Inaya's POV

I stare at him as he drives us to wherever he's taking us.

His face is expressionless, cold. His fingers occasionally tap the steering wheel as a way of thinking or impatience.

The car ride is quiet. No talking. No music. Not even a small peep. Just the sounds of cars passing by and the sound of the engine.

It's awfully quiet and I should be glad but the silence is almost deafening. It's amplifying my anxiety because I can't figure out where I'm going or what's going on.

Finally, he drives up to a lavish building that has to be about 50 stories tall. A man, who I'm guessing is a valet, opens my door and I look at Dominic.

He nods at me and I get off of the car. He throws the key at the valet and the valet drives off.

Dominic lends out his arm for me to take but I don't take it at first. So, he grabs my hand and wraps it around his.

"What are we doing here?" I ask again, hoping for an answer.

"Don't ask any questions. Don't even speak one word without my permission. Understood?" He says sternly.

"But—"

He grips my arm tighter using his other hand. "Not. One. Word."

He leads me into a room with... just men in suits.

They're all staring right at me... but not because I'm out of place...

I can't pinpoint exactly why but I can tell that they're examining me, analyzing me, it's what I would do before picking a fresh fruit.

I feel sweat forming on my forehead and my grasp on Dominic's arm tightens slightly.

My heart is beating faster and faster as we get closer to the small group of men who look incredibly wealthy.

My breath gets caught in my throat when we turn the corner to get a better view of the room.

There's a room full of girls tied in chains in the corner of the room. But those girls... their eyes are hollow as if they don't have a soul. As if they've been broken to the point of no return.

And then it hits me, I know what this is.

He can't be doing this to me.

He can't be selling me.

Adrenaline quickly begins pumping through my veins. My heart will explode if it keeps beating at this rate. My body is screaming for me to run but run where?

The saliva in my mouth is thickening and beads of sweat is slowly trickling down the side of my face. I'm going to vomit from the horror in front of me.

"You can't do this to me." I whisper, my voice is coming out course.

Dominic looks at me with not one shred of guilt or sympathy in those dark brown eyes. "Business is business. I was offered a good price for you just yesterday."

"Please." I beg him. "Don't do this."

He ignores my pleas and technically drags me to a man, who looks extremely intimidating. I'm uncomfortable from just the way he looks at me.

"Signor Luciano, come sta?" Dominic's tone takes a 180 as it's more formal and polite now.

"Non mi posso lamentare. Now that I see what you've brought me." The old man grins disgustingly at me.

"Sir?" I hear a familiar voice call out.

When I turn around, I see Lenny and Benny is standing right behind him.

"What are you two doing here?" Dominic asks.

"Your father sent us here for... some business." Benny answers.

Dominic's expression turns sour. "Father?"

Lenny nods. "He wanted us to check something out." He turns to look at me. "What are you doing here? Are you causing more trouble?"

My eyes are full of tears, which makes Lenny look confused.

And that's when Benny's voice breaks the silence. "You're selling her off."

"You can't do—" Lenny starts but quickly changes his wording. "Someone actually paid for her?"

"Someone did. And it's good money." Dominic smirks.

He's a sadist, a monster, the devil himself.

He's getting off on this, he's getting off on my misery and it's breaking my heart.

Benny whispers something in Lenny's ears, making Lenny nod.

"There's someone else who would pay a better price for her." Lenny says.

Where are they going with this?

"Well, I fucking already promised her to someone." Dominic says with an annoyed tone.

"Who?" Benny asks.

"Mr. Luciano." He answers.

Both the men's faces turn stone-like. This isn't good.

"There's no turning back now." Dominic says.

Mr. Luciano comes back and extends his grimy little hands towards me. "Come to me, my darling."

I stare at Dominic to stop this but there's not a single bit of kindness in his eyes.

It's suddenly dawning on me that no one's going to stop this transaction. That's what I've become: a mere transaction.

As Mr. Luciano holds my arm, I break free almost instantly to grab Dominic by his sweater and lean my forehead on his hard chest.

I'm sure I took him by surprise because his expression was caught off guard... just a split second.

My chin begins trembling from my urge to not cry but I couldn't help it. Slowly, tears begin to slide down my cheeks.

"Please don't let him take me. I beg you! I'll do anything but don't let him take me." A small sob escapes my lips at first.

He grabs my hands to untangle my grasp of his sweater and lets my hands fall to my sides. "It's been done. I never back out of a deal. It's not my way of doing things."

"Sir, if you could think this over—" Benny tries to say.

"It's been fucking done. What part of done do you not understand, for fuck's sake!" He yells, making me flinch.

The most hysterical crying came out from my mouth, the screaming sobs only interrupted by my need to draw breath. It was an intense sound, one we're programmed not to ignore because of the rawness to it.

Everyone in the room slowly turns to look at us. There were a few who looked like they wanted to help but some just look irritated.

Benny and Lenny helplessly stare on with only the look of guilt in their eyes.

Unknowingly, I place a hand on Dominic's cheek. "I know there's some good left in there somewhere. If you could just..."

I let my hand slip off his face just like the words of the sentence I was about to say. The expression that appeared on Dominic's face is the most I've ever seen. I couldn't quite understand what he was feeling but I'm sure I hit some kind of a cord.

But I know he won't stop it. Because for him, a deal is a deal. And there's the factor that he does not care about me at all to want to back out.

"Is there a problem, Signor Belcastro?" Mr. Luciano's stern voice asks.

"No, no there isn't. She's all yours." His words slice through my numbing mind.

I hadn't realized I was gripping onto the edge of his sleeve. When Mr. Luciano's men were pulling me away, my grip on his sleeve was slowly slipping away.

When the last bit of the sleeve had slipped from my grip, my hand still hung in the air.

"Dominic, please." I whisper one last time, I could barely see him through the endless tears that are flowing down from my eyes.

He was as expressionless as ever as the men drag me away. This man doesn't have one humane bone in his body. He can't be human at all.

As I was being taken away, that's when a loud firework like sound goes off. The noise slices through the air, deafening me from the sharp sounds.

I recognize the sounds.

Gunshots. Multiple gunshots.

- - -

Terms:

- Signor Luciano, come sta?: Mr. Luciano, how are you?

- Non mi posso lamentare: I can't complain.

A/N: Dominic has no chill 👀

Next Update: Thursday, October 10, 2019.