I didn't sleep.
How could I?
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Marco's face. Heard his voice. Felt the sickening weight of those words crashing into me all over again.
I sold you.
By dawn, the sky outside had turned pale gray, and my body felt hollow from exhaustion. I stood by the window in the oversized room, wrapped in a robe that didn't feel like mine, staring at the endless grounds surrounding Adrian's mansion.
High walls.
Iron gates.
Security at every entrance.
There was no escape.
At least, not yet.
A soft knock came at the door.
Then it opened.
A maid entered, carrying a tray of breakfast coffee, fruit, bread, and eggs. The smell should have made me hungry, but my stomach turned instead.
Mr. Adrian requests your presence downstairs, she said gently.
Tell Mr. Adrian I'm not interested.
The maid hesitated. He said you would say that.
I turned to look at her.
And?
And he said to inform you that if you want answers, you should come now.
Answers.
That one word was enough.
Ten minutes later, I followed her downstairs, my heart heavy with anger and dread. I had changed into the clothes left for me a cream blouse and dark skirt that fit perfectly, which somehow only made this place feel even more unsettling.
Nothing here was random.
Everything was controlled.
Including me.
Adrian was in the dining room when I entered. Morning light spilled across the long table, catching the silverware and crystal glasses in sharp flashes. He sat at the head of it, dressed in another dark suit, calm as ever, as if he hadn't ruined my life overnight.
He glanced up.
Sit.
I'd rather stand.
His jaw shifted slightly, but he didn't argue.
Fine.
I folded my arms tightly over my chest. You said I'd get answers.
You will.
Then start talking.
For a moment, he looked at me. His eyes were impossible to read, and that somehow made him worse than men who wore their cruelty openly.
You think your husband sold you only because he needed money, Adrian said.
I let out a bitter laugh. Did I miss something? He literally said that.
He lied.
My breath caught.
No.
Not because I trusted Marco anymore.
But because some part of me had believed I already knew the worst of it.
Apparently, I didn't.
Adrian rose from his chair and walked toward me. He set a file on the table between us.
Open it.
I stared at it, then at him.
What is this?
The truth.
My fingers trembled as I reached for the file. Inside were papers. Contracts. Bank records. Photographs.
At first, none of it made sense.
Then I saw Marco's name.
Again and again.
My throat tightened.
There were transfer records large sums of money moving into his account over several months. Debts. Gambling. Loans from dangerous people messages printed out in black and white.
One sentence made my knees go weak.
Deliver the woman, and the balance will be cleared.
I looked up sharply.
What is this?
Your husband owed people he should never have owed, Adrian said. By the time I found out, they had already decided to use you as payment.
My face went cold.
No.
He didn't stop.
If I hadn't stepped in, you wouldn't be in this house right now.
I felt sick.
You expect me to believe you saved me? I whispered.
His gaze held mine.
I expect you to decide for yourself.
I flipped through the papers faster, my heart hammering so hard I could barely breathe. More messages. More proof. Marco is begging for extensions. Marco is offering information. Marco is using my name.
My hands shook violently.
He. My voice cracked. He planned this?
Yes.
How long?
Adrian's silence was answer enough.
I stumbled back.
Weeks.
Maybe months.
While I was cooking for him.
Waiting for him.
Loving him.
He had been arranging my sale.
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall in front of Adrian.
No, I said, though I didn't know what I was denying anymore. No, Marco is selfish and cruel and weak, but this. this.
This is exactly who he is, Adrian finished coldly.
I hated that he was right.
I hated even more that the proof was right in my hands.
My chest rose and fell too fast.
Why? I whispered. Why would you interfere at all? Why not let those people have me if I'm just a transaction?
For the first time since I met him, something in Adrian's face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Because I don't hand women over to monsters, he said quietly.
The room went still.
The answer hit differently than I expected.
Too direct.
Too simple.
Too human.
I didn't know what to do with that.
So instead, I said carefully, you bought me for yourself.
His eyes darkened.
I bought your freedom from them.
I laughed once short and broken.
This doesn't feel like freedom.
No, he admitted. Not yet.
The honesty in that answer threw me off balance more than another lie would have.
I turned away from him, pressing my fingers to my temple.
I wanted to scream.
To throw the file at him.
To hate him with the same certainty I hated Marco.
But he kept giving me reasons to doubt the version of the story I had built in my head.
And I didn't know which was worse the betrayal I understood, or the truth I didn't.
What happens now? I asked.
For now, you stay here.
I looked over my shoulder, fury rising again.
You keep deciding things for me.
Yes.
The bluntness of it made my teeth clench.
And if I refuse?
His expression didn't change. You can hate me. Fight me. Ignore every word I say. But until the people your husband owed are dealt with, you are safer here than anywhere else.
I should have wanted to argue.
But fear slithered through me instead.
Because deep down.
I believed him.
I hated that too.
I looked back at the papers in my hand. One of the photographs had slipped halfway out of the file. I pulled it free.
It was Marco.
Laughing.
Standing beside a woman in a red dress.
My world tilted.
Who is she?
Adrian's gaze lowered to the photo.
His mistress.
The word sliced through me.
Mistress.
Of course.
Of course, there was another woman.
Why stop at betrayal when you could humiliate me completely?
My vision blurred again, but this time I wasn't only heartbroken.
I was furious.
A strange, cold kind of fury.
The kind that didn't scream.
The kind that waited.
How long? I asked quietly.
A year.
I closed my eyes.
A year.
A whole year of lies while I loved him faithfully.
When I opened them again, something inside me had changed.
The grief was still there.
The pain too.
But beneath it.
Something sharper had begun to form.
Look at me, Elena.
I hadn't realized Adrian had moved closer until I felt the heat of him standing only a step away.
I lifted my gaze slowly.
His voice was low.
You have every right to break, he said. But if you do, Marco wins.
My pulse jumped.
And if I don't?
His eyes locked onto mine.
Then you become the worst mistake he ever made.
The silence that followed felt electric.
For the first time since last night, I wasn't only drowning in pain.
I was thinking.
Planning.
Changing.
Marco had sold me because he thought I was weak.
Disposable.
Easy to sacrifice.
He was wrong.
And maybe.
Maybe Adrian was right about one thing.
Maybe this was not the end of me.
Maybe it was the beginning of something else.
Something stronger.
Something dangerous.
I slowly set the file back down.
Then I looked Adrian straight in the eyes.
Help me destroy him.
For the first time, the cold billionaire smiled.
And somehow.
That smile was even more dangerous than his silence.
END OF CHAPTER 3.