Chapter 1 – Sold to the Devil
Aria POV
The sharp click of my heels echoed like gunfire through the marble hallway. I had been summoned.
Not asked. Not warned. Just summoned.
The towering doors of my father's private study loomed ahead like the gates of hell. Gilded, grand and just as cruel as the man who ruled behind them. I paused for a second, inhaled deeply, and steeled myself against whatever fresh punishment he had cooked up. I expected disappointment—maybe exile from another social function for talking back.
As I expected, I walked in and found my sister—well, you know, my step-sister, Isla Monroe—and her mom, my step-mom, Serena Monroe, sitting there with my dad, chatting and laughing.
Immediately I came in, everyone was seized of laughter. I looked at them and they looked back respect the two women who glued their eyes at me maybe wanting for me to leave the face of the earth immediately.
"Aria," my father called. "Come. Sit."
I moved on instinct alone. My legs had no fear but a little hesitant, wanting to leave the room immediately because sharing a breath with those two was the last thing I ever wanted. I sat, crossed my arms and legs, sitting confidently, waiting to hear any other round of punishment.
"He wants you, Aria," my father muttered, rubbing his temples. My brain paused for a second and then again—"Who wants me?"
"Lucien Moretti," my father said.
"Lucien Moretti? I thought it was a marriage arranged for Isla. How am I now the one he wants?"
"Well, you are going to replace her," Serena said, looking at me and then looking back at her daughter.
"Lucien Moretti is a cold and dangerous man, who enslaves people, who doesn't care about anybody but himself. You don't expect my daughter to be a part of slavery. Impossible!" Serena said while looking at my father.
Isla was quiet. She didn't talk, she was only looking at me, smiling deviously knowing her plans had worked through.
"Father," I said in a pleading voice, but he didn't look up. He couldn't. I knew he didn't want me there, but he sold me. Love for money, and his wife couldn't. He wanted his business.
I left the study in haste, shattered. The night replayed in my dreams like a broken record. The faces of the people in my life carved themselves into my memory like knives.
My father sold me off to replace my sister and save his business. My stepmother ensured the deal was sealed. My sister watched it all happen and said nothing.
I had been sold off to the devil.
The Monroe estate had never felt like home. Not since her mother died.It was cold polished shell, where love had been replaced with whispers,wine glasses and secrets locked behind closed doors.Aria lived in it like a ghost, avoiding her step-mother's prying eyes and her half sister's venomous smiles.
She had learned to survive alone not withstanding the punishment given to her.
And now she's being sold off to a place where she doesn't know of her fate.