Chapter 43: Going Once, Twice… Sold

*Layla*

And then, my eyes landed on her. 

My mother, her face a mask of anguish and despair, being restrained by two of Marco's thugs at the edge of the room. Our eyes locked, and in that moment, I saw the depth of her pain, her helplessness. She was being forced to watch as her only child was sold into a life of unimaginable horror.

"Shall we start the bidding at one million dollars?" Marco's voice rang out, snapping my attention back to the nightmarish scene unfolding before me.

Hands shot up around the room, the price climbing higher and higher with each passing second. I felt my head spin, my stomach churn with revulsion and terror. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a dream, a nightmare from which I would soon wake.

But it wasn't a dream. It was real, and it was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.