AUCTION I

ADELINE'S POV

Today is the day. It's finally auction day and I can't breathe. I can't do anything but accept my fate and dress the way Veronica wants me to and act the way Veronica wants me to. Since morning, the girls and I have been preparing for the what will inevitably happen in the night. The girls who are eligible to be sold will be put on display in front of all the buyers in the hall we're supposed to use and the other younger girls will be in charge of making the guests feel 'happy' and 'comfortable'.

She has been giving us rules and etiquette and all what will be expected of us today just like she has been doing for so long. She has been training us for this moment since we got here yet she has never seemed tired of repeating the same thing to us very single second she can.

The younger girls are in a different room, receiving a different kind of training soi don't even know if I will have the chance to see Della one last time before I'm sold to Arthur. I don't know if I will be able to say goodbye to her or to Naomi. I don't even know if I will ever be able to tell Naomi how sorry I am. She is here because of me, because I was blindly seeking revenge from Adrian Wellington. I don't know if I will ever see Dante or Liam ever again.

The plan was for them to save Colton's sister and then raid this place on auction day but they needed a lot of information from Colton for them to know exactly what they would do when they got here. But Colton is not with them right now and they don't have the amount of help they would have had with him.

I don't know if Dante and Liam would even have the zeal or courage to help me anymore. A part of me knows that they will never give up on trying to save me. I know that Liam will never stop trying to find me or Naomi no matter how long it takes and if what I learnt about Dante is true, then that means he has been tracking this place down for a long time, even before he met me and now that he knows exactly where erotica is, a part of me tells me he won't stop until he gets revenge on Veronica and Adrian.

I just have no idea how they are going to do it because this place will be packed with the most dangerous and powerful people I have ever met. Veronica has always been one step ahead of us and I am sure she knows Dantre is planning something tonight. Security is thicker in this place today than it has ever been. Veronica has ordered for more guards and the fact that she has Adrian on er side now means her security is even tighter.

When I really think about it, I don't want Liam and Dante to come tonight. I don't know if I can bear the guilt of losing more people. I don't know if I can live with the fact that if anything happens to Dante or Liam, I would never be able to forgive myself because it will be my fault.

They're coming her to save me and Naomi because of the mess I created in the first place and they might die. I have already accepted my fate. I have already accepted the fact that Arthur is going to buy me and I will have to live with him for as long as he finds me interesting. Dante and Liam can save Naomi. She doesn't deserve to be here, but I wish they would just let me go and forget about me because even if they saved me, even if by some miracle they find a way to get me out of here, I am not the same person anymore and I don't know if I will ever be. I don't know if I will ever have the courage or strength to live as a normal person.

Adeline Fitz is dead and all that is left now is the ghost of a person that Veronica has created. From the moment I got here, she never missed a chance to remind me of how worthless I am. that I am nothing. I just never thought the day would ever come when I would believe those words, where those words would be all I have left.

But they are and I am Angel now and I cannot escape it. It's almost as if I don't know who I am without it and it sucks. It sucks and I know I shouldn't feel this way but what the hell am I supposed to do? Hold on to hope? Every single bit of hopeful feeling that I have had since I was brought to this place has been shattered time and time again by Veronica. She has taken everything from me.

I glance around the room, at the girls getting ready. Practicing the faces they would use to pose as they are put on display. Trying on different clothes that Veronica put in our disposition. She asked us to use all what she has taught us and come up with a look all by ourselves.

We are to do our own make up and pick our own outfits. That way if ever one of us isn't bought, it would be out own fault. This is not just an auction. It is also an elimination round for some of the girls here. Only ten of us will be bought, but there are fifteen of us that are already of age and we all know it. That only means five of us will be discarded of today. Which means the girls here are putting in as much effort as they can to get chosen by the buyers.

I already know I will be chosen by Arthur but that doesn't mean I won't put in a hundred percent of my effort. If Veronica walks in here and realizes that I don't look as pretty as she expects, then I'll be in big trouble. The other girls are looking at me with death stares and I know that if not for the guards standing in every corner of the room right now, the girls would have tried to kill each other already. Some would have tried to kill me.

I sigh to myself and walk over to Silver. I haven't seen her in a while and today might be the last day I see her.

"I suppose I'm not the only one receiving death stares today." I say to her as she scans through the pile of clothes in front of her. She smiles as she glances at me.

"You can't blame them, can you?" She says with a soft smile. I don't even know how she is still able to smile in this moment. I never understood why Silver was the way she was, but now I get it. I have experienced it first-hand.

"They just do not want to die. I mean all of us in here eventually will but we as humans have a survival instinct. We like to cling to ever drop of hope that we have and that's what they're doing." She sighs and turns to face me.

"What happened to you?" She asks me with a frown on her face.

"What do you mean?" I raise my brows at her. Just at her question, I feel tears welling up in my eyes. It's easier to forget about something when you're not thinking about it, but when someone asks you about it like right now, and when someone is staring at you the way Silver is staring at me right now, everything comes back to you like a flood and you just want to break down.

But crying will not solve anything. If anything, it will only make my eyes puffy and I need to be put on my best face for tonight. I cannot let even a drop of tear slides down my face.

I notice that she dyed her hair a brighter red just like Veronica always asked her too. That is Silver's selling point. Her wild red hair and the darkness in her eyes and mine is the fact that Veronica wants me to act quiet and innocent. She has given each of us parts to play in this place even if we didn't realize it and now it is embedded in us whether we like it or not.

"Nothing." I say quickly shaking my head as I avert my gaze from hers.

"Well, you're a shitty liar. There were many gunshots three days ago. I heard screaming and shrieking and something tells me you had something to do with it. Plus, I don't see your hot body guard following you around anymore and Veronica has been parading this place with some new guy and I heard some of the guards say he's the reason you're here."

Everything Silver is saying to me is just bringing unwanted memories to me. Things that I would rather put behind me Things that I would give everything to forget. Things that I want to take out of my mind forever. I just want to forget because since I witnessed what I did, I haven't been able to sleep without thinking about it. The moment I close my eyes, my dreams are attacked by all what I saw.

"I don't want to talk about it Silver. What's done is done. I just want to get this auction over and done with and get the hell out of this place. I don't want anything to do with veronica anymore and I cannot wait to be free from her. I just don't want to think about it Silver so please don't ask." I dismiss her question and focus on the clothes in front of her.

"Okay…" She says quietly and turns to face the clothes in front of her.

"Let me guess. You're going to pick something red." I say, trying to get my mind off the last few days and just focus on tonight. Tonight might be sad. What is happening to us is anything but amusing but I can still enjoy getting dressed up with Silver.

"You know me so well." She says with a playful voice as she grabs a red dress from the pile. She holds it up and I examine it with her with a smile on my face. It has no hands and it's extra short and looks like it will expose a good part of her back and push up her boobs.

It looks like it'll fit her body just right and I know she will look beautiful in it. Then again, Silver looks beautiful in everything.

"I' going to take this into consideration and browse for some more." She says and then glances at me for a split second before putting her attention back to the pile.

"And I assume you'll be going for white." I smile at her statement.

"Yep." I say with a sigh, popping the P at the end of my word. "But I have no idea what to choose. If I don't pick something that Veronica likes, she'll snap and I don't even want to imagine what she'll do."

"Well, that's why I am here to help you. Duh…" She smiles at me and I feel a warmth in my chest at the sisterhood of this situation. I mean this is the last time we'll be seeing each other so we might as well be nice to each other and wish each other farewell properly.

"I don't know what life is going to look like for us after auction day. But I wish you the best. Really. I never thought I would ever find a friend in this place but you've been a friend to me Adeline and I want to thank you for it. Thank you."

The smile on her face is genuine and it makes me want to cry. It makes me want to break down right here and just cry but I don't do that. Instead, I take her in my arms and give her the biggest hug ever.

"I wish you the best too Silver. The very best." I say.