The nights in Los Angeles are usually filled with noise and light, but the silence in this area was so profound I could hear my own heartbeat echoing. The Valex Tower stood apart from the rest of the city, a dark, silent guardian. My mother's car dropped me off at the curb and she drove away without a word, without stopping. Her last words reverberated in my ears, "It's just a dinner, Julie. Impress him. For us."
'For us'. Those words had become a bone stuck in my throat.
A private elevator took me straight to the penthouse. When the doors opened, I thought I had stepped into an art gallery. Everything was white, intensely minimalist. But there was a strange electricity in the air, a kind of dangerous current that made the hair on my arms stand up. And then came that smell... the scent of a jungle. Wet earth, leaves damp from rain, and something animalistic, cruel and untamed.
"You're here."
The voice was so deep and rough it felt like the walls shuddered. He emerged from a dark corner of the living room. Alex. Probably twenty-one, twenty-two. He wore only a black tank top and faded jeans stained with paint. His arms weren't covered in tattoos, but in marks—small cuts and scratches, like from some wild fight. His hair was long and slightly tangled, and his eyes... God, his eyes held a greenness like the shade of a deep jungle where sunlight never reaches. They were piercing right through to my soul.
"Julie," I whispered my name, my voice nearly breaking.
He came so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His gaze travelled from my face down my neck, and then scanned my entire body. This wasn't an ordinary look. It was a gaze of possession. As if I were a property he had just acquired.
"Your mother said you were beautiful," he said, his voice holding a dangerous sweetness. "But she didn't say how... alive you are."
He reached out his hand, and I couldn't even process what to do. His fingers touched my cheek. His touch was searing, like metal fresh from a forge. A jolt shot through my entire body. I stood there, frozen to the spot, lost in his eyes.
Then, suddenly, something shifted in his eyes. For a moment, his pupils constricted into vertical slits, exactly like those of a predator. A wild, golden gleam flashed within them. I gasped and tried to step back, but my feet were glued to the floor.
He gripped my chin, his hold firm, yet with a strange softness to it. "Scared?" he asked, his voice now sounding more like a low growl.
"What... what are you?" I asked, my voice trembling.
A heavy, dark smile played on his lips. "What you need."
He brought his face close to my neck. His breath was warm, and that wild scent enveloped me completely. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst out of my chest. I was afraid, yes. But along with that fear was a thrill, a dangerous attraction that I couldn't understand.
"Your scent..." he whispered near my neck, his nose lightly brushing my skin. "It's for me. Only for me."
He moved his lips close to my ear. "Tomorrow night," he said, his voice both a promise and a threat. "Eight o'clock. And Julie..." He paused for a moment, looking directly into my eyes, "Don't wear any clothes. I don't want to see what's mine covered up."
Having said that, he turned and melted back into the darkness as if he had never been there. I stood there, shaking, scorched by his touch and his words. The elevator door was still open, but I knew now that running was useless. He would find me. My mother hadn't just sold me to a rich man. She had sold me to a wild animal. And that animal had marked me as his.
And the most terrifying part was that my own body... my own heart... was responding to him.
Stepping out of Alex's penthouse and onto the street, I saw that it was already past eleven. The air was cold, but fire raced through my veins. The boiling anger that had been suppressed by fear in front of Alex was now spreading through my nerves like poison. My own mother... my own mother had sold me. Under the pretext of a dinner, she had handed me over to a predator whose eyes held not humanity, but the hunger of a wild animal.
Sitting in the Uber, I stared out the window at the city flashing by. Every light, every building, felt like a testament to a false happiness. My own home, which had once been a safe haven, now felt like a cage, and my mother held the key.
As the car stopped in front of our bungalow's gate, I quickly got out. The moment I stepped inside, the silence of the house gripped me. Since my father had left for Japan on a business trip, the house had always felt a little empty. But tonight, that emptiness was terrifying.
I headed straight upstairs to my room. My steps were heavy, and my mind was spinning with only one thought—tomorrow night at eight. With no clothes. That command had sent a wave through me, a confusing mix of fear and... a strange thrill. I hated that feeling.
As I passed my mother's bedroom, I heard voices from inside. Whispers. My breath hitched. Dad was in Japan. So who was that?
I crept closer to the door, trying to listen. The voices were muffled, but I could make out a man's low, subdued tone and my mother's... tearful voice.
"Did... did you claim my daughter or not?" My mother's voice sounded broken, gasping.
The ground seemed to slip from under my feet. My daughter? Meaning me? She was talking about me! To whoever that man was.
My heart began to pound violently. I tried to peek through the crack in the door, but it was shut tight. Just then, the voices rose again.
"You shouldn't worry about her," the man's voice came out in a growl. "You just need to do what you're told."
This was followed by a sharp sob from my mother, which was quickly stifled. Then a moan... a sound that was a mixture of pain and some strange desire. I was stunned. This was no ordinary conversation.
I gently touched the door handle. It wasn't locked. It swung open an inch. And the sight that met my eyes stole my breath.
My mother was face down on the bed, her head buried in a pillow. Her clothes were disheveled. And on top of her, was a man. His back was to me, but I could see his muscles straining as he moved, thrusting hard, ruthlessly. It wasn't an act of lovemaking. It was a punishment. An act of domination.
My mother sobbed again, and her voice held a humiliation and defeat I had never heard before. "Please... just keep her safe."
The man delivered a sharp, brutal thrust. "She doesn't belong to you anymore. She belongs to him. And you... you just need to quietly collect your price."
Him. Alex's.
Another piece of the truth embedded itself in my mind like a poisonous thorn. This wasn't just my mother's greedy scheme. She was trapped, too. And she had entangled me in it all.
I couldn't watch any longer. I closed the door silently and ran to my room, the man's growls and my mother's sobs echoing in my ears. I shut my door and leaned my back against it, sliding down to sit on the floor, pulling my knees to my chest.
Tonight, I had witnessed two secrets. One was Alex's... and the other was my own mother's. And I knew, trapped between them, I had become a pawn in a game whose rules I didn't know. Tomorrow night at eight was no longer just a meeting. It was a doorway to my destiny. And I, trembling with fear, was also desperate to open it.