His Price Was My Children

Five years after I walked out on Damon Kincaid, I saw him again at an auction.
The difference was, I was the merchandise, caged for public scorn. He was the high-roller, seated in the VIP section, ready to spend a fortune.
We played the part of strangers.
It wasnt until some rich bastard bid fifty thousand dollars to buy me that Damon shattered the iron cage, grabbed my chin, and snarled:
Youd rather be a cheap piece of trash than come back and beg me?
Anya Rossi, you truly are despicable.
I tore his hand from my jaw and offered a smile that didn't reach my eyes.
My buyer is getting impatient. I dont have time for a reunion.
Once, I knelt and begged, and what I got in return was carrying my parents decaying bodies up a desolate hill.
Now, all I wanted was to cut all ties, earn enough to pay for my daughters cremation, and vanish forever.
1
The noisy room went instantly silent. The guests, who represented half the financial elite of Veridian City, didn't dare breathe, staring at Damon.
The mogul whod bought me, hearing Damons words, broke out in a cold sweat. He finally recognized me: The woman who was Damon Kincaids childhood sweetheart, the one hed once cherished, only to have him break her leg and leave her for dead on the street five years ago.
Ignoring the hundreds of eyes on me, I ripped his hand away, clutching the pathetic scraps of fabric covering my body. I gave him that careless, ugly smile again.
Mister Kincaid, my buyer is in a hurry. If you want to reminisce, youll have to bid and win me next time. Then we can talk all night.
Damons hand, clenched at his side, turned white. His eyes drilled into me.
Youre that desperate? Five years, and you couldnt spare one single plea?
A soft, delicate hand wrapped around his fist. My heart stuttered. I looked up and saw the one face Id hoped never to see again.
She used to be the nannys daughter at the Kincaid family parties, clumsy and dismissed when pouring wine for the guests. Now, she stood confidently beside Damon at a private auction, holding up a hundred-thousand-dollar bid paddle without a flicker of hesitation.
Sadie Bells eyes were red-rimmed, looking at me with the theatrical sadness of a weeping willow.
Ms. Rossi, why are you always so stubborn? Five years ago, Damon asked you to apologize to me, and you refused, claiming you did nothing wrong. When your family went bankrupt, Damon told you to beg him, and you wouldn't. Do you really feel you have your dignity now, selling your body for a living?
I couldnt stop the caustic laugh that escaped me.
Five years and you still haven't climbed into the spot of Mrs. Kincaid, Sadie. Is that the best you can do?
Smack!
A stinging slap landed hard across my face. Used to the pain, I barely flinched, touched my right cheek, and turned to link my arm with the mogul.
Lets go. Life is short, and we shouldnt waste time on people who arent worth it.
But the mogul shoved me, right into Damons path.
Mr. Kincaid, if Id known she was your woman, I would never have dared compete with you. Consider her my gift to you for the night.
I grabbed his sleeve, my smile brittle and terrified.
You bought me!
Damon let out a sudden, cold laugh, his gaze sweeping over me with sheer contempt.
Anya Rossi, without my permission, you cant even sell your own flesh. But if youd just kneel down and beg me right now, Ill double his five thousand for you.
I dropped my eyes in humiliation. Damon was right. Without his consent, I was paralyzed in Veridian City.
After the Rossi family collapsed, my parents died by suicide together. I couldn't even afford their cremation. The only valuable thing I owned was the engagement ring Damon gave me. I went to a pawn shop, hoping to get ten thousand dollars for a million-dollar ring, but no one dared to take it.
Ms. Rossi, its not that we dont want to help, but Mr. Kincaid gave the word. Anyone who gets involved with you will be ruined in Veridian City.
In the end, I had to carry my parents bodies, which were already starting to decompose, for what felt like miles to an abandoned stretch of mountain. I dug the graves with my bare hands.
But had I truly never begged him?
The day my family lost everything, I knelt at the gates of the Kincaid estate, my head bleeding, begging him to save my father's company. He appeared, his arm wrapped around Sadie Bell, who wore his silk dressing gown, her neck marked with his kisses.
You kneel and apologize to Sadie. Beg her for forgiveness a thousand times, and Ill save the Rossi family.
Sadie hid shyly behind him, biting her lip as she looked at me.
Damon, its enough if Ms. Rossi just apologizes. I forgive her for pushing me down the stairs. Theres no need for such cruel humiliation.
Sweet girl, Damon murmured, his eyes full of tenderness for her. I know youre too soft. Ill settle this score for you. Since she humiliated you then, she deserves whats coming to her now.
But I hadnt pushed Sadie down the stairs. She was an angel in front of Damon, and a viper when we were alone.
The childhood sweetheart never beats the new conquest. Damons sick of a boring woman like you. You only know how to make one sound in bed. When Im Mrs. Kincaid, Im going to make you pay.
Back then, I dismissed Sadie as delusional, certain Damon only loved me.
He would abandon a hundred-million-dollar deal overseas and fly seventeen hours, just to be there to blow out my birthday candles every year. In our chat logs, he was telling me he missed me just a minute before.
But the moment the gate opened, Sadie shrieked.
Ms. Rossi, don't hurt me!
She grabbed me, and we tumbled down the grand staircase together. My head hit the marble floor, and white flashes swam in front of my eyes. Before I could process what happened, Sadie was kneeling in front of me, frantically bowing her head.
Ms. Rossi, I truly love Damon. Just keep me like a pet. You can beat me, you can abuse me, anything, just don't make me leave him.
I struggled to sit up and tried to speak.
I didnt
The words never came out. Damons foot lashed out, sending me sprawling. He rushed to Sadie, holding her with a heartbreaking intimacy, anxious to get her to a hospital. The one glance he threw my way was pure hatred.
Shes innocent! If you have a problem, come after me!
The beautiful cake hed brought for me lay on the ground, smashed into a pile of trash.
That night, the Kincaid family announced the breaking of our engagement and triggered the collapse of the Rossi empire. My life went from heaven to hell in seventy-two hours.
My deep-seated pride fought against bowing my head. But the ravaged faces of my parents lashed at my conscience. My spine finally bent. I gritted my teeth.
Fine. Ill kneel.
But just as my knees began to touch the ground, my phone rang. It was my mother.
Hearing her ragged breathing, my heart sank.
Anya, your father and I would rather die than see you kneel and beg anyone.
My parents protected my dignity with their lives. I fought back the tears stinging my eyes and spoke to Damon, cold and final.
You want me to beg? In your dreams.
2
A sharp pang of guilt struck me. I bit down hard on my tongue. I had failed my daughter; I hadnt made enough for her funeral today.
I would be condemning her to another day in the morgue, cold and alone.
The thought of my daughter, who was so afraid of the cold in life, twisted my insides until I couldn't breathe.
Its my fault, Sweetheart.
I spun around to leave, but someone blocked my path.
Teary-eyed, Sadie grabbed my arm.
Ms. Rossi, youre still angry that Damon chose me, arent you? It was my fault that I was hurt so badly when I rolled down the stairs that by the time I woke up, your family was already bankrupt.
For the past five years, Ive been consumed by guilt. If you can just forgive me, Im willing to leave Damon.
Her hypocritical tears made me sick. I impatiently shook her hand off. The scene from five years ago replayed instantly: Sadie collapsed to the ground with a small, theatrical cry, scraping her elbow just enough to draw attention.
Damons face changed instantly. He lifted her, his eyes full of protective tenderness. The look made the hair on my arms stand up. I finally understood everything.
He hadn't been blind then, nor was he now. But because the person who supposedly caused Sadie harm was me, Damon didn't need to know right from wrong. I was guilty, and I had to pay the price.
Anya Rossi, it seems the lesson from five years ago wasnt enough for you. Sadie is not for you to touch.
A wave of terror washed over me. I turned to run, but Damons bodyguards grabbed me and slammed me onto the ground.
Since you want to be a whore, Ill grant your wish. Ill let everyone see just how pathetic and loose you are!
He spoke in a cold, loud voice to the gawking guests around us.
The man who makes her scream for mercy will get the land on the west side of the city!
The room erupted in guttural shouts. The mogul, who had been trembling with fear a moment ago, now had a dangerous light in his eyes.
Is that true, Mr. Kincaid?
Damon pulled a signed document from his suit pocket and tossed it to him.
Right here, in the main hall. I want everyone to watch her beg.
The mogul snatched the paper, then lunged at me, tearing at the few scraps of my clothing. I thrashed desperately, trying to crawl out from under him, but he cursed, hitting me left and right, grabbing my hair and smashing my head against the floor.
You filthy slut! You were desperate to be under me a minute ago, and now youre playing the virtuous martyr!
Blood streamed from my forehead, blurring my vision. Through the crimson haze, I saw the faces of those around meall laughing, holding up their phones, gleefully recording my humiliation.
Nice body. She was the Rossi princess, after all.
I should have bid! Even without the land, a taste of the Rossi princess wouldn't hurt!
The mogul pinned my head to the floor, twisting my limbs into a humiliating position. Then he leaned close, his breath hot and greasy in my ear.
Just cooperate, and Ill give you twenty thousand when Im done.
The moment my legs were forced apart, I closed my eyes in absolute despair and vomited up a mouthful of blood.
The image of my daughters little, frost-covered face in the morgue flashed behind my eyelids. Its okay I thought, a terrible kind of peace settling in. This way, I can afford to buy her a plot that faces the sun.
In the last sliver of fading consciousness, I thought I heard a distant roar:
Stop! Thats enough!
I smiled bitterly, a final, cynical thought: How pathetic, Anya. You actually thought someone would save you.
3
In the darkness, I saw two small figures standing before me. It was my daughter.
She smiled and called to me:
Mommy, Im not cold anymore. Im going to find Grandpa and Grandma. You need to take care of yourself.
Hope!
I screamed her name, a wrenching, tearing sound, reaching out only to grasp dissolving foam.
I woke with a gasp, drenched in sweat. The clock on the wall read nine minutes past nine. I looked at the calendar, and a bomb seemed to go off in my mind.
Five days had passed since the auction.
I tore the IV needle from my hand with trembling fingers and stumbled out of bed. My legs buckled, and I nearly collapsed. A strong pair of arms caught me, forcing me back onto the mattress.
Anya Rossi, you truly are something. Chronic blood loss, severe malnutrition. Youve been living like a beggar. Whywhy wouldnt you just come back and beg me?
Damon slammed a stack of medical reports onto my chest.
Do you really have to be this stubborn?
I looked at him blankly, a hollow spot opening in my heart. Something vital had slipped away from me. Tears streamed down my face, uncontrollable.
I finally found my voice, a harsh whisper.
I did beg you
I had sacrificed my dignity, defied my parents dying wish, and begged him to spare a life for my sick daughter.
I was curled up in a damp storage unit, ten hours into labor, but my babies wouldn't come. Blood soaked the cheap mattress beneath me. With the last of my strength, I called Damon.
The moment the call connected, I felt like a drowning person clutching the final piece of wreckage.
Damon, Ill apologize to Sadie. Ill kneel and beg both of you. Just save our child
But all that answered me were the intertwined moans of him and another woman.
Damon, I want to have your baby.
Damons voice, tender and doting, replied:
Only you, Sadie, are worthy of bearing my child. Ill give our baby the best of everything.
The call disconnected, severing my last thread of hope.
My screams were so desperate that a kind neighbor girl finally paid for an ambulance, and I was rushed to the emergency room. I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. But my son, starved of oxygen, never even cried once. He was gone.
My daughter, Hope, suffered from a congenital heart defect and had lived in the hospital since birth.
Damons blockade in Veridian City meant I could only find the filthiest, most grueling workwashing dishes for ten hours a day in a greasy restaurant until my hands were raw and blistered.
When the money still wasn't enough, I sold my blood. I went to every blood bank in the city. I ate only one dry piece of bread a day; every other cent became medicine to keep Hope alive.
The doctor had told me: if I could raise the money, Hope could have her heart transplant in five days.
Desperate, with nowhere left to turn, I went to the auction block to sell the last thing I had left: myself.
I begged you to spare my parents. I begged you to save our baby. I begged you to give our daughter a chance to live. But what did you do? You drove me into a corner again and again.
Damon Kincaid, you didnt want me to beg you. You wanted me dead!
I shrieked, hysteria mounting, but the terrible dread in my heart grew heavier. I bowed my head, pleading in a new way.
Im begging you now. Please, let me go. I need to find Hope. She needs me.
If I dont pay the fees soon, theyll cut the power to her to her resting place
His expression was grim, his voice hoarse as he asked:
Who is Hope?
A familiar ringtone cut through the air. I searched frantically for my phone and realized it was still clenched in Damons trembling hand.
I snatched it back and answered the call, my hands shaking.
Ms. Rossi, we regret to inform you that we have been unable to reach you. The power to the cryogenic unit has been reassigned to another family. The remains are now badly decomposed. Please bring the death certificate to schedule cremation.
My breath hitched, stopping dead in my lungs. Just a little more time
I could have maintained Hopes final dignity. Why? Why was I always just one tiny step too late?
The call ended. My daughters photo filled the screen.
She was already critically ill then, a slight smile on her pale face. She had said:
Mommy, Im going to find my brother. Dont be sad. I love you.
Tears tracked down my cheeks, one by one.
I collapsed to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.
Damon continued to press me, his voice trembling with a mixture of excitement and fear, his eyelashes damp.
Hope is our child, isnt she? I checked the hospital records. You had two children. What was the other ones name?
He looked ecstatic, almost desperate.
This is wonderful! Im a father! I Ill give them everything.

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