By the time Lucrezia woke, the first thing that hit her was a stench.
Her head was pounding and her wrists ached as she blinked repeatedly, feeling disoriented.
She looked around the dark room and noticed she was not alone— there were other young girls like her.
"Hello?" She called, moving closer to them but they abruptly shifted back, staring at her like she was a predator.
Lucrezia attempted to lift herself up to approach them when suddenly, the door banged open, making all of them stumble back subconsciously.
A burly man in size, rugged with crooked teeth stepped inside with a stern look, his eyes darting around and scrutinising everyone in the dark room until his gaze landed on her and he wasted no time walking up to her and yanking her upright.
Lucrezia gasped when his strong hands gripped her hair, lifting her up and she tried to pull away, her voice coming out raspy, "Let me go!"
A slap cracked across her face instantly, snapping her head sideways and she tasted something metallic in her mouth.
"Shut up!" The man growled at her, still dragging her out of the room then slamming the door closed.
Fear crawled into Lucrezia's chest when he stopped in front of a door, still grabbing her hair, and she noticed a sigil, carved into the steel doorframe of the door.
Her eyes widened almost immediately as she blinked at the sigil before her— a crossed blade mark she had seen a couple of times.
The door creaked open and she winced with the deafening noise that hit almost immediately— laughter, jesting and the clinking of chains and glasses mingling with each other.
Lucrezia froze in shock, her situation slowly dawning on her.
She was at the black market— an underworld trading ground for illegal things and possessions, controlled by Mafias of Montoverra.
Her body trembled and her knees went weak as the burly man continued dragging her along, coming to a stop in front of a staircase.
"Walk." He said.
Lucrezia turned to look at the man who seemed like he would explode any second before she nodded obediently and began going up the stairs, her hands shaking.
"Move faster," the man was impatient as he kicked her bottom, causing her to yelp.
"We don't have time!" He screamed at her and Lucrezia ran up the stairs like she was being chased– which was quite true.
She was sure the only reason she hadn't passed out on the stairs was because of his yelling.
They reached the top finally and Lucrezia dropped to the ground, allowing him to pull her in.
"Is this the girl?" A strange voice asked, coming forward to where she knelt and inspecting her.
"What do you think?" The burly man asked.
"Good." The other man replied, turning forward. "Put her in the cage." He stated, signalling to the iron bars ahead of him and the next moment, Lucrezia found herself inside a box made of rusted iron.
The cage clanged shut and one of the men yelled, "Pull her up!"
Lucrezia's eyes widened and she looked up when the cage lifted up, causing her to tumble and lose her footing.
Despite her efforts to steady herself with the bars, she was still tossed about until the cage got all the way up, letting her see clearly the crowd of people who sat unbothered beneath, wearing an expression of arrogance on each of their faces.
Lucrezia's breath caught and her heart thumped so loudly in her chest, she thought it might pop out. Never had she imagined there would be a day in her life when she would be an item to be sold at the black market.
It was as if the world had turned against her in such a short time and she barely even had a moment to take it all in.
"Ladies and Gentlemen..." a voice boomed over the crowd as everyone quieted, staring up at the cage that was brought to the stage.
"Tonight's prize..."
The man paused, letting his words sink in as the cage was stabilised, allowing Lucrezia to finally catch her breath.
"...is the last living Alexandro. Don Santiano's only daughter. Untouched and undefiled, I can assure you." He scanned Lucrezia voluptuously, a smirk forming on his lips.
Lucrezia felt her stomach turn as she glanced around the lots of men, mostly dons of different clans, some of whom she had even seen or heard of before. Their gazes were wild, as they sized her down, a few even licked their lips lustfully, making her grimace in disgust.
She wasn't unfamiliar with the atrocities many of these men had committed. She knew what they were capable of which only made being here more dreadful.
"Who is going home with Tonight's biggest award?" The auctioneer's voice rang out, too cheerful for what was happening.
"Starting bid—five million dollars!"
There was a brief pause. Then came the bidders.
"Seven million!" One shouted.
"Ten!" Another yelled.
"Fifteen million dollars!"
The numbers rose up so fast, tossed around like nothing and Lucrezia's blood pressure rose with it. Her breathing grew shallow and she tried to keep still, not showing any fear, but her stomach churned violently.
These weren't just rich men.
These were Dons.
Predators. The kind of men who made her spend hours in Montoverra's hospital, saving lives and stitching up the city.
"Twenty-five million!"
"Thirty!"
"Forty!"
Lucrezia's nails dug into her palms, assuring herself to stay calm and that it will all soon be over.
Slowly, the bidding dropped and fewer hands rose until an oily and low voice cut through the room,
"Sixty million dollars!"
Her head snapped towards the sound of the voice in shock.
Sixty million?
She caught sight of the greasy old man. His hair was thin and slicked back, his wrinkled skin shone under the light. Rings covered his fingers and he grinned up at her with crooked teeth– a smile that made skin crawl.
Lucrezia could tell this man was like thrice her age and that further unsettled her, especially when he stared at her like meat, like a meal he couldn't wait to unwrap.
"Sixty million going once..."
Her chest tightened, her vision turning blurry as she looked around with wide eyes, seeing how no one else was bidding.
Oh Lord.
This was it.
This was the man she would belong to.
She doubted anyone would go further up at this point and her hands trembled at the thought of what this man could do to her. He was paying a huge sum for her head.
"Going twice..."
The old man's grin widened and Lucrezia swallowed hard, fighting the urge to scream.
The auctioneer was about to slam the gavel when a voice from the shadows spoke,
"Two hundred million."
.
.
The room froze.
For a second, Lucrezia thought she'd imagined it or heard wrong.
The auctioneer's eye went wide and he stilled like he had been struck and the entire market erupted in confusion.
"What?"
"Did he say–?"
"That's insane!"
The old man turned around with a frown on his face, his smile vanishing and replaced with pure disbelief.
Two. Hundred. Million. Dollars.
The number didn't even make sense! Nobody bought goods worth four million in the black market. Unless it was some stolen information against a certain clan that could ruin them and even still, those were sold for way less than that.
The auctioneer's voice shook, "T-two hundred million… d-dowe have another offer?
No one spoke or moved and that was because they couldn't. Nobody would dare challenge a price like that.
Meanwhile, Lucrezia's heart hammered intensely in her chest as her gaze searched for the bidder amongst the others. She could see a few of the crowd members turn in a certain direction and she followed their gazes.
She peeked through the bars of the cage but she couldn't exactly see him clearly as he was seated far away from the platform, only a pair of dark eyes and the outline of a man sitting back, utterly relaxed like he owned the place around him.
"Sold! For two hundred million dollars!" The auctioneer slammed the gavel the next second, not giving any further thought to it.
The crowd was still murmuring in disbelief when men approached the platform and Lucrezia's cage was brought down.
As the other bidder dispersed, she was taken to the auctioning office where final transactions were carried out.
Lucrezia looked around in hope that she would see her buyer but was only met with a bagman, sent to settle the payment and that was all. The person didn't even utter a word to her.
It happened like a blur when she was bundled up into a vehicle and put in the trunk of the car the entire journey as she noticed street lights blurring past while the vehicle drove.
Her throat was heavily patched and her stomach growled loudly every minute from hunger. At this point, her only regret was that she hadn't been killed alongside her father the day he was assassinated.
When the car finally reached an estate, Lucrezia was forced to look out from the window at the overwhelming buildings in front.
The mansion the vehicle drove into didn't look like just any fortress. It was vast, stretching across the hills of Montoverra and hidden behind iron gates tall enough to block out the sky.
The driveway was endless and Lucrezia continued to stare at the gardens and fountains that didn't stop coming, her jaw dropping slightly.
Her father's mansion was known to be the biggest empire in the whole of Montoverra, addressing his title of the kingpin but right now, Lucrezia couldn't help the crease that formed on her forehead as she was driven through the estate, wondering which other don owned a house twice the size of her father's mansion.
The car finally stopped before the main mansion that rose through like a palace and the trunk was opened, allowing her to get out.
Just as she was led into the manor, a young woman approached immediately, her heels clicking against the marble floor, drawing attention.
She was tall, dressed in black and her hair pulled back so tightly it made her face look severe. Her lips were also painted the colour of dried wine and her eyes–
Lucrezia almost flinched when the lady swept her eyes over her like a blade, circling her slowly like a woman inspecting a dress she might tear apart.
She said nothing momentarily, just folding her arms and glaring at the tattered-looking girl.
"Hmm." Her mouth curved slightly and Lucrezia lifted her chin up, refusing to be intimidated by this woman.
"So this is what two hundred million dollars looks like."
Lucrezia's breath caught and she stiffened, feeling her confidence drop low.
She hadn't expected that the news of her being sold for that ridiculous amount would have spread so quickly.
But then again, she knew her father's reputation was widely known and anything relating to him usually reached everyone's ears.
"I'm not an object," Lucrezia managed to chip in seeing the woman, Carla, narrow her eyes at her.
"Of course, you're not an object. You are a slave, a property bought by the new don and you will do as you're told!"
The new Don? Lucrezia's eyes widened.
Suddenly, Carla grabbed her, pulling her upstairs in haste, as if she wanted to be done and rid of her.
Reaching the room door, she kicked it open, revealing a few other women inside who jumped on seeing the lady.
"Miss Carla?"
Carla swung Lucrezia into the room, sprawling her on the floor before turning to the women, "You have a new addition to the servants. Clean her up and get her a mob,"
She slammed the door shut instantly and hissed, arranging her hair that had ruffled slightly before walking away in a different direction.