Chapter 1

It was 8pm in Madison.

Amelia took off her pink leopard Chantilly mini dress, humming in the process and gazing at her reflection through the mirror that faced her.

She could swear that today was the best day in her entire life.

Waking up to get a dress worth over four thousand dollars was something she never believed would happen on her eighteenth birthday. Especially when she never got to celebrate a birthday, all her life.

Her childhood was somewhat different and strange to her. The love she craved to get from her parents were non-existent and the man she called her father always made utterances of how he would sell her off if he had the chance to.

It didn’t come as a surprise when she was told that someone dropped her off at the front of their door on a Christmas Eve, when she was only some months old.

“You only added up to the extra expenses of this home. If you didn’t show up, life would be easier for me”, her foster father would tell her every morning, right before she goes to school.

Amelia had to keep living. According to her, living was the only option because eventually, she would leave the hell she called a home.

Her foster mother was different. She was loving and tried to give Amelia the love she needed. However, her husband never stopped having a fight with her because of that.

“Mum, how did you get these?” Amelia had squealed in excitement, earlier that morning, caressing the birthday dress as though it were a treasure.

Truly, she considered it one. Never in her life did she own such exquisite and luxurious dress.

Most of her clothes were passed on to her from her foster siblings, who always got tired of clothes that stayed in their wardrobe for a long time. Amelia never got a new dress from anyone, not even her foster mum.

That was why getting such a dress on this day triggered every form of surprise and suspicion.

“Someone got this for you”, her mother had said to her earlier that morning.

“That person also planned a huge birthday celebration for you at the white garden”, her mother added, forcing a smile that didn’t get to her eyes.

Everything looked suspicious and Amelia could sense it.

“Does he know about this?” Amelia whispered and looked around as though someone would hear her out.

Ever since she discovered that he was not her birth father, she refrained from calling him Dad because that only made her feel worse. Now, she referred to him as “he”.

She feared her foster father with all her might. Most nights, she had nightmares of getting strangled by him in her sleep.

“He knows about this”, Mrs. Wilson replied with a sullen look.

Another surprise that came in for Amelia was the presence of her foster father during her birthday celebration. The worst was the smiles he wore on his face and how sweet he was while talking to her.

A knock on her door jolted her back to reality. She averted her gaze from the mirror and trudged towards the door.

It was Mrs. Wilson, her foster mother. But then, something about her looked extremely odd and disparate.

“You got many presents today”, she commented, darting her eyes to Amelia’s bed that crammed with various shiny and glittering girly things.

Amelia smiled and strolled towards her bed. She gestured on her foster mother to come closer, but she didn’t budge.

“Today, I accept that he hates you”, Mrs. Wilson suddenly whispered, swallowing hard and taking in a deep breath.

“Mum, I had the greatest birthday celebration of my life and I owe it to you”, Amelia giggled, pulling her mother into a warm hug.

Mrs. Wilson nodded her head calmly and pulled away from the hug.

“No! You owe it to him”.

“HIM?”

Panic started to engulf Amelia as she took fearful steps backwards until she fell back to her bed.

“What do you mean?”

Amelia shot a dazed look of bewilderment across to her.

The least she expected was having a weird and puzzled conversation with her foster mother after a blissful birthday celebration.

“What are you not telling me?” An impatient Amelia asked with a quivering voice, peering intently into her eyes and searching for answers that didn’t seem to come off.

Mrs. Wilson dropped a pink box on her bed, after which she walked out of the room, leaving Amelia, who was completely blank and rooted to the spot.

“What’s going on?” Amelia muttered, with the cold night piercing into her very bones.

With shaky hands and an uneven breath, she turned to look at the pink box her foster mother dropped for her.

The note she found in the box made her turn cold in a split second.

“I’m sorry, Amelia. You never belonged here, and I’m at fault for not seeing it. My husband took a loan worth over a million dollars. He never paid it back and never planned to. He sold you to repay the loan, even though he already had the money laying in his account. I planned this birthday after pleading with the man coming for you tonight. I wanted you to have a memory which would keep you happy for a while. He is coming for you tonight. I hope you stay safe, in your new home”.

Her foster father always said that he would sell her, but she never believed that he meant it.

She gazed at the note until her eyes got blurry with tears.

“Don’t do this to me, please! Let me stay here. This is the only home I’ve known all my life”, Amelia cried profusely as she collapsed to the floor.

Her world crashed right before her eyes, and that was when it dawned on her that everything happened for a reason. The massive birthday celebration, the beautiful and glittery dress, and the tons of gifts. It was all because of what they had done.

***

A cold glint flashed past Amelia’s downcast almond shaped eyes as she glanced at herself in the mirror.

She was stunning, and her makeup made her appear radiant and glamorous.

The lady in charge of dressing her had no pity in tightening the girdle on her stomach until it gave the perfect shape she wanted.

“That’s too tight!” Amelia complained, struggling to breathe comfortably.

“I can’t even breathe”.

The lady ignored her and lifted her head, smiling in satisfaction while glaring at Amelia as though she were a beautiful piece of art.

Just then, Amelia’s phone rang. It was her foster mother.

“Come downstairs”.

Amelia scoffed as she rolled her eyes at the lady who was now taking her leave. She felt a sting of tears on her eyelids, but she reminded herself on the need to remain strong.

Her head pounded with tension and her lips grew thin and firm as she took slow and unsteady strides towards the living room.

She sighted Mrs. Wilson, whose head was lowered in guilt. Her foster father wore a thick smile that showed pure excitement and relieve.

Amelia gulped down hard and trudged forward, scanning the room and, finally, landing her eyes on the unfamiliar figure that sat at the far end of the living room.

She fixed her gaze on the man and that was when her jaws dropped in shock.

Not only did he look grotesque and wild, he was also old and unbelievably fat.

The man’s eyes lit up the moment he caught sight of Amelia and nodding his head in contentment, he stood up and strolled towards her.

“I’ve waited for ages to meet you. I’m glad you finally arrived”, he muttered and pulled her into a warm hug.

Amelia held her breath as she couldn’t take in the scent of cigar that emanated from his mouth.

“Don’t touch me!” Amelia suddenly shrieked as she pushed him off and wrapped her arms around her chest as though he were a predator.

“You are going to your new home”, her foster father announced, grinning from ear to ear.

“With him”.

Amelia staggered slightly, glaring at her foster father, who just made the craziest statement in the world.

The next seconds saw her getting transported to the black Ferrari La Aperta that was parked outside the house.

She couldn’t react, neither did she utter a word.

Another look at the man who had come for her caused a nauseous filling to engulf her stomach. She was at the verge of puking because mere look at him disgusted her.

“You would be happy. Only if you want to”, the man said in his husky voice that sent cold shivers down her spine, and then, he flashed his brown set of teeth at her.

Amelia looked at her foster parents for one last time as tears travelled down her cheeks.

Choice was something important in life and seeing that they snatched that from her, she was never going to forgive them.

“Enter the car, Amelia”, the man said and pushed her slightly towards the car.

Amelia flinched at the man’s act. First, she was sold off to an ugly looking man, and now, she is being treated like a prisoner?

A scoff escaped her lips as she entered the car and closed her eyes again, hoping that it was just another nightmare. For a moment, she thought of yelling and pleading for mercy. However, the look of finality on their faces only showed that there was no going back.

The man kept grinning at Amelia, who couldn’t stand his face and scent. He smelt like burnt food and, inasmuch as he was clad in an expensive suit, Amelia remained irritated.

“Time would solve everything, trust me”, the man said as he peeked into the rearview mirror to take a glance at Amelia.

“You would love everything about him. He is a good man”, the man chimed out and broke into sarcastic laughter that heightened Amelia’s fear.

“I can’t love anything about you or whosoever you refer to as “him”. You are just an old man who does nothing apart from buying young girls and snatching away their right to make a choice”, Amelia screamed on top of her voice.

He smirked and let out a scoff.

“Your parents made the choice for you. If they had repaid the loan, their daughter wouldn’t be faced with this fate. Honestly, you should be glad to have this option. You aren’t even worth the amount of money they took from him!” The man sneered and laughed aloud.

Amelia thought of the person both her foster mother and the man referred to as “him”. They never said anything about him, and that made her turn cold in fear. It meant that this old man was not the person she got sold off to…

“They are not my parents. And my foster father had the money to repay you back, but he chose to give me away”, Amelia said as she swallowed hard and sniffled.

“Not my business!” The man replied and broke into another round of laughter.

Nothing in her life was a business to anyone. That was why she got tossed about like a product or item. No one cared about her, and that was a part of her life she needed to live with.

Just then, something happened. From the number of cars lined up in the traffic, she sighted someone who took her breath for a second. The only problem was that they were apart from each other; sitting in different cars that were on different lanes of the road.