Chapter 1:
The dim light of the small apartment barely illuminated the peeling wallpaper. She sat at the cracked kitchen table, her hands trembling as she counted the last few bills scattered before her. Twenty dollars. Maybe enough for a week's worth of food if she stretched it. But not nearly enough to pay the men who had been knocking on her brother's door for weeks, their voices sharp with threats and promises of pain.
Her brother's coughing echoed from the bedroom, a harsh reminder of his failing health. The debt wasn't just numbers on a paper it was a noose tightening around their necks.
She'd tried everything: asking friends, working overtime, even begging strangers on the street. But the shadows lurking outside her door grew darker, more persistent.
That's when she overheard the whispers at the market talk of a secret auction where people sold themselves to the highest bidder. A way out. A way to buy her brother's freedom.
Her heart ached as she remembered their childhood how he had always protected her, laughed with her, promised to never let anything hurt her. Now, it was her turn.