Page 112 of Sapphire

No, it’s too soon, she’s the last link. We both hold each other tightly till Dmitri pulls us apart.

“I’ll find you,” I scream at her as Dmitri hauls her off, toward her new life—or nightmare, depending on her buyer.

A while later, Dmitri comes in and closes the door behind him. He stalks toward me. “The men are hungry tonight, Sapphire.” As he advances on me, I try to get away from him, but he has me cornered. “There are some big dealers here.” He looks down my cleavage then back up to my face. “And they are going to make Nikolai and I look like pussycats.” He laughs.

I bring my knee up and get him right in the family jewels, and he stumbles back, screaming in pain. He looks like he is about to murder me as he lunges, but Nikolai stops him from the doorway.

“Dmitri, go,” he orders as his friend hobbles away.

My eyes fall on Nikolai. I straighten my back.

“Have you come to say goodbye?” I mock him. “Feeling sentimental over your toy?” I flutter my eyelashes at him. I can see his jaw tense as I goad him.

“No matter what, I will miss you.”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“And no matter what, I’m going to hunt you down and make sure I destroy you. All of you, all of this.” I wave my arms around the room. “You can send me to the ends of the earth, but I will always crawl back again. And when I do, I’m going to be your worst motherfucking nightmare.”

Nikolai pauses for a moment and smiles. “I look forward to it.”

And with that, I open the door and walk out into the unknown, head held high and my back straight. I pray that by some miracle or karma or divine intervention I have been bought by someone who will not hurt me but will help me in my quest for vengeance.

I walk the empty corridors hoping the rest of the jewels are going to be okay.

Nikolai opens the door, and the noise hits me first, then the smell of desperate men.

I see a long catwalk up to a stage where spotlights are focused.

“Good luck, Zoe, you’re going to fucking need it where you’re going.”

I flip Nikolai the bird and start my walk toward the stage. I hear men screaming and jostling along the catwalk, thankfully they are far enough away that they cannot touch me. I would hate to stumble in these heels. I’d be ripped apart with the amount of testosterone swirling around the room. I walk up the three steps to the stage and see an X right in the middle. I stand there and once I’m in place, a loud voice echoes through the hall, silencing the men. They are speaking Arabic, and thankfully, I can understand what the announcer is saying. He tells the crowd my statistics, my age, height, weight, etc. Then he goes on about my skills in the bedroom. I want to be sick listening to what he tells the men. Then he starts the bidding. Those poor girls before me probably didn’t understand a thing that was going on. I’m scared shitless, and I understand what they are saying. The numbers rise and rise until they hit one million dollars.

Fuck!

Who would the hell pay that much for me? What the hell do they want me to do for that amount of money? Now I’m genuinely becoming scared. Maybe Nikolai knows exactly where I am going, and that’s why he looks so damned pleased with himself.

Then I hear, “SOLD!” That’s it.

The announcer steps from the shadows and tells me to head back the same way I came.

Step by step I follow the path. My mind is spinning.

“I always knew you were special.” Nikolai rubs his hands together over the amount of money he has just made off me. I spit in his face, and he goes to attack me, but Dmitri holds him back.

“She’s someone else’s problem now. Let’s go find us some new bitches.”

And with that, they disappear into the night. A guard ushers me into a small room, and I notice a very large man in it—he looks like a fucking mountain. He’s maybe 6ft 5 or taller, as wide as a Mack truck, and is dressed in a tailored suit. His face is stony. He has sunglasses on, and we are inside. Weird. Who the hell is he? Then it clicks—he must be the man who bought me.

“Would you like to inspect her?” the guard asks.

He nods, and the guard goes to unzip my dress, but I slap his hands away.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

The guard tries again.

“Stop,” the large man says. “It is okay; I will inspect later when I teach her a lesson for disobedience.”

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