Ch. 2: Sold

Astrella's point of view

My heart was about to leap in my chest as the auctioneer’s voice echoed through the vast, dimly lit hall. The room was packed with wealthy bidders and dangerous criminals, each of them eager to claim tonight’s prize. Me, of course. Who else?

The weight of my father’s sins had finally come crashing down on me. His debt to the underworld was being repaid in the only currency they accepted—flesh and blood. My flesh. My blood. 

I had braced myself for this, prepared for the ruthless men who would see me as nothing more than a possession. But what I hadn’t expected, what I could never have prepared for, was the deep, familiar voice that sliced through the tense air as the bidding reached its peak. 

"One hundred million." 

The world around me blurred. My breath hitched. That voice. No matter how pleasant or horrible my dreams were, they always found me. But this wasn’t a dream. 

The entire hall fell silent. Every head turned toward the man who had just spoken. I couldn’t see him, but I felt him. The air grew heavier, suffocating, the weight of his presence pressing down on my chest. 

The auctioneer hesitated, clearly taken aback. "I—"

"With all due respect, sir, the current offer—"

"What? You want it higher?" His voice cut through the silence, sharp and unwavering. Where's the patience in there? "Three hundred million. Dollars."

Gasps erupted around the room. 

"Whoa. Is that Dax Donomie Martinelli?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? He just bid for a mere girl."

The whispers grew louder, buzzing in my ears like static. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. My vision blurred as I struggled to breathe, my heart hammering violently against my ribs. This time it's wild the same as I'm about to.

Dax Donomie Martinelli. 

I knew that name. Hell, I had lived in the shadow of that name. The infamous mafia don. The man who was supposed to be dead. Years ago, the world believed he had been killed in a brutal underground war. His body was never found, and his disappearance marked the fall of the Martinelli empire. 

And yet, here he was. 

Alive. 

Like a ghost risen from the ashes of his past. 

Someone muttered in front. "After this kind of auction, there's another sealed-bid auction announcement later."

"You think he’ll be here for that too?"

The other man shrugged, his silence louder than any response. 

The weight of Dax’s presence was suffocating. No one moved. No one dared to speak. It was as if the entire hall was holding its breath. 

And then, I saw him. 

Dax Donomie Martinelli. 

The man I once knew. The man I thought was dead. The man who had just placed an unimaginable price on me. 

Our eyes met, and my entire world tilted.

Dax stood at the far rear of the room, cloaked in darkness. He was taller now, more menacing than I remembered, but it wasn’t just his size that had changed. The warmth I once knew in his gaze was long gone, replaced by an icy gloom that buried the man I used to know. His heterochromia eyes, one dark, the other golden, held no trace of longing, only a merciless chill. His lips had hardened into a sinister line.

He's here for me?

The auctioneer hesitated, his voice trembling. "Three hundred million dollars once. Three hundred million dollars twice. Sold!"

Applause erupted, but it was hollow, mechanical, like the clapping of an audience watching a tragic play unfold. My entire body went rigid. It felt like the ground beneath me had crumbled like I was free-falling into an abyss with no end. My past came rushing back in sharp, painful waves, drowning me.

Everything had fallen apart. I'm sure of it, my father had betrayed me, sold me like I was nothing. Where the hell was he, anyway? Probably indulging in his vices, oblivious to the fact that I was standing here, my life no longer in my own hands.

I expected Dax to bid for me, to help me escape. But the way he looked at me, the terrifying edge in his voice, made one thing painfully clear. He wasn’t here to save me. He was here to claim me. To collect his payment for my father’s sins.

"Dax." My voice came out as a whisper.

His eyes snapped to mine, locking me in place. The room fell away, the noise fading into a dull hum. At that moment, it was just us. Just him and me.

I swallowed hard, forcing words past the lump in my throat. "You're supposed to be dead."

His lips curled, not into a smile, but something cruel. A sneer. A silent confirmation that whatever was left of the Dax I knew had been burned away, buried beneath years of betrayal and rage.

"I was dead," he rasped. "But I’ve come back. For you. For your father." I flinched, my body instinctively stepping back, only to collide with the auction platform’s wooden railing. Trapped. Nowhere to run. His gaze pinned me in place, sharp as a blade against my throat.

My voice trembling as I forced out, "What do you want from me?"

Dax let out a dark chuckle, tilting his head as if amused. "Oh, you're deaf now? Didn’t you hear what I just said?"

He took a slow step forward. The crowd parted, not out of respect, but fear. "Your father took everything from me, Astrella," he murmured, his voice menacing. "And you? You’re going to help me take it back."

His voice sliced through my words like a dagger. Panic surged through me, my mind racing for a way out. "My father? What does this have to do with me? I have nothing to do with—"

"You have everything to do with it." Dax cut off, his voice sharp and cold, slicing through the thick air between us. “Your family’s sins are buried in the blood of people like me. People who never had a chance because of your father’s greed.” His eyes narrowed, burning with something dark. “And now, you’ll pay for it. Just like everyone else.”

A sharp wave of anger surged through me, cutting through the fear that had been gripping my chest. My fists clenched. "You think I’m just some pawn for you to play with?" My voice was steady now, defiant.

I tilted my head, forcing a smirk. "You think this is going to break me, Dax?" The bitterness in my tone matched the fire in my veins. "I’m not the same girl you knew. But hey, points for trying. You almost had me shaking, almost."

Dax’s lips curled into something resembling amusement, though there was no warmth in it. "Oh, I know. You’re not the same." His head tilted a bit, eyes narrowing as he took another step forward. "But guess what? Neither am I. Gone is the boy who dreamed of running away with you, who foolishly believed in love. Now?" His voice dropped lower. "I believe in something far more ruthless."

Pain twisted inside me. Once, this man had loved me. Once, I had loved him, too. Yet I had abandoned him. And that cost him everything. But believe me, I came back.

Dax double the step, his breath ghosting over my skin as he leaned in. "You’ll learn, Astrella," he murmured. "You’ll learn just how far I’m willing to go to make your father’s debts disappear."

I met his gaze head-on, refusing to flinch. And for the first time, I saw the truth there, unfiltered, raw, undeniable. There was no saving him now. He wasn’t here to rescue me anyway. He was here to ruin me. To burn whatever I had left to the ground.

The quiver in my voice vanished as I straightened my spine. "Try your hardest," I tell him, my tone dripping with bitterness. "Yet, I will remain unbreakable. I will never be yours again." But I know better.

Dax’s smile widened, his eyes flashing with something wicked. "Careful, sweetheart," he mused, voice like silk laced with poison. "I play hard, and I love harder. Let’s see if you can keep up."