Muse in Lingerie (Lingerie 1)

We were fucking people.

“Here we go. You’ve all done this before.” He pointed to the woman standing closest to him. There were five of us in a row, and I was the last one. “We’ve got Marissa Yaris, the daughter of a French diplomat, Charles Yaris. After finishing her education at university, she traveled to London for her first internship. She was out with some friends on the town. After a quick needle to her neck, we got her back here. Young and innocent, she’ll be the perfect obedient slave.”

That was how we would be described? After a short biography, our level of obedience was important? This beautiful girl had barely lived her life, and she’d already accomplished so much. And her parents must be worried sick.

“When I get out of here, I’m cutting your dick off.” It was a stupid thing to blurt out, but I didn’t care. He’d reduced this woman’s value to nothing.

He turned to me, the same smile on his lips. “We save the best for last. We’ll get to her later.” He turned back to the audience of faceless men. “We’ll start at a hundred grand.”

A hundred grand?

A few men bid on her and raised it to five hundred grand.

Then I heard a familiar voice. “Six hundred.”

I recognized that voice because I’d heard it nearly every day. I knew when he was irritated and when he was pleased. He told me off the second I stepped out of line, but when I cooperated, he was the gentlest man on the planet.

But it couldn’t be him.

Just as I looked into the rows of seats when I’d first met him, I narrowed my eyes on the face that was looking up at me. I concentrated harder until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. And then I saw his hard jaw, green eyes, and corded neck.

Conway.

He was bidding in the auction.

Would he really do something like that? Was he a sick asshole? Or was he there to save me? The idea was thrilling, but I didn’t see how that would be possible. How would he have figured out I was captured so easily? And why was he bidding on another woman?

The price kept increasing until they hit one and a half million.

Conway Barsetti just bought a woman.

“Sold.” The man on the stage with us clapped then moved on to the next girl.

Conway didn’t make another bid.

There was no way he didn’t recognize me. He’d never seen me naked or with a bruise on my face, but he knew my body well enough to know I was the one standing at the very end.

His face was emotionless, so I had no idea what he was thinking.

Was he thinking at all?

After the other women had been sold, it was my turn.

Conway, please buy me.

I should have taken his offer when he extended it. I would much rather belong to a man like him than Knuckles or the leader of the Skull Kings. Conway would never hurt me, never punch me in the ass the way that man did.

“We’ve got a special treat tonight, boys. We have the famous lingerie model. She took a wrong turn down a dark corridor and ended up in our lair. Stupid women always think they know directions…” He shook his head. “Will Conway Barsetti bid on her tonight? Or will some other lucky man get to take her home? She’s a virgin—it’s been confirmed.”

My natural instinct was to close my eyes in shame. He had just shared my private life with a room full of strangers. Now they knew my naked body, knew my sexual past. They’d stripped me of my dignity.

But I wouldn’t bow.

“We start the bidding at three million.”

I was disgusted to see every single paddleboard fly into the air. Every man in that room wanted me.

“Sweetheart, I’ll be happy to take your innocence.” Knuckles smoked his cigar as he kept his paddleboard in the air.

Was this really happening right now? Knuckles was there to take me back. I’d run away from him, but if he outbid Conway, I would be stuck with him. All my nightmares would become reality. He’d rape me and drown me at the same time. He’d said that was how he wanted to end my life, watching me struggle to breathe while his dick came in my ass.

Please, Conway.

I told him I wouldn’t give up sex in exchange for money. But now I would do anything to belong to him. He was the only decent man I’d met since I left America. He made sure I had what I needed and treated me well. If I had to be a slave to someone—I’d prefer him.

The bidding moved to ten million.

Five men were still in the bidding war—including Knuckles and Conway.

Knuckles held his paddleboard high. “Twenty million.”

He wasn’t going to let me go.