’s deal will only be for one night. She even wondered why she was asked about her virginity. She didn’t even have the chance to answer since Danielle had already butted in. The woman lied that she was already an “experienced” woman.

Lyzza didn’t care to correct her anymore, thinking that it must be one of the requirements—to have sexual experience—to be accepted for the job. She needed the money. That was the only thing she should have put into her head.

Danielle pushed Lyzza to line up with the women who wore the same clothes as she did. The girls were beautiful. They looked like supermodels who had been lost on their way and found themselves entering this place. She was the youngest of all those who were in that line.

Her heart started to pound when she heard the voice of the event organizer giving a lively introduction in front of the people on the make-stage. She was very nervous that the woman behind her had to push her when they were called up to the stage.

She was frozen at her place when she saw the crowd, specifically the men, who would bid for them for one night.

The other girls in her line were trying to make an impression on the clients, making their smiles prettier, while Lyzza was only standing there, unmoving. She couldn’t even try to wave at them like a beauty queen. She wanted to imitate what her companions were prettier, but she had no confidence.

She recalled what they and the organizer had talked about. They were going to divide her profits among all of them. Knowing this, Lyzza knew she had to impress some clients. But how would these men bid on her if she wasn’t smiling?

The auction has started. She was the fifth in the queue. She was almost out of breath, overwhelmed by the amount of money the clients were betting on for just one night. There was a bid that reached a million. That amount was too much for her mother’s surgery!

“And for our next woman, the Aphrodite and face of an angel herself, Rona.” It was already her turn.

She walked toward the center part of the stage, totally nervous.

“Thirty thousand!”

She closed her eyes tightly. Thirty thousand? That’s not even much, she thought.

“Sixty thousand. She still seems young,” bid by the man in his white hair and huge belly.

“I bid one hundred,” a man of Arab descent said.

The bid went on and on until it reached about a million. An Arab man had the most recent bid, which was nine hundred thousand.

She met the old man’s eyes and almost fell to her knees. She quivered to death. The man gave him a grin and looked at her whole body all over again. And she wasn’t that stupid not to know what kind of look the man was giving her.

It was a perverted stare. It was as if it was saying that he would not stop until he could have her tonight and didn’t care if she would be hurt in the process. She wanted to cry right from where she stood, and she was almost out of breath. What was this trouble she was in now?

Just when everything was almost settled, a man from the far side of the seats stood up and raised his number.

“Three million for that lady,” said the man in his deep, gravelly voice.

In tears, Lyzza looked up. A man in his late twenties was raising his number. He stared intently at her as if she would disappear in front of him in a heartbeat if he tried to blink.

“Number fifty-seven offers three million. Going once, going twice? Sold!”

The irritation intensified in the Arab’s eyes as if he didn’t like how this situation had turned out.

She was unable to move on right from where she stood. She froze when she and that man’s gaze met. He had these dangerous brown eyes and his face had stubble. He looked like a beggar in his clothes, but his stance screamed power, especially the way he stared at her. It was as if he was screaming, “You’re mine!”, which was true because he literally bought her. This man owned her tonight. This was the man who would get her innocence, her purity.

She knew this was wrong. But could her morale save her mother’s life in the hospital? If this was the only way for her to prolong the life of the woman who brought her into this world, she would do everything just to save her. She wouldn’t feel any guilt about this.

Lyzza was the first to look away when the staff signaled her to leave. But that man’s gaze remained to look at her as they descended back to the stage and returned to the dressing room.

She could feel the envy inside the other women’s eyes as they all returned to the dressing room. Who wouldn’t envy her? A night with her cost three million. And on top of that, she was bought by someone who isn’t too old and dirty.

“Shit!” Danielle squeaked with a big smile as she saw Lyzza. “Three million! Woah! I can’t wait to get a large commission for this!” She even held a fist in the air as if she was the one who hit the jackpot.

She probably watched the bidding the whole time since she wasn’t one of the women who had been auctioned off.

“I never really made a mistake.” Danielle grinned. Lyzza didn’t smile or show any reaction.

Eventually, they were individually called out, an indication that they had already been paid by their clients. She was the last person called by the gay manager. She saw the man, apparently sitting in front of Mama Lovie.

Just like how he looked at her earlier, he was still eyeing her intently. She didn’t know why he was looking at her like that. Lyzza was constantly trembling. He was in his leather jacket and rugged jeans. He made his hair into a man-bun that, in Lyzza’s estimate, would be shoulder-length.

“She’s here!” Mama Lovie squeaked when she saw her.

The man stood up, and Lyzza immediately felt ashamed due to the man’s colossal height. He was literally towering over her. She would be mistaken for a toddler next to him. She was just up to the man’s chest, and she would not be surprised if he could lift her with just one hand.

Those intimidating vein arms and his rugged appearance just increased the power that surrounded him. He bent over to her to meet her face-to-face. She saw his pair of brown eyes up close. It was a pair of beautiful brown eyes, but danger lingered behind them.

The man moved his face and made the bridge of his nose touch her cheek. That alone sent bolts into her body, but she feigned ignorance and kept it to herself. But she and Danielle gasped simultaneously when the man sniffed at her.

“Strawberry,” he murmured that only she could hear. Even if his voice was deep and dangerous, it was very manly. “I like strawberries now,” he continued. His hot breath fanned against her cheeks.

It must be the perfume she was wearing that he was referring to. She just bought it at a supermarket near her home. It was just a cheap perfume. Why would he want something like that?

The man stood straight and turned to Mama Lovie with a serious face. She nodded meaningfully at him and walked out of the office as he put both hands in his side pockets.

Danielle and Mama Lovie’s squeaks were all over the office when the man left.

“Go, girl!” The two spoke to her and pushed her out.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and reluctantly followed him out. She saw the man leaning against his black car, which was worth years of earnings. She had already seen that once in the magazine her neighbor was reading.

He stood straight and slowly moved closer to her. He wrapped his hand around her small waist and pulled her body closer to him.

Her petite body bumped into his broad physique.

“You’re nervous!” he stated the obvious.

“N-no,” she lied, when the truth is that she had been sweating since earlier, and her chest was drumming fast because of nervousness—no, because of extreme anxiety. She was nervous about finally doing “it” with him. She will lose her virginity tonight.

His hand raised, and he used it to touch her jaw. His hand was calloused like he was doing a demanding job with that hand.

His thumb traced her lower lip, and he stared into her eyes, reading her mind and watching her soul.

“You don’t know how to lie, Strawberry.” His voice was deep and husky.

Another touch reached her lower lip. He suddenly let her go and opened the car door for her.

Without a word, she went inside and saw a driver already sitting in the driver’s seat. The man later followed her inside the car.

“What’s your name?” he asked her when the driver started igniting the engine.

“Ly— Rona. My name is Rona.” There was no reason for her to say her real name since she would only be with this man for one night. He stared at her for a few moments. She was even nervous because he might know that she was lying. But shortly after that, he finally nodded.

“I’m Gideon.” He looked straight into her eyes, “and tonight, you are mine.”