Chapter 7
On Aria’s discharge day, her phone buzzed with a message.
Lucas: [Tonight 8 PM, Meridian Auction House. Be there.]
She stared at the screen for a long moment, then typed back: [Okay.]
The auction house glittered under crystal chandeliers. Aria wore a simple white blouse and black pants, standing quietly in the corner.
Her leg injury hadn’t fully healed, sending shoots of pain up her spine when she stood too long, but she kept her back straight like a tree refusing to bend in a storm.
Until-
“Lucas, I know what I want for the hundredth task.” Madison hung on Lucas’s arm, her voice sickeningly sweet. “I
want you to auction her off.”
Aria’s head snapped up, meeting Madison’s triumphant gaze.
“Madison,” Lucas frowned, his long fingers tapping against the armrest, “that’s too much.”
“You said you’d do anything for me.” Madison pouted. “Besides, haven’t you always complained about her clinging to you? This is the perfect solution.”
“And if you agree, I’ll finally be your girlfriend!”
Lucas was quiet for a long time, then looked at Aria.
“Aria,” his voice was dry as dust, “get on stage.”
Aria’s fingertips trembled, her face draining of color, but she simply nodded. “Yes, Mr. Sinclair.”
Lucas’s pupils contracted, his heart clenching painfully.
He’d expected tears, screaming, anything–but she just quietly obeyed, her eyes empty as still water.
How much did she have to love him to treat his every word like gospel, willingly degrading herself to this extent?
On the auction platform.
“Our next lot is rather special,” the auctioneer smiled suggestively. “Miss Aria Winters, 25 years old, 5’6“, fluent in six languages, skilled in…”
Bidding voices rose from the crowd.
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My Husband’s Guide to Losing a Perfectly Good Wife in Five Easy Steps
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Chapter 7
“Five million!”
“Eight million!”
“Twelve million!”
The numbers climbed higher and higher. Lucas watched the woman on stage, his chest growing tighter by the second.
When bidding reached twenty million, he suddenly stood-
Madison grabbed his sleeve. “Lucas?”
Lucas froze. In that moment of hesitation, the gavel fell: “Sold!”
A fat, greasy middle–aged man had won her for twenty million.
Lucas sat in the VIP box, veins bulging in his neck.
At the hotel.
“Don’t be afraid, beautiful…” The disgusting man shoved Aria onto the bed. “I’ll take real good care of you…”
Aria didn’t struggle, just stared at the ceiling.
When the man ripped open her blouse, she suddenly grabbed the crystal ashtray from the nightstand and smashed
it into his skull!
“Ahh!” The man screamed, blood streaming down his forehead.
Aria shoved him away and stumbled toward the door, her injured leg screaming with pain, but she didn’t dare stop.
Heavy footsteps thundered behind her along with the man’s enraged shouts.
She frantically jabbed the elevator button, diving inside just as the doors began to close.
The moment they shut, she collapsed to the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
Back at her apartment, Aria sat on the cold tile floor.
Her soaked clothes clung to her skin, ice water seeping into her bones.
She stared at the ceiling, suddenly remembering a rainy night years ago.
Adrian had waited for her outside school with an umbrella, and seeing her wet hair, immediately wrapped his jacket around her, voice pained and exasperated: “Why didn’t you use an umbrella? What if you catch pneumonia?”
Adrian, without you here, I can’t even take proper care of myself.
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Chapter 7
“BANG-!”
The front door exploded inward!
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