Brielle Clarke
~•~Everyone let out a scream at the unexpected shot, including me."Shut the fuck up." The man snapped, holding the gun pointed at us. "If I hear a sound from any of you, you're next."The fear was palpable in the room, but we all tried to be as quiet as possible. I almost let out a whimper but I covered my mouth. No matter how bad my life was about to get, I was not looking forward to death.Satisfied by our compliance, he breathed out. "Number six."Number six was visibly shaking but she tried to keep a bold facade as she walked toward the guard.As soon they left, there were whispers all over the room and my eyes drifted to the dead woman every few seconds, reminding myself that it could have been me.I had to pull myself together. It was not the end of the world. I was only twenty-two. I wouldn't be in their shackles forever. I had a long way to go.Besides, how bad could it be?I cringed internally at the question. It could get very bad very quickly. I knew that."Twenty-six."The woman next to me strode confidently to the exit of the room. Just like me, she had accepted her fate. She was going to make the most of it."Twenty-seven."Breathing in deeply, I willed myself to forget about the main reason I was here; my family had deemed me useless to them so my dad sold me off by pretending to want to meet with him.It was very low of him but I wasn't too surprised. I would've preferred it if he just married me off to one of these other mafia families.I shook off my thoughts and walked to him. He took hold of my arm and dragged me to the stage. I bit my lip, holding back a yelp at how tightly his fingers were clenching my arm.I blinked when he left me there.There were a lot of men in the crowd. It irritated me how many men were willing to buy a girl. This was human trafficking. This was slave trade. It was alarming how many people didn't have morals anymore."This is our twenty-seventh girl, Brielle Clarke." The announcer spoke up. So they knew my name after all. Murmurs broke out at my name and I dropped my head, knowing they were all surprised to find me there.My father was well known so they would probably be wondering what the daughter of a don was doing in a place like this."Yes, yes. She is the youngest daughter of Edward Clarke. She is a virgin, never been touched." Red dusted my cheeks. Why were they putting that kind of information out there? "She's a rare one and we're starting at a hundred thousand."I let out a quiet gasp. No way anyone was going to spend that much amount to buy a woman."One fifty thousand!" A deep voice proved me wrong. I didn't dare look up to see who was speaking."Two hundred thousand!"They kept increasing the prices, trying to outbid each other while I could only pray I didn't end up with a horrible person. Then again, if they were at such an auction, they were already horrible."Going for seven hundred thousand?" The announcer asked when it seemed like they had stopped bidding. "Going?""One million!"This time, my gasp was loud but nobody cared about me. I raised my gaze, settling on the man whose hand was still raised. I shivered visibly. He was older than my father. What could he possibly want with me?"Going for one million?"The men looked at themselves, unfortunately realizing that it was not worth it to go above that amount. I was hoping someone younger would outbid the old man."Sold for one million to Mr. Vasiliev!"Tears formed in my eyes but I was tired of crying. I was tired of everything.I was sent back into the dressing room and I stayed there with the other girls until they had successfully auctioned all fifty of us. Some men bought more than two women, making me wonder what they wanted.Was it just sex? Or did they have another reason?When the auction was finally over, we were distributed to our various owners."This is yours, Mr. Vasiliev." A random guard told him. The old man bit his lip lustfully as he looked at me. "Luckily for you, she doesn't cause much trouble.""She's sexy.""Yes. She has an appeal even without the endowments."My tongue poked the inside of my cheek as I stood there quietly. "Can I have her delivered to my house next week?""Of course, sir. As soon as we confirm your deposit, we'll bring her to you."Mr. Vasiliev nodded happily. "Good. It's always nice doing business with you Italians. You're not as bad as people say you are."I almost snorted. I guess everyone had their own definitions of bad.The old man squeezed my shoulder before he left the premises and I let out a breath of relief. I had a few more days before he would use me how he liked.But that only meant staying with the Italians for those few more days.They upgraded my prison to a bedroom with a bed and toilet because I now had an owner and my owner wanted the best for me. However, I was still not allowed to leave the room.I was locked in with no way of going out — trust me, I tried. The only time the door was opened was when a man was bringing in my meal.I preferred it to the cold ground I had been sleeping in prior to that.I had hoped I would have more time to myself but before I knew it, the time for me to leave came. They dressed me in a tiny short dress that made me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I could not voice out my discomfort."Be good." The Italian boss warned me. "If I hear one complaint from your master, I'll punish you myself. I promise you that."I shivered, knowing what he meant by punishing me. I decided to be on my best behavior so I would never get to meet this man again.Brielle Clarke~•~Maxim had no plans of making use of the toys anyway.It was very late at night and every sane person that was present at that party was asleep already, but not me and Maxim.I was naked and on my knees. The only accessory on my body was the collar that Maxim made me wear. It was black with a silver pendant that had his name on it. It was very derogatory, but it felt hot as fuck.Maxim had me waiting on my knees while he freshened up, which made me anticipate what was going to happen. Only thinking about sex with Maxim had my arousal dripping down my thighs and he hadn’t done anything yet.I heard the closet door open and my eyes snapped up. Maxim was still fully dressed in his three-piece suit, with his tie in place.“Who said you could look at me, whore?”My gaze dropped immediately before I could think twice about it. I heard him approach me and in no time, he was squatting in front of me.He lifted my chin, finally giving me permission to look. My eyes were stuck
Brielle Clarke~•~I knew Maxim had plans for my birthday, but what I didn’t know was that he planned to have a party as big as this.I almost chickened out from descending the stairs when I saw the crowd below it. Maxim had given me a black sleeveless dress to put on and Marina had helped me with my makeup and all that, keeping me inside the room for hours, giving him enough time for all the guests to arrive.“What’s this?” I questioned, my eyes stuck on the people who were eagerly waiting for my arrival.“I told you you deserve to be celebrated, baby. Didn’t I?” I was speechless. I couldn’t fucking speak. “That’s what this is. Now, stop putting on that alarmed face. One would think you were being kidnapped.” My eyes snapped to him and he raised his hand in surrender. “Too soon, I guess.”I laughed, kissing him shortly before he led me downstairs.“Happy birthday, Brielle.” They screamed in unison, making my pale face turn pink.It was night time already and I thought Maxim wanted to
Brielle Clarke~•~After the whole thing, Andrei helped me and my sisters get to the car and drove us home. Maxim didn’t even bother looking at me when we were leaving. I didn’t speak to him either because I knew he was in a difficult state. I didn’t know what to say to him and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. “Take them home,” Maxim told Andrei. He didn’t flinch. He acted like he was okay like he didn’t just end his father’s life. Throughout the ride home, I was thinking of how Maxim felt. He was definitely angry at me because I wanted to shoot his father. Did I cross a boundary? But I only tried doing it because I wanted to protect Mikhail. “Are you okay?” Aubrey broke the silence in the car. I sat in the middle of both of them and hadn’t moved since the ride started.“Yes, I’m okay.” I lied. I didn’t want to talk about what just happened. I was still trying to process it. “It’s okay if you’re not okay. What happened back there must have been traumatizing.” She didn’t buy m
Brielle Clarke ~•~I looked up when I heard the door open, already knowing it was going to be Maxim.I felt awful. Maxim had seriously told me not to leave the house yet I did, putting myself and my sisters in danger, along with Maxim because who knew what his father wanted to do to him.From the snippets of conversations I’d heard around the house, Maxim had been provoking his father. Maybe, it was finally time for his father to retaliate and he was only able to get to Maxim through me.I was scared as fuck, but I felt even more guilty.Maxim looked right at me and took a step forward, only for his father to point the gun at me, making him come to a stop immediately. “Not so fast, boy.” He shook his head mockingly. “Are you that eager to save her?”I saw him clench his fists before putting them in his pocket. “What do you want?”“For you to undo all the stupid stunts you pulled.”“I’m sorry I can’t restore burnt buildings.” Maxim gritted out, unable to withhold his sarcasm even in
Maxim Vasiliev ~•~I received an enraged call from my father this morning. He was pissed as fuck, but that did not stop me from going on with my plan.When I woke up this morning, I saw that Brielle wasn’t in bed with me, which meant she was still mad at me, but I didn’t have the time to stick around and wait to apologize to her. When I was done dealing with my father, I would explain everything to her.“You’re not taking it easy on the poor man,” Andrei said. He had also been pained by my father’s betrayal because he was a man we all trusted.“He deserves it,” Mikhail replied from the back seat. “He should have seen it coming. He knows the kind of son he raised.”Not to brag but Mikhail was right. He did know the kind of son he raised. Unlike him, I didn’t hide any parts of myself. I didn’t pretend to be who I wasn’t, so he knew me. He knew what I was capable of and he knew how I’d react to a betrayal. Betrayals were something I didn’t take lightly because a betrayal could ruin the
Brielle Clarke~•~Just because I slept in the same bed as Maxim last night didn’t mean I’d forgiven him which was why I sneaked out of the bed early in the morning before he could wake up.It was a first for me.“Good morning, Mrs. Vasiliev.” Aubrey joked immediately after I answered her call.I rolled my eyes. “More like Miss Clarke.”“You could’ve fooled me. You said you weren’t sure about today because of your husband’s disapproval?”“He’s not my husband.” I gritted out, irritated by her teasing.“Okay, then how come he’s making decisions for you already?”I sighed. In the beginning, Maxim used to be very protective and controlling, but now, I knew that he wouldn’t tell me not to go out for no reason. He probably had something up his sleeve. The problem was that he didn’t trust me enough to tell me what it was and it aggravated me.That was the main reason I was ignoring him.He got so mad at me when I didn’t trust him and now that I trusted him with my life, he couldn’t share sma