Chapter 1

HEARTBREAK

The sheets were still warm when he pulled away.

I lay there, breathing heavy, my body still flushed from what we'd just done. My chest was tight in that good way. I was thinking about how much I loved him, about maybe asking him to stay the night instead of rushing off like he always did. 

Then he got out of bed without looking at me. I watched him stand there naked for a second, his back to me. He looked tense, like something was weighing on him. 

I'd noticed it the past few days the way he was distant, the way he didn't kiss me the same way anymore. But I thought sex would fix it. Sex always fixed things between us.

He pulled on his jeans without saying anything.

"Hey," I said, sitting up and wrapping the sheet around myself. "You okay?"

He didn't answer. He just grabbed his shirt from the floor and started putting it on.

"We're done," he said finally, still not looking at me.

I froze. The words didn't make sense.

"What? What do you mean we're done?"

"Exactly what I said." His voice was cold. "It's over."

My heart started beating faster. I could feel the sweat cooling on my skin.

"But why? What did I do? What happened? We were just—" I stopped, looking at him. "Are you serious right now?"

He finally looked at me, but his eyes were empty. Like he was looking through me.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," he said, grabbing his keys from the nightstand.

"Wait, hold on. You can't just—"

But he was already heading for the door. I heard it open. I heard it close. And then I was sitting there alone in my bed, naked, my heart raced so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest.

I sat there for a long time. Minutes maybe. Hours, I don't know. Long enough for the sheets to go cold. Long enough for me to realize that what just happened was real.

My boyfriend of three years had just broken up with me without explaining why.

No reason. No warning. Nothing.

I didn't leave my apartment for two days.

I called in sick to all three of my jobs. My boss at the coffee shop got annoyed. My boss at the tutoring center was understanding. My retail manager didn't even pick up the phone. I didn't care. I couldn't face people. I couldn't pretend everything was fine when my entire world had just fallen apart.

I lay in bed wearing the same clothes I'd had on when he left. I cried so hard my eyes swelled up. I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize myself. My face was blotchy, my hair was a mess, and I looked pathetic.

I kept replaying it over and over in my head. “Had I done something wrong? Was there someone else? Was I not good enough?” The questions just kept coming, but there were no answers.

On the third day, around two in the afternoon, my phone rang.

I almost didn't pick it up. I didn't have the energy to talk to anyone. But the number looked official somehow. I answered.

"Hello?"

"Is this Sienna?" A woman's voice.

"Yes, this is Sienna," I said, sitting up a little. Something in her tone made me nervous.

"This is St. Mary's Hospital. I'm calling about your mother, Maria. She was admitted three days ago. She's been trying to reach you."

My blood went cold. Literally cold. I could feel it in my veins.

"Wait, what? My mother? What do you mean she was admitted? When?"

"Three days ago, yes. She collapsed at work. We've been keeping her stable, but she needs immediate surgery. The doctor has been waiting to speak with you about the details."

I stood up without meaning to. The room was spinning a little.

"Is she okay? Is she hurt? What happened?"

"She's stable for now, but she needs surgery as soon as possible. The cost will be fifty thousand dollars. Your mother doesn't have insurance, and we need to know how you plan to cover the expenses before we can proceed with the operation."

Fifty thousand dollars.

I hung up the phone without saying anything else. I don't even remember hanging up, but I was holding the phone at my side and my hand was shaking so bad I dropped it.

Fifty thousand dollars.

I walked to my kitchen in a daze. I opened my laptop and pulled up my bank account. Two thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. That was everything I had. That was the money I'd been saving for two years while working three jobs. That was my emergency fund. It wasn't nearly enough.

I sat on my kitchen floor and started crying again. Not the sad kind of crying I'd been doing for two days. The panicked kind. The kind that makes it hard to breathe.

My mother was in the hospital and I had no way to help her. My boyfriend had left me. I was broke. I was alone. I had nothing.

I called Maya.

She answered on the third ring. I could hear music in the background, glasses clinking, people laughing. She was at work.

"Sienna? Hey, what's up? You okay? You sound weird."

"Can you talk?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Yeah, give me a second." I heard her moving, the music getting quieter. "Okay, what's going on?"

"My mom is in the hospital," I said, and then I told her everything. The collapse, the surgery, the fifty thousand dollars.

When I finished, Maya didn't say anything for a long time.

"Fifty grand?" she finally said. "Shit, that's... that's a lot."

"I know it's a lot. I don't know what to do, Maya. I have nothing. I can't help her. I'm so fucked."

"There's... there's a way. But you have to be serious about it."

Something in her voice made me sit up straighter.

"What way?" I asked.

"There's this party. Underground. Exclusive. Rich guys. They bid on women for... companionship. One night, they paid big money. I'm talking serious money. Some girls make ten, fifteen grand in one night."

My stomach turned. "You mean like... sex work?"

"Yeah. But listen, it's different. It's not like being a prostitute on the street. This is exclusive. The guys are rich, powerful. The money is real. No strings attached. You show up, you do your thing, you get paid. In and out."

I thought about my mother lying in a hospital bed. I thought about the surgery she needed. I thought about how I had nothing else to lose.

"Tell me more," I said.

Three days later, I was standing outside a building I'd never noticed before, even though I'd driven past this street a hundred times. It was a warehouse with no sign. No indication that anything was happening inside. Maya stood next to me, checking her phone.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked.

I nodded, even though I wasn't sure about anything anymore.

We went inside.

The place was nothing like I expected. It was a luxury. Dark wood, expensive lighting, the kind of place that smelled like money and power. There were beautiful women everywhere, standing in small groups, drinking champagne, looking like models. And powerful-looking men scattered throughout, watching them like they were hunting prey.

My hands were sweating.

A woman in a tailored black suit approached me. She had a clipboard and a cold smile.

"You're new," she said.

"Yeah," I managed.

"You registered online?"

"Yes."

"And you understand what happens here?"

I nodded, even though I still didn't fully understand. I was too desperate to care anymore.

"Gentlemen will bid on time with you. One night, one man. You get to choose whether you accept the bid. But I'd advise against refusing. The money is good, and the men are discreet." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Very discrete."

She handed me a number. Twenty-three.

"You'll wait in the back until you're called. Someone will brief you on the process before your first bid. Any questions?"

I shook my head.

She walked away.

Maya squeezed my hand. "You've got this," she whispered. But I didn't feel like I had anything.

I felt like I was stepping off a cliff, and I was about to find out how far down the bottom was.

Then they called my number, four men entered the viewing area.

Four men with something in their eyes that made my skin prickle.

Four men who were about to change my life in ways I couldn't even imagine and the bidding started.