Chapter Three

When Arianna accepted the offer to be gifted to a rich man so Tommy would not suffer the consequences of stealing money from Madame Venus, she didn’t know to whom she would be given to that night.

All Madame had said was that a wealthy man wanted a young, beautiful woman be gifted to his depressed and heartbroken friend for the night. Noone knew who it would be, not even the other girls. They just knew it would be someone rich, because that kind was the only clientele Madame would accept. But there was no one young enough who could be sent, nor anyone who did not look and act like a sex worker.

“You have to help me. These are people I don't want to disappoint. He wanted me to send someone new, someone who'd not worked this job before. Virtually a virgin! He is alright, as far as I know. I will not send you if it's not safe.”

Tommy was already picked up by the police and she was told was in prison by then. She could barely think. He had been gone for three days, but their mother only thought he left at dawn and got home very late recently due to his new job. But she always would ask, which meant she was starting to worry. If Arianna didn’t have Tommy home tonight, she would ask in the morning and her brother’s situation now was very hard to lie about. Their mother would know something was terribly wrong. 

Arianna refused to imagine how it would affect her weak heart if she knew her youngest son was sleeping inside a cell, let alone would be staying there for a while if she didn’t do what Madame was asking. It would kill her this time!

So Arianna said ‘yes.’ What could she lose but something she would eventually give to a man she loved, anyway. Why couldn’t she sacrifice it for her brother? And truly, her baby brother sleeping inside a cell was something she could barely endure. She could do this!

But even in hindsight, she couldn’t have guessed she would be in the bed of the only son of Don Sylverio Quiroz, the wealthy landowner of the hacienda where their rickety house was located. 

Where Arianna and her family lived. This house where she was at was Señorito Enrique's private abode, his escape house when he wanted to avoid the crowd in the mansion during parties. He was known to be an extreme loner. She had spotted him several times as she grew up, but always at a distance.

He hadn’t even noticed her those few times he visited the hacienda these days, because he was supposedly a businessman who ran businesses in the city. He lived there, not here. He only took vacations here. He wouldn’t remember her. 

But why was he looking at her like that? Like he’d seen her before.

“My God... it wasn’t a trick of the light. Or the brandy. You really are beautiful,” she heard him say. “You’re the hottest bitch I’d ever laid eyes on.”

He was talking rubbish, drunk as he was. His eyes were on her face. and they looked like they had stars on them now. She could only think it was lust and alcohol that had him inspect her nakedness with feverish eyes. He also, at that time between the door and the couch, had dispensed with his robe somehow, and was fully naked.

And, shocked as she felt, she couldn't stop her eyes from roaming at his body, which was hard and masculine, everything in its perfect place as they had always been. Señorito Enrique was a handsome man who possessed an equally beautiful male body. She couldn’t stop staring, even if she felt shame at doing so. Many women in the villa wanted him. Young women her age day-dreamed about him. And she even thought to herself before that she had never seen a man so striking.

And… she liked the Quirozes. Don Sylverio was a good haciendero and had always been kind to them even after her father died. She and her brother were too young to work in the hacienda and her mother had her heart condition so they couldn’t stay as tenants. Yet, he insisted they remain here so the hacienda could support them since their father had been working there since he was a child. It was the least he could do in his memory. He provided that plot of land for them and had a simple house built so they could have a bigger space in the backyard to grow their food and sell the excess in the market.

When there were government or private health drives, he made sure his staff informed them about it so they could bring their mother. He often assisted with medicine. It was only during the time of her mother’s last hospital confinement that he wasn’t able to help because he was away, and she had planned to go to his office had Tommy not provided that money that day.

The same goodness was told about the son, although he was remote and would barely stay in the mansion whenever he was here. In the few times she had seen him, he didn't seem too friendly. He was aloof at this party where she'd helped served, while she observed him from a distance.

He was one of those people you simply couldn't take your eyes away from, and in those few moments she saw him at least smile and nod to guests who’d approached him, it was obvious on his face after they had left he wished people wouldn’t talk to him.

It amused her, and she always thought it funny that she got reprimanded for letting the señorito distract her from work. She was sent to another part of the grounds to help serve guests there.

Now, standing there stark naked as he was, Arianna thought she could never imagine that he was the first man she was going to do this with. 

He was standing at such an angle that his manhood was in the shadows, but she could see enough of its shape to know he was extremely big when aroused. She stared, her face hot, her eyes mesmerized, her body feeling the tingling of a curious electric spark.

That thing would pierce her and take her virginity away. And it was Señorito Enrique’s. 

She frantically looked up at his face. Their eyes met. Her cheeks grew hotter from being caught watching. How could she do this thing? Arianna hadn’t even seen a naked man.

“I'm glad you like what you see.”

She tried to speak, but what came out was a timid squeak as he bent down and, drunk as he was, scrambled to lift her from the sofa. What was he doing now? 

As if he heard what she was thinking, he said, “This is better done in bed, don't you think?”

No, her mind replied even as her hands gripped his shoulders for fear he would drop her. I don’t know what to even think!

But it was too late. It had been late since he'd pulled her in from outside the door.