Chapter 3

~ ANGELA

After someone had sold me for fifty 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 I would be sold as a sex slave to a mafia boss. I was scared, thinking someone had already taken me against my will.

However, my blue eyes landed on him—my elder sister's boyfriend. How was this possible?

Richard peered at my face calmly, his eyes not shifting away from mine as his thin lips pressed into a firm line. He didn't bother 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. It was as if my words fell on deaf ears.

'Was I a ghost? Was I killed?'

I touched my legs and pinched myself, wincing at the pain. 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 his driver was taking me to.

"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?" Richard inquired, smirking. "You were auctioned at the Dark Realm Auction, and I purchased you. So you should be the one answering my questions, not the other way around. How did you end up there? The auctioning house doesn't sell illegal goods. It only tells me that you willingly went there to be sold."

He clasped my hands, which were still tied together and undid the ropes.

"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 glare.

"I see," Richard muttered and glanced away just as the car took another 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 replied, and he smiled.

"Apart from that, do you know what I do for a living?" he asked, his cold voice making my heart quiver.

"Um, no. I don't know. But Isabella said that you're a mafia boss's son and your father is Wesley Henshaw," I commented, and he nodded.

"Good. Since you know who my father is, that explains that you already know me too. I bought you tonight, and I don't care 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 rules of the mafia in this Top Hills City, and my father is the number one mafia boss in this city. 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," Richard spoke as he smoked his cigarette.

"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. I cannot become your sex slave. Please," 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 home, right?

"Don't touch me!" Richard smacked my hands off as I reached toward him in a pleading manner. 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?" Richard 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 smirked.

"You will. Definitely not now," Richard reached to touch my hair strands, but I raised my hand and smacked his hand away from me.

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

"We've arrived home. Welcome home, my princess," Richard said as he extinguished his cigarette.

"Don't call me that. My name is Angela Moraga, not princess," I told him through clenched teeth, and he smiled.

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

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

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

'Would they look for me? Would they come and get me away from Richard's grip?'

'How dare Richard Henshaw call me his property?' I couldn't imagine sleeping with the same man my sister had been intimate with.

I didn't want to have anything to do with Richard.

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."

My brows furrowed, wondering what the man meant.

I recalled I wasn't the only one sold. Some other young women were sold, and Richard said the auction was legal, meaning all those young women had 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.