Chapter 2

“You?....what the hell are you doing here" she asked visibly shocked. 

After taking a look at her, the man acted as though he did not hear what she just said as he took a sip of his drink in his hand and set it down on the center table. 

“I see you still remember me, I should be asking you the same question, but then I'm well aware of why you are here" he replied now glaring at her, whether she recalled his face or not didn't matter, her face on the on the other hand was one he could never forget, for all the bad reasons. 

“It has been quite a while Aliyah, I'd ask how you are doing even though I do not care, but well it is obvious considering you put yourself up for sale at an auction to get out of debt" he scoffed after making the snide remark. 

“This... this is a mistake,"  Aliyah said gesturing with her hands as she turned around to make her way toward the door. 

Ben dashed toward her, grabbed her by her arm, and dragged her to the floor. 

“Let me go, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Make no mistake”.Ben paused, bent down, and held the reluctant Aliyah tightly by the chin then went on “Perhaps you are unaware of your...... Situation. You are nothing but goods, a purchase I have made, disposable even. I have allowed you the utmost privilege to show me that you are of use even as a pet.” Ben said with an expressionless look in his eyes. 

His face was right in front of hers, Too close for comfort and the whiff of his breath reached her, a minty vanilla scent that was obviously from the wine he had previously sipped. 

She couldn't tell if he was joking or not, it did not seem that way from the tone in his voice, of all the situations she had played in her head this was not one of them. 

“Who... Who the hell do you think you are? "Aliyah fired almost to the point of tears. 

“Who do I think I am?, I am your owner, I am your savior, and you are nothing but an object of mine." He spoke at the top of his voice

“And the sooner you realize that the better it is for you Miss Aliyah Thompson, or should I say Queen of Swinton College." 

Aliyah was beside herself, she felt as if she had just been thrown Into the lion's den, a lion who was ever ready to pounce and get its taste in her flesh. 

Ben left her on the floor and walked to the table carrying a piece of paper, walked over to where she was and crouched in front of her, 

“This am sure you know what this is, hmm. " He said as he waved a piece of A4 paper in front of Aliyah's eyes. It is legally binding, it says I'm in control of your life, what you eat, how you sleep, even how you take a shit. " He paused. 

“Unless you are ready to pay twice the amount you better start acting right. I doubt you've even got enough change to get takeout as you are now" Tyler quipped. 

Aliyah had never felt so insulted in her entire life, her self-esteem was reduced to nothing but a piece of shit. 

“Why are you doing this, what do you want from me? Is this your way of getting back at me" she inquired. 

“Pfft! Oh please Aliyah, get off your high horse of self-importance, this is business, It was an auction and I just happened to get a hold of something unimportant that I had spare change for"

‘Did he just say spare change? Over a 100 million quid, and this man just called that spare change, more than enough money to change her life 10 times over' she thought to herself. 

But that was at the back of her mind, her immediate thoughts were about the torture Ben was going to put her through in his hands. 

With all she had just heard from his mouth, she was sure he was not sane at the moment. 

Aliyah was gripped with fear as he started daggers at her, she didn't recall ever being intimidated by anyone in her life, except by the loan sharks that had threatened her. 

And to think it was Ben who was dishing out this humiliation to her, never in a million years would she have surmised this situation. 

 

Ben, the broke and timid boy she had bullied with her crew of arrogant, classist friends back in college. 

With the roles now reversed there was no way he wasn't doing all this to crush her, she was now completely at his mercy. 

Ben swiftly stood up straight and went back to the table to take his drink. 

“In the meantime, make yourself comfortable," he said with a sinister smile on his face.

“Go take a shower or something, the room by the left corner is yours" he gestured in the direction, turned, and walked away. 

Aliyah was still trying to take in the whole situation, it was more than she ever asked for, how far she had fallen, to be a slave to someone like him. She was so shaken that she could not stand up for a while. 

Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks after which she buried her face in her hands to hide them. Crying away as much of her sorrows as she could was the only thing that would help at the moment. 

After crying for a while, she felt better and now had enough strength to get on her feet to walk to the room and maybe freshen up. 

After entering the room, Aliyah stepped into the bathroom to take a shower trying to put the horrible experience she had had today at the back of her mind, hoping that it would lighten the burden on her heart. 

The evil smile on Ben's face replayed in their mind as a constant reminder, for some reason she felt uneasy. 

“If only I knew what was going through that lunatic's mind" she mumbled to herself. 

Aliyah knew fully well that this was just the beginning of his schemes.