The lord bid twice

Elina POV

The car was too quiet. Too still. As if the silence itself feared him.

I sat pressed against the door, heart beating so loud it echoed in my ears.

Aziel Valerie King.

The name alone sent chills down spines in the underground.

They said he was the ghost behind a hundred assassinations, the architect of gang wars that left the entire group extinct. The man who smiled while blood spilled at his feet.

They said Aziel didn’t just kill, he erased them from the face of earth. And I’d watched it happen. No hesitation, no flicker of humanity..just a bullet and silence.

Now I was in the same car as that man. The devil they spoke of in hushed tones. Aziel Valerie King was staring at me like he could already see how I’d break.

“Are you always this quiet..?” He finally drawled, voice calm, casual, like we hadn’t just left a massacre behind.

Every node of my body is yelling danger and to stay away from him.

“I..I don't know what to say.” I whispered, my voice barely holding together.

Aziel’s jaw ticked as his eyes bore into me, something unreadable churning behind that cold stare.

“But you did that night though. That night, you had a very loud mouth on you.”

My breath hitched, my cheeks going red. I pressed myself tighter against the door, as if I could melt into it. I didn’t want to think about that night.

About how stupid I’d been.

“I didn’t know who you were,” I whispered.

“Liar.” His voice cracked through the car like a whip. I jumped. “You didn’t care who I was. You just wanted to use me, play with me.”

“I wasn’t trying to play you…” My voice broke, weak even to my own ears.

He suddenly pulled me close to him, making me flinch violently. “Then why did you run?”

“Do you know how upset I was, Elina? When you fucking ran away from me? Nobody, as in nobody has treated me like that." He gripped my chin with his callous fingers, gritting his teeth.

“But then,” His grip tightened, not enough to hurt but enough to terrify. “I’ve never been so restless. So damn mad. You..” he exhaled harshly “..you infuriated me. You had the audacity to leave me like it meant nothing.”

“All I could think of was dragging you back.”

He leaned in, “And now that I have you… I don’t know whether to cage you or destroy you.”

He was so close to me, our breathing mingled with each other's.

I could see every inch of his flawless skin now. He had aged like a fine wine, and he was probably the most handsome man I have ever seen.

Everything about him screamed richness and power.

His hand reached out to my exposed neck, not threatening, just deliberate and brushed his callous thumb along my skin. I was trembling vigorously now.

“Trembling already..? Relax, little girl.” he murmured, “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d already be screaming.”

Oh god.

A shudder danced down my spine, slow and deliberate, as if even my nerves knew better than to provoke him. I couldn’t look at him, not when his words hung in the air like smoke, heavy and suffocating.

He was calm, too calm. That eerie, collected stillness you see in nature right before a predator pounces.

“Look at me,” he said softly.

But I couldn’t look at him. My eyes stayed glued to the side, my chest rising and falling with uneven breaths.

“I said, look at me, Elina.” His tone was harsh now. And I knew it wasn’t a request. It wasn’t even a threat.

It was a command draped in silk, designed to make you obey without realizing.

I turned my head.

His eyes were already on me, waiting. Watching.

"Do you even have any idea of the trouble you have caused ? You have stirred a storm, ma bella. A storm that is enough to evoke a mafia war."

“A… war?” I whispered, barely able to say the word.

“Yes. I killed those men because of you,” He hissed like a viper, And then I had to pay the double amount of what you were sold for. Just to keep that bastard auction leader quiet.”

My breath caught in my throat. “You… bought me?”

His jaw flexed. “I claimed you.”

“You ran, and they put you up like you were nothing.” he growled, low and raw. “Now I’ve got blood on my hands and more enemies at my door… because of you.”

"Do you think you can live peacefully now, Elina..?” His voice was low, dangerous, and the way he said my name sent a shiver down my spine.

“Surñios, the southern mexican-american mafia....I have killed their sub-gang members for you, Elina. You are on their radar now. They will find your name, they will find everything about you."

"And soon they will think that by going after you, they can get to me. They'll think they can use you to weaken me, to force my hand. You have ignited something you don't understand."

I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe.

“What do you think I should do? Hmm? Maybe I should give you out to them to avoid a mafia war between two cartels, don't you think?"

I stiffened, every muscle in my body locking up. What..?

“No,” I whispered before I could stop myself, my voice trembling. “I don’t want to go back there. Please, I'll do anything for you. I’ll be your slave, your toy, your property…anything! Just tell me!”

“You can own me, use me, keep me locked in a fucking cage if that’s what you want. Just please don't send me back.”

For a moment he didn’t blink,.didn’t move. His fury radiated from him like heat off a burning building.

"You think spreading your legs will make things right? You think offering yourself is enough to fix this war you have started?”

“But you're powerful and influential, Aziel King. You can protect me. You can end this. And I'll do anything for it. I'll be your...your slave, your sex partner, whatever you want, whenever you want. Just...please.”

Aziel Valerie King's eyes twitched.

"You don't know what you're saying, Elina." His voice came out, low and rough.

"I know what I'm saying. I want you to want me." I brushed my lips against him softly.

“No, you don't.” he rasped, his thumb running over the tremor of my bottom lip. “If you stay with me, you aren’t just giving me your body. You’re surrendering every single breath, every thought, and every drop of freedom you possess. I don’t want a temporary arrangement. I want complete, absolute control over you.”

A sharp shiver surged through me, my nipples hardening instantly against the fabric of my dress as an involuntary moan slipped past my lips at the sheer filth of his words.

​"That night in the car was nothing, a mere taste because I was holding back out of mercy. You have not even begun to see how ruthless I can be.”

"Then ruin me." I whispered against his lips.

And his eyes snapped. “Then, you asked for it.”

I knew, I’d pushed the lion too far. I’d offered myself to the fire and now, I was about to burn.

All for survival.

All to live.