ARTHUR

ADELINE'S POV

I get ready just like Colton asked me to. I scrubbed my body like I would successfully wash away the dirtiness this place. I scrubbed and scrubbed until my skin became all red and yet, I still feel as dirty as ever and I feel like no matter how many baths I take, no matter how hard I scrub my skin, I feel like I'll never b clean gain. I feel like I'm forever tainted and there's nothing I can do to make everything better.

I don't know who Veronica wants me to meet but I can only be sure of one thing and I know that whoever it is, it's definitely going to be a man. As I stare at myself in the mirror, I almost break down into tears and cry at the pathetic look I have on my face. I don't look at myself in the mirror so much, ever since I got here because every time I do, all I feel is disgusted by what I see.

The light I used to have in my eyes has all faded away with the brutality and sadness of this place. The fullness of my face has weakened over time. I'm not sleeping properly so I have eye bags that Veronica forces me to hide with make-up. I've lost weight but veronica says it's good because I have to look like a super model and no one wants to fuck a fat bitch.

I've lost my shine but Veronica seems to think I look just perfect the way I am. The drugs she puts in our breakfast everyday has started taking a toll on me. I feel weaker and weaker every day. I feel my brain function deteriorating no matter how hard I try to stay focus. Sometimes I find myself hallucinating and other times I feel so tired and hopeless that all I want to do is give up.

Veronica also gives us pills twice every week to control our hormones and keep us from menstruating. So, the girls here don't get their periods often. We never even get them at all. I don't feel like a woman. I don't even feel like a human being. I feel like a doll, like a freaking robot. I look like a lifeless zombie and I don't have any fight left in me. I don't know what to do anymore. I feel so helpless and hopeless and every night I want to give up.

I don't want to fight anymore. I just want to give up and accept this fate, and understand that there is no coming back from this. I take a few steps back from the mirror and observe myself from a farther distance because looking at myself up close makes me feel like I'm going to puke.

Colton walks in a few seconds later. He doesn't say anything. He just stands there and watches me with an apologetic look on his face. He looks like he wants to say something and the words are hanging from his tongue. He takes one small step forwards, s if the air behind him is automatically pushing him closer to me, as if the distance between us was heartbreaking.

It is, but we both know that we cannot interact with each other the way he used to. So instead of asking if I'm okay. Instead of saying something and instead of starting a conversation that none of us want to take part in, he only softens his eyes and steps aside, nodding his head towards the door and focusing his eyes on my shoes. A tear threatens to spill but I take in deep breaths and try to hold myself together as I walk towards the door. I don't know what Veronica has in store for me, but I know it can't be anything worse than what I have already experienced. She can't break me any more than she already has.

I walk out the room with Colton behind me and walk towards the direction of the thick voice of laughter coming from the meeting room. Once I walk in, I notice the familiar face of Veronica and her bull dog guards who are always by her side and ten I notice where the thick laughter was coming from and I almost twist my face in disgust at the sight of the man in front of me.

He doesn't look ugly, he looks different from all the other men I've seen come here before. He has that predatory look in his eyes, like all the other men do but then as I take a closer look at him, the way he carries himself and just the way he talks, he reminds me of a very manipulative criminal who used to be my patient.

I know immediately that I want nothing to do with this man but then again, why did Veronica want to introduce me to him? Why am I meeting with this man who gives off a very eerie vibe? I want nothing to do with him.

"Oh Angel!" Veronica claps her hands excitedly as soon as she spots me. I do the thing I have always been taught to do and stand in front of her with my head raised up, but not high enough that I look into their eyes. I stand with my chest held high, in my extravagant heels and in the pose that she has taught me to stand in a million times over.

I notice small things about the man as I look at him. He looks like he's in his early forties. He's not fat, or short. He's huge and the look on his face as he glances at my body from top to bottom, basically drooling over the sight of me makes me want to empty the contents of my stomach right here on this floor.

"Arthur." Veronica addresses the man with his name. The men that come here never use their real names, they always have codes or weird nicknames or something.

"This is Angel. Erotica's most prized possession for the auction at the moment. We have a lot of high hopes for her." Veronica presents me like I were an object. She completely degrades me and makes me seem like only a doll that is good enough to be fucked and put on display and apparently the man likes what he sees.

He smiles in the way that a predator would as he takes slow and calculated steps towards me. He circles me and I fight as hard as I can to keep my breathing in check as he undresses me with his eyes. I don't like the way this man makes me feel and he hasn't even touched me yet. I have no idea what I'll do if he ever puts his hands on me, because all I can think of right now, is Adrian and the director and Colton and what happened to me.

Arthur grabs a lock of my hair as he continues circling me. He takes a step closer to me so that we're now inches apart. I don't move an inch and I don't make a sound. I focus my mind on something else. I think of clear skies and bird songs. I zone out and try to focus on the floor, on my shoes, anything to get my mind off whatever is happening right now.

He gets so close to me that he basically sniffs my hair in the most disgusting way possible. Veronica asked me to wear my hair down today and I can tell that it really pleases Arthur. He lets go of my hair and then steps in front of me and places a finger under my chin. He lifts my head slowly and gently so that we're making eye contact with each other. His eyes lack emotion, two black holes as deep as the ocean. Two black holes that are as emotionless as a rock. Two black holes that harden as dilate as he takes me in.

"Mmmh." He lets out a small noise from his throat, as if having made a decision about me already just from looking at me. "You are exquisite." His comment resonates in my chest as he talks to me. As he lets go of my chin, I instantly put my head back down and focus my eyes on the floor again.

Arthur seems like a patient man. He's not drooling over me in the way the other men do. He's calculating and taking his time with me. He's mentally studying me, as if I were a candidate and he's contemplating if I have passed some kind of exam or not. I hate the way he makes me feel.

In just seconds of meeting him, he has made me feel worse than all the other men that have tried to hurt me and that makes Arthur the most dangerous man that I have met yet.

He places his hand below my chin and raises my head again, a bit harshly this time, his eyes hardening as he speaks. "Keep your eyes on me, darling."

I swallow and I do as he says. He raises his brow as if to test me and makes eye contact with me even as he takes a few steps back to Veronica. He doesn't take his eye off me as he speaks, rubbing down on his chin in a menacing way.

"She's perfect. She's the most perfect thing I have ever seen." He says and my heart falls to my stomach. This is the day I've been dreading. This is the day I lose my mind.

"You know I don't normally buy women form you, Veronica." He smirks and finally takes his eyes off me, but I don't stop looking at him. he might look back at me any second and I fear what he will do if he notices that I took my eyes off him.

"When you told me you had something special to show me. I wasn't sure I was going to be impressed. But this girl. This woman who despite her age looks so young, so innocent, so perfect. I want to have her all to myself for as long as I can. I want her all to myself veronica. No one must touch her." Arthur orders and Veronica basically beams at him.

"I'm glad she impresses you. The moment we brought her in, I've been preparing her just for you. I know the kind of girls you like and I have crafted her to almost perfectly resemble your dream girl." Veronica says and I almost barfed. From the moment she set her eyes on me, my fate was already decided??

She already knew who she was going to sell me to. She taught me how to do my make up a certain way, how to dress a certain way, how to wear my hair a certain way, how to walk and fucking stand a certain way. It was all for him. It was all for Arthur.

It was all for this man standing in front of me. I automatically hate Arthur.

"I know I am forced to participate in the auction coming up soon. I don't care who is present for that auction. I'll have her no matter what. I don't care what price I have to pay. She became mine the second I laid eyes on her." He says and then without warning snaps his head towards me.

He has a deadly look in his eyes but they soften once he notices that I'm still looking at him. He looks satisfied, happy that I obeyed him. He walks towards me and takes my hand in his. He does the most unexpected thing and places a kiss at the back of my hand.

"Till we meet again, my sweet doll." He says and walks out of the room. Doll. That's all I am to these people. A thing. I'm nothing.

Veronica looks towards me with the biggest smile that I have ever seen on her face.

"You were perfect today Angel." She says to me with a pleased look on her face. "Don't be fooled by Arthur's manners and decorum by the way. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's only as nice as you want him to be. The second you disobey him, he'll become your worst nightmare. Just do what he says, whenever he says it, however he says it. If he says crawl, you crawl, if he says bark, you bark, if he says bleed, you fucking bleed. If you don't want to die and if you want to survive with him, you'll take my advice. Just keep acting perfect and obedient and everything will be okay."

She looks me up and down and turns to leave. I make a bold move and ask for a request. "Can I see her?" I suddenly asks. Veronica stops in her tracks and turns to face me with a scowl on her face.

"I understand my fate now. I already know what will happen to me. But she's my friend and I'll be leaving this place forever soon. I just want to say goodbye. Five minutes is all I ask." I say in a soft voice. She knows I'm referring to Naomi. Veronica stares at me like she's contemplating my request. I swallow my pride and go down on my knees, looking up at with tears filled in my eyes.

"Please." I say as my knees touch the floor. "I just want to see her one last time. I just want to say goodbye."

"I'll think about it." She says with a harsh voice. "Now get the hell off the floor. You look fucking pathetic."