[Hannah POV ...]
Men were shouting numbers in the hundreds of thousands. I couldn't see anyone because of the damn lighting, but it was probably for the best. Was my father out there, urging the men to bid higher and higher amounts? I wouldn't put it past him.
Thinking about my father made me want to scream.
"Five hundred thousand," one man bid, and I thought of the fourteen-year-old girl that the woman told me about. The girl who had been sold for five hundred thousand dollars as some disgusting man's young bride.
"Six hundred thousand," another man shouted. I didn't like the way their voices sounded. Like hungry lions roaring and fighting over their prey.
"Seven hundred thousand," a man countered.
I was surprised that the bids were rising so quickly. My stomach was churning in disgust and fear. I thought of all the women who had stood on The Block before me and of all the women who would come after me. This was a sick game for rich men.
How had my father found out about this place? Had he come here before to bid on women?
"Eight hundred thousand," a gruff voice called out. The same voice who had bid several times earlier. If his voice was that harsh during the bid, imagine how harsh he would be to me if he won the bidding. Tears began to sting my eyes, and it made me angry. I refused to cry and show any sign of weakness.
"One million," an eager voice said, and I blinked.
Someone had really just bid one million dollars for me. I couldn't believe it. I didn't recognize his voice, but somehow, he sounded different from the other men. There was something in his voice that seemed almost kind. But there was something else in his voice too that the other men lacked: he sounded like he was on edge. Like maybe something was wrong. Something was sure as hell wrong with this disgusting establishment and those men out there bidding on human flesh.
"One point five million," the man with the gruff voice shouted.
God, please don't let him win, I prayed to whatever god was listening to me. I had never been a religious person, but it felt like the right time to start praying.
"Two million," another man countered. At this point, my thoughts were beginning to blur. Two million dollars?
"One hundred million," the man with the kind, an on-edge voice shouted.
The blood drained from my face. Was he being serious? There was a heavy silence in the room as I stood there. I had to remember to lock my knees so that I wouldn't faint. A muffled voice spoke, whoever was leading the auction, but I couldn't hear what he said.
"Yes, one hundred million," the man called out again. I didn't hear anything else after that. It was over. I nearly laughed at the idea that someone was willing to pay a hundred million dollars for me. Bride or not, it was absurd.
A guard appeared on the opposite end of the stage and waved me over. I walked toward him, numb and shocked as I followed him down a short staircase and off the stage.
He led me down a dim hallway much like the one on the opposite side of the building where my father had left me to deal with my fate. We turned a corner into another hallway that must have been behind the stage area and walked toward a door that was labeled in crooked letters as "the break room." My father was waiting just outside the room to meet me.
He smiled and I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the teeth.
"I didn't expect you to get me so much money, Hannah," he said. "I'm proud of you."
His words felt like acid in a wound. I frowned at him and jerked away when he reached to touch my arm. His expression changed to one that was sour and unbecoming. "You'd better make good on this deal and make that man want to marry you," my father hissed. "If you screw this up, Lori is next."
"Don't you dare say her name in this place!" I shouted at him. "If you even drive by here with my sister in the car, I will kill you with my bare hands." My father laughed and I lunged at him, but the guard who had been standing behind me pulled me back. "I'll be laughing too," I said, "when the cops haul me off to prison after I kill you, you f*cking b*stard." I spat the words at my father.
He reached out and grabbed my chin, turning my head, tilting it in the dim lighting.
The guard held my hands behind me so that I wouldn't attack my father, but I could still kick him in the groin if I wanted to.
"I see you earned a little bruise," my father said about the angry welt on my cheek. "it was probably from your smart mouth." He roughly turned my head back to face him.
"You will not make this man your husband if you keep running your damn mouth, Hannah." He jerked my chin as he released it.
"F*ck you," I spat at him. The guard's grip grew tighter on my wrists.
"I don't care what you have to say to me, Hannah," my father said, "but you had better change your attitude, and soon." Did he really think I was supposed to have a good attitude about the fact that I had just been bought by a man that I didn't know? Was I supposed to be happy that a man had promised to pay a hundred million dollars to do whatever he wanted to with me?
"How could you do this?" I asked my father.
"Selling off your own daughter? You're a sick man," I added.
"You're mine to do whatever I please with," he said. "I was going to find you a rich husband anyway. One of my clients. Someone who would marry you and pour more money into my business as a partner."
I stared at him in disbelief. "So that's why you took me to all those parties for your clients," I said in disgust. "You were grooming me for marriage. You locked me away in the tower so that your clients would beg you to marry me and promise to bring you more money."
"This auction was a lot quicker," my father responded. "It worked out better than I had hoped."
"You're welcome." I spat the words at him sarcastically.
I thought of Lorianne and what a monster our father had become. He had so carelessly sold me to pay off his debts, and I had no doubt that he would do the same to Lori if things didn't go his way.
"I don't know if I would have made a hundred million dollars so quickly with the other marriage plan," he said, eyeing me from head to toe. He raised his green eyes back up to meet mine. "I guess losing all my money turned out pretty well for us both in the end. Don't you think so, Hannah?" my father asked me.
I clenched my jaw. "Fine, you're right," I said to my father before turning to the guard who still held my arms. "Let go of me, I won't do anything to him."
The guard looked to my father for permission, and my father nodded. "Let her go. I think she understands her place now."
The guard released me. "Go into the break room to wait for your patron," the guard said.
"Her fiancé," my father corrected the guard.
My father was staring at me pointedly.
"You're a young virgin, Hannah. The perfect sexy wife for a wealthy man. He will be proud to call you his wife," my father said to me.
"How can you know that?" I asked my father. "Do you know how many women there are here who have been bought and sold multiple times? Those men just use them and throw them away. They don't marry them."
"It is your job to make him want to marry you," my father said. "So you had better make the wedding happen."
I stared at my father in disbelief. How was I supposed to make some unknown man, who had bid one hundred million dollars for me, take me as his wife? If this supposed fiancé of mine had so much money to waste on a woman, he was probably not looking for a wife. I suspected he wanted a mistress or just a toy to play with when he got bored of his other women.
"Remember that you are going to marry this man, Hannah," my father said.
I had Lori to think about. I had to do something to keep our father from bringing her here. If he ever set foot in here with her, I would kill him and whatever man that tried to buy my sister.
I smiled at my father as sweetly as I could to show him what a wonderful little obedient wife I would be.
"Good," my father said to me. "Now you understand what you must do."
"Eat sh*t and die," I said to my father before I spun away from him and walked toward the break room to wait for my fiancé as I had been instructed to do.