His Bride, His Blood Price

Chapter 1 – Sold to the Devil

Aria POV

The sharp click of her heels echoed like gunfire through the marble hallway. She had been summoned.

Not asked. Not warned. Just summoned.

The towering doors of her father's private study loomed ahead like the gates of hell. Gilded, grand and just as cruel as the man who ruled behind them. She paused for a second, inhaled deeply, and steeled herself against whatever fresh punishment he had cooked up. She expected disappointment—maybe exile from another social function for talking back.

As she expected, she walked in and found her sister—well, you know, her step-sister, Isla Monroe—and her mom, step-mom, of course,Serena Monroe, sitting there with her dad, chatting and laughing.

Immediately she came in, everyone was seized of laughter. She looked at them and they looked back respect the two women who glued their eyes at her maybe wanting for her to leave the face of the earth immediately.

"Aria," Her father called. "Come. Sit."

She moved on instinct alone. Her legs had no fear but a little hesitant, wanting to leave the room immediately because sharing a breath with those two was the last thing she ever wanted. She sat, crossed her arms and legs, sitting confidently, waiting to hear any other round of punishment.

"He wants you, Aria," Her father muttered, rubbing his temples. Her brain paused for a second and then again—"Who wants me?"

"Lucien Moretti," Her father said.

"Lucien Moretti? I thought it was a marriage arranged for Isla. How am I now the one he wants?"

"Well, you are going to replace her," Serena said, looking at her and then looking back at her daughter.

"Lucien Moretti is a cold and dangerous man, who enslaves people, who doesn't care about anybody but himself. You don't expect my daughter to be a part of slavery. Impossible!" Serena said while looking at my father.

Isla was quiet. She didn't talk, she was only looking at Aria, smiling deviously knowing her plans had worked through.

"Father," She said in a pleading voice, but he didn't look up. He couldn't. She knew he didn't want her there, but he sold her. Love for money, and his wife couldn't. He wanted to save his business.

She left the study in haste, shattered. The night replayed in her dreams like a broken record. The faces of the people in her life carved themselves into her memory like knives.

My father sold her off to replace her sister and save his business. Her stepmother ensured the deal was sealed. Her sister watched it all happen and said nothing.

"I had been sold off to the devil."She muttered.

The Monroe estate had never felt like home. Not since her mother died.It was cold polished shell, where love had been replaced with whispers,wine glasses and secrets locked behind closed doors.Aria lived in it like a ghost, avoiding her step-mother's prying eyes and her half sister's venomous smiles.

She had learned to survive alone not withstanding the punishment given to her.

And now she's being sold off to a place where she doesn't know of her fate.