Chapter 3 - Taken Home

(Angela Moraga)

After I was sold off at 50 million dollars, I fainted. When I awoke, I was shocked to see my head resting on someone’s thigh.

My blue eyes fluttered open because I recalled that Isabella had said that I would be sold as a sex slave to a mafia boss. I was scared, thinking I was already taken against my will.

However, my blue eyes landed on him—my elder sister’s boyfriend.

How come?

Richard peered at me calmly, his eyes not shifting away from mine, as his thin lips pressed into a firm line, not bothering to explain anything to me.

I glanced at my chest, and thankfully I was still wearing my blue dress.

But how did I end up in a car with him?

How did I get to be in the same car as Richard Henshaw? Was he the man who had purchased me?

“Please, stop the car. Let me go home, please,” I begged him, but the car driver didn’t bother to stop the car. It was like my words fell on deaf ears.

'Am I a ghost? Was I killed?'

I touched my legs and pinched myself, wincing at the pain. And Richard quickly grasped my hands away from my legs.

“What are you doing trying to hurt yourself, huh?” His voice came out hot, rough, and alluring.

“No,” I whispered, trembling, as I didn’t know how I ended up in a car with him.

“Please, let me go home. How come you’re the one taking me home? Where are we going?” I asked him, as I barely recognized the road that his driver was taking me on.

“You belong to me now, Princess. And you shouldn’t think that you can leave my sight or return to your parents,” Richard said, and my jaw dropped.

“How? Were you the one who purchased me?” I asked him at last, trembling as I peered at his handsome, dark face.

“What does it look like to you? You were auctioned at the Dark Realm Auction, and I purchased you. So you should be the one answering to my questions and not the other way around. How did you end up there? The auctioning house doesn’t sell illegal stuff. It only explains to me that you were the one who willingly went there to be sold.”

Richard clasped my hands, which were still tied together and undid them.

“No. I didn’t want to be sold. I cannot agree to be sold to anyone, and you do not own me,” I looked at him with a challenging battle.

“I see,” Richard muttered and looked away, just as the car took another sharp turn.

“Do you know who I am?” Richard asked, not bothering to peer at my face as he fished out a cigarette stick, lit the end, and started smoking.

“You’re Richard Henshaw, my elder sister’s boyfriend,” I said, and he smiled.

“Apart from that. Do you know what I do for a living?” he queried, his cold voice making my heart quiver.

“Um. No. I don’t know. But Isabella said that you are a mafia lord’s son, and your father is Wesley Henshaw,” I commented, and he nodded.

“Good. Since you know who my father is, then that explains that you already know me too. I bought you tonight, and I do not care to know how you ended up putting yourself up for sale, but I must warn you. Even your parents can’t take you away from me. They know the code of the mafia in this Top Hills City, and my father is the number one mafia boss. So you should be warned, little princess. You are not to leave my house or try to escape. I will have you branded on your chest so that you bear my name wherever you go.”

“No. I don’t want to be sold. I never wanted to have anything to do with you. Isabella misunderstood everything. She thought I was trying to steal you from her. Please, let me go home. My sister loves you. Don’t brand me as your property. I cannot become your sex slave,” I cried, trying to plead with Richard.

I was a little relieved that Richard was the one who bought me, so that meant I could return back home, right?

“Don’t touch me!” Richard smacked my hands off from touching his in a pleading manner as he glared at me.

“Do you want me to have you here in this car? You want to experience your first time in this car, huh?” He glared at me, and I shuddered away from him and gulped hard.

“No. I don’t want it. I don’t want you,” I mumbled, and he smiled.

“You will. Definitely not now.” Richard reached to touch my hair, but I raised my hands and smacked his off from touching me.

The car pulled to a stop, and I gazed out the tinted window.

“We have arrived home. Welcome to my home, my princess,” Richard said, as he extinguished his cigarette.

“Don’t call me that. My name is Angela Moraga, not a princess,” I told him through clenched teeth, and he smiled.

“I know. And you don’t have to correct me. Come out now.” Richard got out of the car first, and I felt dread run down my spine.

I recalled that my phone was in my handbag, but it was in Isabella’s car. How do I reach out to my parents?

I knew my father’s phone number, and I planned to call him. Though my parents traveled for a business trip, and I don’t know how they would react to my absence from home.

Will they look for me? Will they come and get me away from Richard’s grip?

How dare Richard call me his property? I cannot imagine sleeping with the same man that my sister has been intimate with.

I don’t want to have anything to do with him.

So many young women wanted him, but I wanted to further my education at Top Hills University to study medicine and become a surgeon.

Tears welled up in my eyes as the driver got out of the car and came to pull the door open.

Richard already walked away, and I saw some men in black bow and welcome him as he walked up to the front of his mansion.

Is Richard the owner of this magnificent house? I wondered, as the driver told me, “Come out. And do not think that you can run away. Master Richard has been nice to bring you here instead of taking you straight to the harem.”

"Hm." My brows furrowed at the driver, wondering what he meant.

I recalled that I wasn’t the only one sold. Some other young women were sold, and Richard said the auction was legal, meaning all those girls agreed to sell themselves.

Was that the truth?

What if they were kidnapped and sold like me?

I silently followed the man who led me into the luxury white mansion.