Lahat ng Kabanata ng Switched at the Mafia Auction: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

~ Avelyn ~The car ride was too quiet.Only the hum of the tires against asphalt and the soft rustle of my skirt filled the air. I sat with my hands pressed between my knees, trying not to shiver, even though the AC was biting through my skin.The maids had packed my things that morning, all smiles and polite goodbyes as if they weren’t secretly dying to know what kind of trip required me of all people. I hadn’t asked again. I’ve learnt that eyes and ears are decorative objects here.Now, as the city slipped by, I stared at the tinted window and wondered if this had anything to do with her, his fiancée whose name was Veronica De Castle. My stomach twisted remembering the chocolate, the laughter, the sound of my dignity cracking under their heels. Maybe this was punishment for what happened… or maybe it was something worse.I tried not to think about him. About how he’d barely looked at me since that night. How he’d ordered, without a trace of emotion, for me to get some rest.And ye

~ Avelyn ~ Those words felt like a hand closing around something tender inside of me. Not a threat shouted across the room because he was far too controlled for theatrics but a private promise meant to be heard and understood. Chill threaded down my spine. The rest of the night would now orbit that line. He kept me near as if I might dissolve given space. He introduced me with a smile to certain men with a tilt of the head, “my guest,” the words tasting different here than they had on the jet. Sometimes it was a hand that rested possessively at my waist, sometimes a casual arm across my shoulder when he spoke, as if to claim me in a language of touch. To the assembled syndicate his words were small, spoken demonstrations: she belongs to me. You do not touch what I mark. A man asked, mid-conversation, taking a long pull from his glass, “That girl — from the club? Is she investment or indulgence?” Xander’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Investment implies risk,” he said, clea

~ Avelyn ~Kyle froze first. Then his arms slipped from me like they’d burned him. I turned slowly, and there he was.Xander.The shadows of the garden seemed to bend toward him. His expression was cold as ice, carved from stone and fury. The lantern light flickered along the sharp line of his jaw, the faint gleam of his cufflinks catching fire with every step he took.“Master Xander,” someone at the doorway murmured, but his name didn’t sound like a title anymore. It sounded like a warning.“Mr. Sterling,” Kyle greeted, voice steady but his posture taut.Xander didn’t answer. His eyes found mine first, and I could barely breathe. There was no warmth there. Only a silence that screamed.He stepped closer, his presence filling the air until it felt impossible to move. “Having a reunion, I see.”“Don’t talk to her like that,” Kyle said, taking a step forward.Xander’s gaze flicked to him, slow and lethal. “And you’d prefer I talk to you instead?”The air between them tightened like a pu

~ Avelyn ~My mouth went as dry as a desert. “I just came to—”“To what?” he cut in, his voice still the same terrifying calm. “To prove you can’t follow orders?”I swallowed, fighting to keep my voice even. “You said I had to make your bed every night. I was only—”“I also told you to stay out of sight.”His tone dropped, like it was a sin for me to exist in the same space as him right now.Ans he took slow steps forward. Every single one caused my heart to beat like a drum. By the time he was in front of me, it was a miracle I hadn’t fainted from a heart attack.I tried damage control, “I didn’t think it would offend you if I—” “Everything you do offends me.”That stopped me cold, the rest of my words buried itself deep in my gut. I didn’t dare speak, not under the watchful eyes of those dark orbs. He wasn’t even trying to hide it. I could almost taste the irritation, the conflict.Like something in him was unraveling and I was the thread he couldn’t stop pulling.My fingers cl

~ Xander ~When did seeing her with someone else make my tongue taste like vinegar? She was a toy, she has no right to make me feel anything. Even resentment is an emotion and I do not feel. Never.And for causing that insult, she must pay, dearly. She shivered like a leaf under my gaze and it stroke an arousal within me. Why did watching her misery bring me so much excitement?I’ve been with whores of all kinds, shape and sizes. Some with breast even my palm couldn’t fully grasp. Yet, this thin, pale girl brings me more excitement just by looking at her. Ah… it must be because she is branded by that fox, Kyle. That must be it. The look on his face tonight, the helplessness in his eyes when I walked away with his beloved hand-in-hand. I haven’t felt so pleased in a long time. Let him feel the pain of being disappointed, of being left behind. Still, this is all an act of repayment for what he did to me. Why did I suddenly feel genuinely angry? This girl…I pushed off the counter