I stare at him. I literally just blink, waiting for the punchline, because there is no fucking way this man just said those words with a straight face.
I want to buy you.
The words hang in the heavy, air-conditioned space of the VIP lounge, sounding completely ridiculous and entirely terrifying all at once.
I shift my weight from one foot to the other, the thin lace of my thong cutting into my hip as I try to process the absurdity of the situation.
I'm standing here half-naked, wearing nothing but a skimpy bra and matching panties, my skin is still slick with the sweat from my final set on the main stage, and this absolute lunatic is sitting on a leather sofa looking at me like I'm a car he wants to take for a test drive.
"Excuse me?" I ask. I try to force a nervous, mocking laugh, but it dies in my throat. "What the fuck does that even mean?"
His expression doesn't change. Not even a fraction of an inch. His steel-gray eyes just drill straight into mine, unblinking, tracking the erratic rise and fall of my chest.
"Exactly what I said," he repeats in his deep voice. "I want to buy you, Cassandra."
"You can't fucking buy me," I snap, my defensiveness finally kicking in.
"Of course I can," he replies smoothly, leaning back against the cushions. He drapes one large, heavily tattooed hand over the back of the sofa. "I can buy anything I want."
My mind short-circuits. Who this guy?
I've been working as a stripper and in this line of work, you meet every single brand of freak the city has to offer.
I've had rich, coke-fueled bastards offer me five grand just to let them eat sushi off my bare ass in the back room.
I've had desperate, lonely middle-aged pricks slip diamond rings into my garter belt and beg me to marry them after a single three-minute lap dance.
I've had guys whisper the filthiest, most degrading things into my ear, describing exactly how they want to bend me over and fuck me until I can't walk.
But this? No one has ever sat in a private room and calmly told me they want to purchase me like a piece of fucking livestock.
"Look, mister," I say, aggressively tossing one hand onto my bare hip. I dig my manicured nails into my skin, trying to keep my hands from shaking. "I think you've had a few too many drinks out there. You are clearly not in your right mind if you think you can just walk in here and-"
"I know exactly what I am saying, Cassandra," he cuts me off. His tone has a lethal, heavy authority that instantly shuts my mouth.
I scowl at him, my anger masking the sudden spike of adrenaline flooding my veins. "Oh, really? Because last time I checked, human trafficking is against the goddamn law. You can't just buy a human being. And besides... why the fuck me? There are a dozen girls backstage who would gladly take your money to do whatever twisted shit you want."
A slow, predatory smile pulls at the corner of his lips. It's a creepy, deeply unsettling smirk that sends a violent shiver straight down to my bare thighs.
"The law doesn't include me, sweetheart," he murmurs, his eyes dropping to track the curve of my exposed waist before snapping back to my face. "And as for why you? It's simple. You're the daughter."
My brows furrow. The room suddenly feels a few degrees colder. "The daughter? Daughter of who?"
Before the man on the couch can answer, one of the massive, stone-faced shadows standing behind him steps forward. The man pulls a small leather notebook from his suit jacket. When he speaks, his voice is a robotic, chilling rasp.
"Cassandra Maro. Twenty years old. Enrollment status: sophomore at the local university. Daytime residence: campus dorms. Nighttime employment: The Obsidian Room," the guard reads aloud, his eyes never leaving the paper. "Family background: Mother, Elena Maro, currently admitted to bed 412 at Saint Jude's Hospital, suffering from chronic kidney failure. Younger brother, Leo Maro, sixteen years old, currently enrolled at Oakridge High School."
My breath completely leaves my body. It feels like someone just slammed a steel pipe straight into my stomach.
The room tilts, the neon red lights of the VIP lounge blurring into a hazy streak. My heart hammers against my ribs so violently it hurts.
They know everything. My name. My mom. My little brother. It is a level of deep, invasive violation that leaves me feeling entirely naked-more naked than I've ever felt on that stage.
"How... how the fuck do you know that?" I whisper, my voice trembling uncontrollably now. "Who the hell are you people?"
The guard ignores my panic and continues reading, his tone utterly indifferent to the fact that my life is shattering in front of him. "Your father, Richard Maro. A degenerate gambler who frequented every illegal underground den in the tristate area. Three weeks ago, he took a massive cash loan from Mr. Castiglione's primary associates. He put his family up as collateral. And then, he packed a bag and ran. He had debts to settle, but he is nowhere to be found."
The guard closes the notebook with a sharp snap and steps back into the shadows.
The man on the couch-Mr. Castiglione-leans forward, resting his tattooed forearms on his knees. "Which brings us to you, Cassandra. Your father ran away to save his own skin, leaving me to clean up his mess. And until he resurfaces and pays back what he stole, I am taking you as my leverage."
"No," I breathe out, shaking my head violently. Tears of pure shock and terror prickle the backs of my eyes, threatening to ruin my heavy stage makeup. "No, no, no. You can't do that. This is insane! Look, whatever the fuck he took from you... I'll pay it back. Okay? I'm working here every single night. I make good money in tips, I swear. I just... I just need a little bit of time. Give me a few months. A year. I'll give you every single cent I make!"
The man lets out a low, breathy chuckle that makes my blood run completely cold. It's a dark, mocking sound.
"Do you even have a fucking clue how much your father owes me, Cassandra?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
I gulp, my throat feeling like sandpaper. "How... how much?"
"Seven million dollars," he says smoothly, as if he's casually stating the time of day. "Plus interest. Tell me, sweetheart... how many dicks do you have to grind on to make seven million dollars? How many hundreds of years will you have to shake your ass on that stage to pay me back?"
The number hits me like a physical blow. Seven million.
My mind goes entirely blank. The stack of twenty-dollar bills currently stuffed into my designer bra suddenly feels like absolute garbage. Peanuts.
I could strip until my skin peeled off, I could sell my soul, and I wouldn't even make a fraction of that amount in three lifetimes.
A wave of complete, crushing hopelessness washes over me. My legs turn to pure water, unable to support the weight of my own terror. Before I can even think about maintaining my dignity, my knees give out.
I drop. My bare knees hit the cold, hard wood floor of the VIP room with a dull thud.
"Please," I sob, the tears finally breaking through, hot and wet against my cheeks. I clasp my trembling hands together, completely throwing away whatever pride I have left. "Please, I'm begging you. Give me time. There has to be another way. Don't hurt my family. Just give me a chance to figure something out."
He doesn't look moved by my tears. In fact, he looks entirely bored. He leans back into the sofa, checking a heavy gold watch on his wrist before looking down at my kneeling form.
"I am a busy man, Cassandra. I don't do 'chances,' and I don't do extensions," he says, his gray eyes turning completely predatory as they sweep over my exposed skin, lingering on my trembling shoulders. "I am going to give you exactly two options. And you are going to choose right now."
He holds up two thick, scarred fingers.
"Option one: you pack your bags tonight, you come with me to my estate, and you belong to me. You sign a contract. You won't have to work in this filthy shithole anymore. In exchange for your total submission, I will personally cover your mother's hospital bills, buy her the best doctors in the country, and ensure your little brother finishes his schooling safely. You will warm my bed whenever I demand it, and in return, your family lives like royalty."
He lowers one finger, leaving a single, threatening point aimed at me.
"Option two: you say no. You walk out of this room, you go back to your dorm, and you try to run. And by tomorrow afternoon, my men will walk into Saint Jude's Hospital and suffocate your mother in her bed. Then, they will find your little brother, drag him into an alley, and beat him until there isn't a single unbroken bone left in his body. Choose."
The air leaves my lungs entirely. Both options are fucking horrific. If I choose the first, I am selling my body, entering a dark, twisted contract of sexual servitude to a man who god knows what he does.
I will become his property, his literal pet toy. But if I choose the second... my family dies a brutal, agonizing death.
It's a sick, twisted paradox.
I swallow the bitter taste of bile in my mouth, looking up at his ruthless face. "Do you... do you mean it?" I whisper, my voice cracking with pure misery. "You swear to God you'll take care of my mother and Leo?"
"I don't break my word, Cassandra," he replies. "Under my protection, they will be untouchable. Safe from anyone. Including your father."
I stare at the floor, my brain screaming at me to run, to scream for help, to do anything but say yes. But there is no help.
The manager sold me out. The law can't touch this man. I have no choices left.
"I... I need time," I choke out, gripping the mesh wrap around my waist. "Please. Let me think this through. Just one night. It's too much."
The man lets out a dark, mocking chuckle.
He slowly stands up from the sofa, and the sheer, towering scale of his 6'4" frame casts a massive, suffocating shadow over my kneeling body. He steps closer, his expensive leather shoes stopping inches from my bare knees.
He looks down at me, his gaze scanning my lace bra, my exposed thighs, treating me like property he already owns.
"You don't have time, sweetheart," he growls, his voice low and lethal. "I'll give you until eight o'clock tomorrow morning. If my phone doesn't ring with a 'yes' by then, the execution orders go through, and your family dies. I'll have my driver leave a business card with the manager."
He turns on his heel, his heavy black coat swaying as he walks toward the door. His two guards flank him immediately.
"Sleep well, Cassandra," he murmurs over his shoulder, before slipping out into the hallway.
The heavy oak door clicks shut, leaving me shivering and broken on the floor.
My cheap college dorm room feels like a fucking coffin tonight.
I pace the linoleum floor, my body still shivering even though I've cranked the radiator up to its maximum. I'm staring at the peeling wallpaper, my eyes burning, my throat raw from the breathless, silent sobbing that's been tearing out of me for the past three hours.
I have to sell my body. I have to literally sign myself over to a total stranger just to keep my mother and brother from being slaughtered.
I collapse onto my shitty twin mattress, burying my face in a pillow to stifle another pathetic wail.
How the fuck did my life turn into this?
I wrap my arms around my stomach, curling into a tight ball as the tears keep coming, hot and endless.
In the dark, my mind drifts back to the way things used to be. I remember when we were actually a family, back when my father hadn't completely lost his goddamn mind to the casinos and underground poker rooms.
He wasn't a good husband, and he sure as hell wasn't a good father, but Christ, we had moments.
I remember cheap takeout on the living room floor, laughing at stupid sitcoms, feeling like we were whole. It was a lie, obviously, but it was a warm one.
Then the reality check hit. I'll never forget the night the local loan sharks finally came to our doorstep.
Three greasy, loud-mouthed pricks kicking at our front door, screaming filth through the wood, threatening to drag my sick mother out into the street by her hair if she didn't hand over money we didn't have.
My mother was shaking, crying, clutching her chest, and Leo was hiding behind the couch, terrified out of his mind.
That was the night that broke me. That was the night that forced me to walk into The Obsidian Room, swallow my pride, and strip down to a lace thong for a bunch of horny bastards.
My family doesn't know a thing about it. They think I work late shifts at a high-end retail store down town. What the fuck am I supposed to tell them anyway?
'Hey Mom, don't worry about the rent, a bunch of married men threw hundreds at my tits tonight.' Yeah, fucking right.
The sickest part is, I was almost done. I had spent the last two and a half years taking all that degrading shit, saving every single dollar, and I had almost paid off those original doorstep bastards.
Only a few payments left. I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
And now? Now I have a seven-million-dollar noose wrapped around my neck.
I sit up, wiping the wet mascara from under my eyes, and grab my phone with trembling fingers.
The manager, Gary, had handed me a sleek, matte-black business card on my way out of the club. It didn't have a company name. It just had a single, embossed silver letter-C-and a phone number.
I didn't know his full name. He had just introduced himself as Mr. Castiglione. My stomach does a flip as I open a browser and type the surname into the search bar.
The results pop up instantly, and my whole body goes numb.
The screen is flooded with old news articles, crime reports, and rumors. Suddenly, I realize why the name sounded so familiar when he said it. Last week, the girls backstage were whispering about a horrific, daylight execution in the middle of a crowded intersection downtown.
The victim was a rival gang leader. The man suspected of ordering the hit?
Cesare Castiglione.
I dig deeper, my chest tightening until I can barely breathe. He isn't just some rich loan shark. He is the undisputed don of the city's largest underworld syndicate.
He's a monster involved in international arms dealing, high-profile murders, and brutal territory wars. The articles describe him as a cold-blooded psychopath who eliminates his enemies without a second thought.
I stare at a blurry paparazzi photo of him leaving a courtroom a year ago. Even in a grainy picture, those freezing, steel-gray eyes pierce right through me.
And I'm supposed to go to his bed. I'm supposed to let those hands touch me.
Panic spikes in my throat. I want to run. I want to pack a backpack, grab my mom and Leo, and catch the first bus out of this godforsaken state. But I know it's a death sentence.
If a man like Cesare Castiglione wants to find us, a bus ticket won't save us. If I run, my family dies.
"You fucking piece of shit," I whisper into the empty room, my voice dripping with rage as I think of my father.
I hope he rots in whatever hole he's hiding in. He threw his own daughter to a pack of wolves just to save his pathetic skin.
I look at the clock on my phone. 7:45 AM.
My breath shakes as I stare at the matte-black card. I take a deep, shuddering breath, forcing myself to numb every single emotion inside me. I have to survive. My family has to live.
I dial the number. It rings exactly once before a deep, gravelly voice answers.
"Speak."
"It's Cassandra," I whisper, my knuckles white as I grip the phone. "My answer is yes."
"A car is already outside your dorm, Cassandra. Don't keep my driver waiting." The line goes dead.
~
The drive is a blur of towering iron gates, winding private roads, and a massive, gothic stone mansion that looks more like a fortress than a home. By the time the heavy oak doors open, I'm escorted straight into Cesare's grand private study.
The room smells of expensive leather, rich mahogany, and a faint metallic tang that makes my skin crawl.
Cesare is sitting behind a massive desk, looking immaculate in a tailored black shirt, the top few buttons undone to reveal the dark ink creeping up his neck.
Without a word, he slides a thick, heavy stack of papers across the polished wood.
"Sign it," he commands, his gray eyes locking onto mine like a predator pinning its prey.
I step forward, my legs feeling like lead, and pick up the document. It's a formal contract, but the clauses inside are purely demonic.
It states that Cesare Castiglione will take full financial responsibility for my father's debts, my mother's medical treatments, and my brother's security.
In return, I am selling myself. Completely.
The text explicitly states that I am to devote my entire life and body to him. I am to become his personal bed-warmer, available to him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And then I hit the filthy part.
The contract outlines strict rules of total obedience and submit-or-perish dynamics, explicitly detailing that I will be subjected to BDSM activities, restraints, and whatever twisted, dominant commands he chooses to inflict on me.
I cannot say no. I cannot refuse his touch, no matter how rough, degrading, or extreme it gets.
I scoff internally, a bitter, toxic taste filling my mouth.
A fucking dog. He's literally turning me into a submissive, obedient pet on a leash.
My stomach turns over as I read the words. The reality of it hits me like a slap to the face: I am a virgin.
Despite working at The Obsidian Room, despite letting men stare at my tits and slide cash into my thong, I have never actually let a man touch me. I've never let anyone inside me.
I've guarded that last piece of my innocence like a shield, a boundary that kept me separate from the filth of the club. All of this goes completely against my morals, against everything I've ever believed about my own worth.
But as I look across the desk at Cesare's unyielding, cold face, I force that boundary to crush down. I have to bury my morals deep in the dirt.
I tell myself the lie I need to hear to survive: You lost your fucking morals the second you put on a G-string for money, Cassie. This is just a bigger stage.
It's a lie, and it hurts like hell, but it's the only way I can force my hand to move.
I have no other choice. My mother's life is on this paper. Leo's life is on this paper.
I grab the heavy silver fountain pen resting on the desk. My hand shakes, but I press the nib to the paper, signing my name across the bottom line in jagged, messy ink.
Cassandra Maro.
I drop the pen, the sharp click echoing in the silent room. I look up, meeting Cesare's dark, satisfied gaze.
I have just signed my soul over to the devil, and there is no turning back.
