Chapter 3

• Three years passed after the accident that left my mother in a coma until recently. I struggled alone to support her. My father had left me and my mother since I was three months old. My mom raised me without a father by working as kitchen staff in a star hotel. When I had just finished my college degree in marketing management, that’s when the unfortunate event happened.
• Luckily, I graduated with honors and was accepted to work at Lucas Cassano’s multinational Queency Corporation. The company specializes in cosmetics and beauty and men’s and women’s skincare products.
• “Natalia, it’s good to see you today.”
• Doctor Daniel’s voice made me shift my gaze towards the door and smile at the handsome doctor.
• “Nice to see you, too, Doctor, I’m here to pay the bill,” I admitted, and Doctor Daniel smiled.
• “The team of doctors just had a meeting to discuss your mother’s condition, and if there is no improvement in her condition the hospital will stop her treatment. This is already the third year.”
• Doctor Daniel’s words made me exhale loudly. It felt like I couldn’t let go of the only person who had always been in my life. I didn’t want my mother to leave without saying goodbye to me. I swallowed dryly and tried to drown out the pain in my heart at the moment.
• I nodded and said, “I understand, Doctor.”
• “I hope your mother can open her eyes again,” Doctor Daniel said, which made me smile in sadness. In a way, I knew that everything would end with me being alone. Doctor Daniel left after saying his goodbyes. I also left a few minutes after kissing the top of my mother’s head and saying goodbye.
• I sat at the bus stop, waiting for the last bus. No one was with me here, and it wasn’t even late at night. But this is Manhattan, a city that’s not devoid of people. After waiting a few seconds, a car’s headlights dazzled my eyes from the right. The sedan stopped in front of me, and a man in a neat black suit got out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger door for me.
• “Please, Miss, Mr. Cassano is waiting for you at his apartment,” said the man I assumed was Lucas’s confidant. I got up from my seat with a reluctant movement and got into the car. All the way, my mind was racing, but I was honestly feeling nervous.
• Calm down, Nat; you’re just going to meet your boss, who unluckily is the man who managed to take your virginity after buying you for a million dollars.
• I exhaled loudly. Instead of calming down, my nervousness seemed to want to crush me. After a few minutes of driving, I finally arrived at an apartment building that cost as much as a year’s salary per unit. When I exited the car, my legs were suddenly unsteady, but I could still balance my body so as not to fall.
• “Come with me, Miss.”
• My heart pounded with an uncomfortable thumping until we reached the 50th floor. A spacious living room with a glass wall that gave me a bird’s eye view of Manhattan. There wasn’t much in the room, just a soft, dark grey sofa set with large, rectangular cushions. An aesthetic chandelier and an abstract painting that I don’t know whose work it is.
• “Please take a seat, Miss. Mr. Cassano will see you shortly,” said the man who had brought me to this place. I sat down slowly while still looking around, then pondered nervously. I bit my lower lip on the inside. My mind replayed the hot night I had with Lucas, and it embarrassed me, but on the other hand, it was my first experience with a man that I couldn’t put into words.
• “Miss, Alexandra, welcome to my home Thank you for fulfilling my request to see me.”
• Lucas’s baritone voice, which I didn’t hear often, startled me and broke my trance of our hot night. I lifted my face to look at him and smiled at him, but my face was so stiff that even smiling was difficult. Hopefully, my smile doesn’t look weird.
• Lucas sits on the single sofa opposite me. I gaze back to my hands, clutching my skirt above my thighs.
• “Shall we get straight to the point?” asked Lucas, which made me look at him from behind my lashes. I noticed he was rubbing his chin slowly with his index finger and staring in the other direction, thinking, I guess.
• “With all due respect, Mr. Cassano, I don’t want anything to do with you,” I said because I couldn’t stand the silence, which only made me more nervous. However, instead of feeling better, I regretted saying that.
• Was I going to get fired from the company? Oh, my God, please, not that one.
• “You have two choices, Miss Alexandra. First, you must become mine completely based on the waiver you signed at the auction and I will give you the rules as long as you are mine. Second, you will receive your one million dollars but you will be fired from my office and I will make sure that you will not be able to work in any corner of Manhattan or anywhere else. You are free to move on with your life.”
• My heart was beating uncomfortably, a difficult choice. A million dollars was only enough for a few years without working, but my mother needed maintenance. If I didn’t work at a company, my life would end up being homeless.
• Oh, my God, this man has no mercy.
• I swallowed dryly and decided on the choice I was about to make.
• “If I become your property, will I just be a lust object and be called upon when the need arises?” I asked, then looked back at Lucas from behind my eyes. Unfortunately, he was also looking at me; when our eyes met, my chest felt tight, as if I had to submit to his power. I quickly lowered my gaze again. A woman, who I guessed was a servant in this house, brought me a cup of tea. She placed the cup of tea on the table before me and left without saying anything.
• “More or less, I see, Miss Alexandra, but I will be a little generous to you.”
• My other self rolled her eyes and then spat to the side. I’m unlucky now; I never expected to be a cheap woman like this.
• “Then, when you get tired of me you’ll dump me, is that it?” I asked again, this time my gaze falling on the tea that was billowing smoke in front of me. I stared at it without blinking.
• “It’s more or less like that, but actually I have another goal besides just wanting to make love to you. I want you to bear a child for me and that child will be mine.”
• Hearing that, I quickly stood up and poured hot tea on Lucas’ face. I stared at the man with a hateful gaze.
• “Just give me my one million dollars, and you can find another woman besides me to play with, Mr. Cassano. Good night,” I snarled and left the apartment of that arrogant asshole.
• I can’t live like that. Even if I have to end up a hobo later, so be it. I don’t want to feel guilty about my mother.