60 | The Man In A Black Coat

**SIENNA**

I did not need to open my eyes to absorb that dreaded feeling of uncertainty. I could sense the fear, but my limbs refused to move. It felt like someone had twisted every strand of muscle in my body and wrung me dry. My throat was parched, and there was a distinct taste of bile on my tongue that almost made me nauseous.
Somehow I managed to twist and turn, groaning as my head pounded like hell.
My blurred vision caught the sight of my surrounding, almost foreign, with grey walls and yellowish lights. I had to blink a few times to adjust my gaze, and when I did, the dread started to settle down.
A known voice cut through the silence. “And here I thought you’d never wake up. Seriously, the dose was not that strong.”
I almost jumped at the sound and turned around.
It was Zak. *Zak fucking Abbott*.
Adrenaline rushed into my stream like thick opium as every sense peaked on high alert. “Where the bloody hell am I?” I asked, struggling to get out of the bed. It was only then I realized that he had tied my legs with chains and locked me up as if I were an animal. My first reaction was to struggle against the bind, but when I had failed, I glared at him ferociously.
“Looks like you are back in form,” he said mildly.
Zak, where the fuck have you brought me?” I tried again.
A smirk was plastered across his face. “Are you already missing the asshole priest? I wonder how a celibate dick functions. Three minutes top?”
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. He knew. He knew about Gabriel and me and in all possibility that… “It was you,” I whispered in utter horror. “The pictures… that threat…”
He shrugged off my words like they had meant nothing and propped himself against the wall. “I told you that I’d come for you, and I’d make you pay the day I do.”
“You fucking asshole!” I screamed at the top of my voice and leaped off the bed as much as the chain around my legs would allow.
It was long enough for me to land a punch against his smug face, but then his reflex was quicker. Before I could land the second blow, he shifted his body and dodged. However, it was not the end.
Zak let out a grunt and grabbed me by the hair, slapping my face so hard that for a quick second, I saw stars. It took me a second or two to realize, and when I did, the corner of my lips was already cut and bleeding.
“Shit!” I heard him curse low and took a few steps back. “I am not supposed to hit you in the face. Gotta keep you pretty, bitch.”
“If you think you’d just kidnap me and that Gabriel will sit tight, you are so fucking wrong!” I snarled. Deep down, I knew I had to stay strong and fight, despite all the odds that stood against me.
Zak let out a mocking laugh, shaking his head. “He doesn’t have any bloody idea because your father has already covered up for me. I have to say that your old man did not need any convincing. Of course, your stepmother had already covered that up.”
As if I was not pissed enough that he had to name the two other disgusting people I could kill with my bare hands. My father and Ivory. Fear was overridden by the insane need to rage as I grabbed the lampshade beside the bed and hurled it at him. Instead of hitting him, the object crashed against the wall, and the glass shattered on the floor.
Of course, it was a bad throw because Zak merely shifted a little. He tsked under his breath and slowly bent down to pick up the bronzed body of the lamp.
“You should not have tried that,” he said regrettably. There was a certain chillness in his voice that sent a shiver down my spine. But on the face it, I simply feigned my boldness. “You know that I can’t ruin your face because that’s what is gonna fetch me a good price, but they won’t care if I teach you a lesson.”
Before I could decipher his words, he covered the distance between us in two long strides. With one hand, he grabbed my arm and slammed the bronze lampshade against my elbow.
Once, twice, thrice.
The pain that shot through me was excruciating. I doubled over on the bed, writhing and screaming my lungs out, and clutched my arm. “Ahh!”
For the first time, I felt helpless and weak. Tears filled my vision as I rolled on the bed and waited for the pain to recede. But I was wrong. It only heightened further when I moved.
“Yes, yes, your cry is music to my ears,” Zak mocked, throwing the object away as it crashed somewhere in the room with a loud bang.
He came to sit beside me on the bed while I scooted away farther. “I would have married you, you know,” he said, almost conversationally. “I would have put a ring on your finger, but you just had to do something stupid. And since you love being a bitch so much, you’d better get fucked by the dogs. I am not marrying a whore.”
I was still struggling to find my voice amidst the extreme agony. Did he just break my arm?
“The things they’d do to you…” he laughed. “To your little cunt and how they would split you in half. I can only imagine that it will be a sight to behold. A little tip, though: if you struggle less, they are less likely to damage you.”
“Zak, what the fuck do you get out of this?” I croaked. Treacherous tears streamed down my cheeks as I summoned the courage to somehow sit upright.
He lifted his disgusting fingers and wiped the tears. And that very touch repulsed me so much that I retracted. “Like I said: I was ready to take you as my wife,” he said evenly. “You are pretty, well-bred, and my father assured me that you’d remain a virgin until our wedding night. But then you went ahead and whored yourself out to a priest - of all the fucking people in the world.” He let out a devious laugh, which easily translated into an irrational rage. “And then you insulted me.”
“You mean that I trampled on your delicate little ego?” I snapped.
“No, you pissed me off. So I thought, if you want to whore yourself out to substandard men, why not you make me rich? The price they would pay for this body of yours….” His gaze trailed down my breasts and then up.
“If you come any closer, I will leave you bloody,” I threatened.
To my surprise, he simply got to his feet and prepared to leave. “I have no intention to waste my time.” Before I realized it, he raised his voice and summoned someone in. “Come in.”
The door swung open, and in walked two burly men who looked like bouncers.
“Get her ready in an hour,” Zak ordered and checked his watch. “The auction begins at 11. And if she gives you trouble, strip her naked and hang her in chains. A little display won’t hurt.”
He turned to me, winked, and simply walked out of the room.

**XXX**

An hour later, I found myself sitting on a wooden stool while a woman brushed my hair.
And a lot happened in this expanse of an hour where I was being dragged from one place to the other, only to be treated like a mindless rag doll. Maybe it was the intolerable pain in my arm or the residual effect of the drugs they had injected me with, but I had complied.
The two men took me to a room and slammed me against a wall. While one of them maintained a hold on me, the other tore the fabric off my body. The repulsion of another man touching me, other than Gabriel, sickened me to the bones.
All I could, at the moment, was pray.
I prayed as hard as I could, with every last fiber of belief that Gabriel would come for me. That he would save me from this hell.
But I barely had any idea of where I was.
“Ow!” One of them snagged my injured, flaring the pain.
“Stand straight,” he grouched.
“This one will fetch a good price,” the other commented.
As much as I tried to shut everything else off, the fear settled into the pit of my stomach. The thought of another man bidding for my body was unfathomable. And I was wise enough to know that I was simply getting transported from one hell to the other.
The two men stood guard in the room as another woman walked in. Her gaze shot up and down my body, measuring as she strode to the other end and grabbed a pair of apparel. It was only when she threw them at me and ordered me to put them in on that I noticed.
“Quickly change into this,” she dictated. “We have to work on your hair and makeup then.”
They wanted me to put on a pair of skimpy sequin lingerie? It was as good as being naked.
“You can either put it on, or I will ask them to help,” the woman added, sensing my hesitation.
Damn it, Gabriel, where are you?
“I am not changing in front of them,” I said.
She shot me a look and then sighed. “How does it fucking matter, girl? You are going to be naked anyway. What’s with two men when there’s a whole lot waiting outside to buy your body?”
“I am not a bloody whore!” I gritted.
She rolled her eyes and got back to arranging the things. “I don’t have time for your tantrums. Pick your card, girl. You or them?”
There’s one thing I learned from life: choose your battles carefully.
In a way, Zak was right. I can scream, shout, cry and throw a fit but nobody would bat an eye. And instead of getting stripped naked by two men, who would happily put their lecherous hands on me, I’d rather comply for now.
I picked up a scrap of fabric and turned away from the prying eyes. It was truly of no use, given the low laughs and sneers I heard, but still, I did not want to give them the satisfaction. Once I had put on the sleazy pair, the woman set forth on my face and hair. I did not bother looking at the mirror, knowing I couldn’t care less how I looked rather than getting an escape.

**XXX**

My skin felt like it was on fire as I was put on stage like a commodity.
A piece of flesh.
A whore.
The light shone upon me, blinding my vision. And in a way, I was thankful for that. There was no way I wanted to look at these disgusting men who have come here to buy women for their pleasures. In fact, I would not even term them as ‘men’. They were just hopeless, sad dicks who could not secure the love of a woman with their chest of full money. So they had to purchase women in order to fulfill their needs.
“Nineteen-year-old, young, well-bred, and convent educated,” Zak gloated into the microphone. “No tattoos, surgery, or health conditions. However, she needs a strict master to keep her in check. A little feisty and in need of a tight leash - literally.”
A flurry of laughter floated around the room as the men made an array of comments.
“Show us the tits!” One of them shouted.
“Bend her over. I wanna see the tight pussy!”
Zak beamed with a satisfied smile. “Gentleman, this is an exquisite piece, and hence, we have decided to keep a little mystery here. The only man who gets to undress her tonight is the one who buys her. The bid starts at twenty-five thousand.”
“Thirty!”
“Thirty-five.”
*Please God, help me!*
“Fifty.”
“Fifty for one, fifty for two…”
*Gabriel, where are you?*
“Seventy thousand,” a heavy, matured voice prevailed. There was a distinct murmur among the crowd as I squinted my eyes to see the person. But all I gathered was a tall frame and a man in a black coat. He sat with a degree of pride, and unlike the men salivating around him, he sat calm and composed.
“Wow! That’s a number,” Zak announced. “And who is going to match it here for an exquisite slave like this?”
“Eighty thousand!” Another one from the end of the room shouted.
Please, no, no, no!
“One million,” the man in a black coat matched the figure. He seemed like he was in no hurry, poised and perfectly groomed. He did not even bother to spare me a glance at the woman he was bidding for and simply sipped on the drink from his glass.
“Any other takers?” The last call resonated throughout the auction room. And then the gavel banged. “She is sold for one million dollars to…Mr. Wellard! Please, come and collect your prize, Sir.”
I closed my eyes and fisted my hands by my side. Whatever little shred of hope I was holding on to for a miracle just got crushed with the bang of the gravel. My present and my future were gone.
*Empty*.
*Broken*.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the man approaching the stage. His gait was measured but powerful. It was only when he came closer that I noticed his profile in its entirety. This was no old, frustrated man who’d need to buy women for his physical needs. His physical attributes were generous enough while he reeked of filthy money.
Why would a man, who has a million-dollar to spare and with looks like that, want to buy women?
He came to stand before me with his towering height and an impassioned face, hovering his gaze all over my face. I expected his eyes to lower, to scan my exposed flesh, but it seemed like he was least interested in my body.
Even before I knew the man in the black coat, I could sense the ominous aura around him.
“Hello, Sienna,” he said softly, uttering my name like he knew me. “It’s time to go home.”