Sold by My Boyfriend… to My Dad

A basin of cold water came crashing down over my head. I jolted violently and snapped my eyes open.

My head throbbed as if it were splitting apart. My body was tied to a chair so tightly I couldn't move, and it took a long while before my mind finally cleared.

"You're up," said the man I had dated for five years, Norris Chapman. He wore that familiar, gentle smile.

Just a second ago, I had been at his house, sharing a Christmas Eve candlelight dinner with his family. So, why was I now tied up like this and locked inside a small, dark room?

"Norris, what the hell are you doing? Release me!" I yelled.

A cold smile curled his lips. "Sorry, Winnie. I didn't really have a choice. To be frank, I owe some people money. The debt collectors will be here any day. To pay them back, you'll have to make a little sacrifice. You understand, right?"

My breathing stopped. My lips quivered, and I could barely believe what I had just heard. "Aren't you a CEO? I thought your company had been running perfectly fine. How could—"

"Because it's all a hoax."

He smiled, his expression careless and cruel. "If I didn't look the part, how could I have lured such a perfect prey like you?"

A chill crept up my spine.

For the past five years, I had always believed Norris was the CEO of a corporation worth hundreds of millions. He was polite to everyone he met, and with me, he had always been gentle and attentive.

This Christmas, he had finally said he wanted to bring me home to meet his parents. Naturally, I agreed. When I saw the luxurious villa his family lived in, I didn't doubt a thing. Delighted, I accepted his proposal in the backyard garden.

Little did I know that everything had been a carefully planned scam.

Just then, Norris' parents walked in.

"Is she awake? He'll be here at any minute."

The moment I saw their faces, I recalled our first encounter earlier that evening.

They were well-dressed and refined, like educated people, taking my hands warmly and asking about my well-being as soon as I arrived. They had even prepared many of my favorite desserts.

They looked like completely different people from the cold, indifferent couple standing before me now.

"What do you all want from me?" I asked.

The smile on Norris' face looked the same as before, but the words that came out of his mouth were bone-chilling.

"Relax. We've just found you a new master. After all, you look exactly like the mistress that old man has spent five years searching for. Being chosen is your blessing.

"Besides, weren't you with me because of my money? He's even richer than I am. If you keep him happy, I can promise you'll live better than you do now."

Fear conquered my body. As someone who moved in the same upper-class circles, how could I not know about the underground deals that happened among powerful elites?

Their methods were unbelievably cruel. The women who were bought and sold rarely ended well. Still, if I wanted to stay alive, I had to stay calm.

Norris had no idea that I, too, came from a wealthy family. I had hidden my identity while working at his company.

Forcing down the fear in my chest, I tried to negotiate with them. "How much do you owe? If you let me go, I can help you pay it back."

For a moment, he looked stunned. Then, he burst out laughing. His parents did the same, too.

Norris raised his hand and gestured a number in front of me. "Eight million dollars. Now, how exactly are you planning to help me pay that back? Sell a kidney or two?"

I ignored their mockery and confidently said, "I can do it, but first, you need to let me make a call."

He sized me up and down, only to slap me across the face. "Trying to dial 911, huh? We're not that dumb, bitch! You're just an office worker—how will you possibly gather eight million dollars?"

His slap left me dizzy; my head spun, and my cheek burned with a sharp, stinging pain.

In the five years we had dated, he had never laid a hand on me before. Even when we argued, he was always the one who gave in first and coaxed me until I calmed down.

Now, that same man who used to treat me with utmost tenderness, grabbed my hair and yanked it backward. "When Mr. Greven arrives later, you'd better look your best. Otherwise…"

My ears might have been buzzing, but I still caught the name from his words.

Mr. Greven? Among all the elite families in the country, there was only one Greven family, and I was born into it.

Was Norris seriously going to sell me to my very own father?