CHAPTER TWO

I didn't get too far before I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't need to turn to know it was Alexander walking behind - and apparently with some of his goons.

"I’m not going anywhere with you."

I said it with every bit of fire left in me, and kept walking.

But he didn't stop following me - no the bastard didn't even miss a step.

With a sigh I turned to him angrily, “did you not hear a word I said? I am not going anywhere with you! You can't…you can't do this me.”

My breath hitched, and I felt my eyes burning with unused tears but I blinked it away - “I'm not some damn property.”

“Don't take it personal honey,” he responded without blinking, “I'm a business man so my number one belief is - a deal is a deal. Your husband lost you in the bet so you are mine.”

His words slammed with me and I staggered back, my knees suddenly growing too weak to hold me up as I really processed the whole thing again.

“I'm not a property!” I yelled - or at least tried to, but the words came out in a broken whimper, “no body, certainly not my husband has the rights to trade me off in a gamble!’

“You will have to discuss that with your husband, blue. When I'm done with you.”

When he's done with me?

I shuddered as his gaze snaked over me like he was trying to undress me with his eyes alone.

Gosh!

How could Derek do this to me?

“I'm not going with you.” I said, the words coming out firmer this time.

“I wasn't asking. See, I won you fair and square so I won't take a No from you.”

I clenched my fist, trying to think clearly from the fog of anger that was drowning my mind.

How could a full grown man insist that he has some claim on a fellow human being like I was some…some damn property?

“Then you’re wasting your time. I’m not some lost puppy you can drag home and keep.”

“Hmm,” he mused. “You bark louder than I expected.”

“Get used to it.”

He took a slow step forward, his polished shoes silent against the marble.

I backed up.

He stopped.

“I like the fight in you, Sophia,” he said, calm as sin. “But it’s misplaced. Your husband signed the deal. The debt is mine. And so are you.”

“Screw you.”

“Tempting,” he said smoothly, “but not tonight.”

He gave a subtle nod.

Two men stepped out of the shadows.

One stood by the elevator. The other moved behind me, silent as a ghost.

I turned, hands up. “Don’t touch me.”

The man hesitated and looked to Alexander.

I spun back toward the elevator, legs shaking, from the fury that was boiling inside me.

“Don’t you dare—” I started, but the hand grabbed my arm before I could finish.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, ma’am.”

“I am not your ma’am!” I twisted in his grip, kicking, slapping—anything to make him let go.

The other one stepped forward.

“Don’t!” I shouted, breath heaving. “You think you can just kidnap me? Drag me here like I’m nothing?”

They didn’t answer.

The elevator slid open behind me, slick and quiet like everything else in this godforsaken place.

“Let me go!”

But they didn’t. They didn’t speak, didn’t struggle. Just moved like they’d done this a hundred times before.

Professional. Precise.

And I hated how afraid that made me feel.

---

I don’t remember much of the ride up. Just the sound of my pulse crashing in my ears and the sterile scent of whatever cologne Alexander wore still clinging to my skin like a brand.

The penthouse was silent.

Too silent.

The men disappeared once the door closed behind us. Like ghosts fading into black.

And then it was just me. In a place that looked like power had married obsession and given birth to this cold, beautiful prison.

I dropped my bag on the floor and the echo it made somehow elevated my anger.

I turned slowly, facing the living room, the long glass windows that opened to the skyline. The city sparkled outside, too far away to help.

I found my voice again.

“I’ll never give you what you want.”

I didn’t know where he was, but I knew he could hear me.

“I’ll never bow to you. Never play your little game. I don’t care how rich you are, how charming you think you sound, or what kind of twisted thrill this is for you. I’m not yours. I never will be.”

No answer.

Just the hum of the city in the background and the sound of my own breath.

I sank onto the couch, placed my face in my hands and finally let the tears I was holding fall.

---

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there—minutes? Hours? It felt like a lifetime.

The door finally opened behind me.

I didn’t look up.

He stepped in anyway. Took his time crossing the room and poured himself a drink like I wasn’t even there.

Finally, he spoke.

“Your husband came back.”

I looked up.

Alexander met my gaze with a calm and cold look.

Derek was here?

Was he finally here to take me back?

“He signed the documents.”

“What documents?”

He reached into his jacket and tossed a manila envelope onto the coffee table. “A one-year contract. In exchange for full debt clearance, you’re mine.”

I stared at the envelope in my hand, Then at him.

“No.” he can't be serious.

“You don’t have a choice.”

“I never agreed—”

“You never had a seat at the table, Sophia. He bet you. He lost you. And now you’re here.”

I stood. “Then I’ll leave. I don’t care what he signed.”

“You leave,” he said, voice lower now, “and your dear husband goes to prison for fraud, default, and a laundry list of things I’ve already built a case for.”

“You can’t—”

“I can. And I will.”

I tried to say something but no words were coming out.

First, what debts and theft was be talking about?

Second - what the hell have Derek done?

“Why are you doing this?”

His eyes darkened, something slow and dangerous behind them.

“That's left for me to know, Sophia. You aren't in the place to ask questions - you have been traded for 50 million dollars by your husband.”

My stomach turned and if I wasn't already sitting I would have fallen down because suddenly I could not feel anything in my body.

50 million what!?

“Derek would never do that.”

“Feel free to look at the contract whenever you want.”

I swallowed but refused to open the document in my hands. The document which suddenly felt too heavy like I was holding brick.

Derek wouldn't use me like that. Not after…

I shook my head, getting on my feet “I don't care what you say. And I have heard about you - how crazy you are. So I'm sure there's no way my husband would have easily agreed to this. I'm sure you must have manipulated or blackmailed him to agree to these insanity.”

Yes it made sense.

More sense than Derek actually trading me for money.

He would not do that to me.

“Huh,” Alexander was looking at me like I was crazy, “you really have this delusional perfect reality wrapped around your mind don't you?”

I frowned but before I could say anything or ask what he meant he continued

“Every one knows that your husband is a bastard, Sophia. A greedy, drinking addicted bastard. So trust me when I say this - You deserve more and I actually did you a favour.”

I slapped him.

Hard.

His cheek turned slightly, the only movement he allowed himself.

I recoiled expecting rage, a threat or something.

Instead he looked at me and smiled,

“You just flinched, Sophia. Know this - I'm not your asshole husband.”

I bit my lip in shame but said nothing.

“Soon you will realise that I only did you a favour. For now, rest well.”

Then he turned and walked away.