61 | Old Scores

**SIENNA**

A deep sense of loathing filled me as I watched the man keenly one last time before getting off the stage. In a way, I was relieved from being on display like a possession. Someone dragged me away, carting me towards one of the backrooms, and passed me a robe.
For the first time since being here, I was thankful for something to cover my modesty while the woman sneered from behind me.
“Your owner must be a possessive man,” she commented.
“I don’t have an owner!” I shot back.
“Whatever you say!” She shrugged. “You should count yourself lucky because most men here prefer the girls being naked as they are being taken away. You, on the other hand, are offered clothes. Maybe, he won’t share you with others after all.”
I would run away before that.
My skin frizzled at the thought of being someone’s property, but outwardly, I stayed brave and unfeeling. I had to - for Gabriel and myself. Even though I was being transported from the clutches of one monster to another, I did not care as long as I could hold on to the hope of being free one day.
I’d snatch my freedom even if I had to. And until then, I’d lay low.
Without a word, I simply put on the robe and sat bidding my time.

**XXX**

It was not the first time I was sitting inside a limousine.
The interior was one of those highly customized ones with extravagant gadgets and supplies, one only rich people preferred showing off.
The man sat at the end of the L-shaped seating, making a drink for himself, and remained unstirred by the fact that he had just bought a girl with a million dollars. It made me question his sanity, given he did not even bother to spare me a glance ever since he got into the car.
I had bundled myself at the far end of the seat, holding a considerable distance between us while I looked around, scanning.
“Who are you?” I asked boldly, cutting through the silence inside the limo.
He looked up from the glass he was holding; his lips paused at the rim. “I am the man who’d just paid a million dollars for you.”
“I am not a bloody commodity.”
“No, you are not,” he said mildly and let out a sigh as he relaxed back against the seat and propped up his leg. “You are just a feisty little thing, and I have a feeling that you are going to give me a lot of headache for this generous act.”
“Generous?” I scoffed. “You call buying women off auction generous? You are sick.”
“You do realize that men, far worse than I am, could have brought you?”
“Why did you buy me?” I asked.
He looked at me, his gaze piercing and stone-cold, and then shrugged like it had meant nothing. “Because I could,” he stated simply. He downed the rest of his drink in one go and reached for the bottle. “I heard those horny idiots bidding on you, and I believed that your worth is much more than they perceived. Besides, every man in that room wanted you. But they had limited means. So I put forward a number none of them could match. And now, here you are.”
I was confused. “So you’d just bought me because they wanted me?”
“Among other reasons, yes.”
I wondered if he was a self-serving psychopath or simply stupid.
“Other reasons?”
“Nothing that concerns you.”
I opened my mouth to retort when he got up from the seat and came toward me. I had plastered myself to the farthest corner of the limo, but it seemed useless now. He settled inches away from me, and his attention fell on the injured arm I was clutching. In this entire debacle, I had actually forgotten how badly it had been injured when Zak did this.
He slowly reached out to touch the injured arm as I hissed involuntarily while he inspected.
The man then fished out a phone from his blazer and tapped on the screen. “Adam, have the doctor ready when I arrive.”
“I am fine,” I said, but he completely ignored me.
“I don’t think it’s broken, but it’s swelling pretty badly. It needs to be treated.”
“Why the hell do you care?” I murmured.
“Your well-being should be my concern.”
“Listen, you have no idea who I am. I can get you—”
He cut me off with a mocking laugh. “Do you really think that I’d just spend a million dollars on a pretty little thing without looking up for you?”
My entire body jolted with a degree of fear. He knew me…all along. And I’d been correct to identify his tone when he’d uttered my name.
“Zak set you up?” I gulped.
“Whose Zak?”
“Zak Abbott. The one at the auction…”
“That little pimp?” He rolled his eyes. “Pfft. Please, I have a standard, girl. I don’t deal with useless people unless I really need to. And if I have to, I make sure that’s the last time I deal with them.”
“Then, how do you know me? You said you looked me up before buying.”
Instead of answering, he chose to apprise me with a smile. A smile that hid a thousand secrets. “We have not been introduced formally, so my apologies,” he said, steering away from the topic. “My name is Lachlan, Lachlan Wellard.”
The car came to a halt as a voice drifted in. “Sir, we have arrived,” the driver informed.
Someone opened the door for us as he gestured for me to step out. I complied, still clutching onto my arm with the other. But the sight of the architecture stole my breath. Soft lights illuminated the intricate structures with a well-manicured garden, and a parking lot filled with limited edition cars spoke of untold wealth.
He was not rich. He was *filthy rich*.
“Welcome to Wellard Mansion,” he addressed proudly. “This is your new home for the rest of your life now. So, you better get accustomed to it.”
Who could afford a mansion like this and still need to buy women?
“Don’t be so confident,” I muttered, but still in awe of that place.
For the first time since he’d bought me, he took my arm in a manner of entitlement and hauled me into the house. “It’s happening, Sienna, whether you accept it or not,” he spoke in a voice of glinted steel. “Your fate has been sealed.”
His tight hold around my arm told me that this was no *ordinary man*. He was a *beast* wearing human skin. And someone had just snatched him from the wild and put him in a bespoke suit, but the creature was an untamed one. He was far more dangerous than Zak or any other men of ill-will I had come across.
And he had brought me for a purpose.
Frantically, I looked around the place, scanning for the doors and windows.
“In case you are wondering, the entire property is highly secured and completely inescapable,” he answered, shrugging off the blazer once we were standing in the middle of the opulent living room.
I glowered at him. “Are you throwing me a challenge?”
“No, I am just warning you ahead of time. The man who had overlooked the design of this mansion was most paranoid about the security. So he made sure every crook and corner is impregnable inside out.” A sigh let out of his well-curved lips as he slowly stepped forward, so close that his body heat tingled against mine. He brought his lips near my lips, his breath fanning my ears. “Gabriel was always a perfectionist.”
My heart pounded hard against my ribs.
Dread clawed up my throat.
Eyes widened in horror, I just stared back at him. “What did you just say?”
Lachlan Wellard smiled wickedly before trailing a finger over the side of my face and grabbing my chin. “Sienna, my dear girl, I didn’t just buy you because all those men wanted you at the auction. I bought you because Gabriel wants you. And I have a score to settle with my brother.”

**XXX**

***What do you think of the chapter? How will they settle the old scores between us? Will Sienna be the collateral damage?***