Chapter 1 - The Girl They Sold in the Rain
A young woman collapsed on the wet pavement and whispered: "Please… don’t let him take me." When powerful underworld figure Adrian Blackwood arrived, he found a torn identification bracelet beside the luxury car. Three words were scratched into the metal: "Not Her Property." Adrian realized this was not a normal transaction.
Rainwater mixed with the dirt beneath my hands as I tried to push myself up from the cold stone driveway.
My knees burned.
My palms were bleeding.
But Diane’s fingers were still locked around my arm.
"Stand straight," she whispered through clenched teeth. "You’re embarrassing me."
I looked at the woman who had raised me after my mother died.
The woman who had smiled at my father’s funeral.
The woman who told everyone she loved me.
And the woman who was now selling me like an object.
My name was Nora Vale.
Twenty-four years old.
And that night, I learned exactly how little my life was worth to the person who claimed to be my family.
The black SUV waited a few feet away.
The engine was running.
The back door was open.
Inside was a manila envelope.
A contract.
My price.
Fifty thousand dollars.
That number kept repeating in my mind.
Not because it was a lot.
Because it was so little.
Diane had spent years telling me I was useless.
That I was a burden.
That nobody would ever want me.
But apparently, someone wanted me enough to pay.
The man standing beside the SUV didn’t look like someone who bought people.
He looked like someone people feared.
Adrian Blackwood.
Everyone in the city knew that name.
Some called him a businessman.
Others whispered different things.
They said he controlled companies nobody could trace.
They said powerful men lowered their voices when he entered a room.
They said enemies disappeared after crossing him.
But standing there in the rain, I didn’t see a monster.
I saw a man watching me.
Really watching me.
His eyes moved from my broken shoe.
To my bruised wrist.
To the mark on my cheek that Diane had tried to hide with makeup.
Something changed in his expression.
Only for a second.
But I noticed.
"Is this the girl?" Adrian asked.
Diane immediately smiled.
A fake, polished smile.
"Yes. Nora Vale. She’s difficult, emotional, but she knows how to obey."
I lowered my eyes.
Because that was what I had learned to do.
Survive.
Never fight.
Never speak.
Never make anyone angry.
Adrian stepped closer.
The rain fell from his dark hair onto his expensive black suit.
"You said she agreed."
Diane’s smile became nervous.
"Of course she did."
My fingers tightened against the ground.
Because that was a lie.
I had never agreed.
I had been locked inside my room for two days.
No phone.
No food except what Diane left behind.
Then she dragged me outside.
Put a dress on me.
And told me my life was finally becoming useful.
Adrian looked at me.
"Did you agree?"
The question surprised me.
Nobody had asked me that in years.
Not really.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Diane stepped forward.
"She’s shy."
Adrian didn’t look at her.
He kept looking at me.
"Answer me."
My heart raced.
Because telling the truth felt more dangerous than lying.
But something about his voice made me believe he actually wanted the answer.
"No."
One word.
Quiet.
But enough.
Diane’s face changed.
She grabbed my arm harder.
"You ungrateful—"
Before she finished, Adrian moved.
Not violently.
Not loudly.
He simply looked at her.
And Diane stopped.
Because everyone in that driveway understood one thing.
Adrian Blackwood was not a man people interrupted.
He reached down and picked up something from the ground.
A small silver bracelet.
My old identification bracelet from the shelter where I lived as a teenager.
It had broken when Diane pulled me from the car.
Adrian turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
Three words.
Not Her Property.
His expression became colder.
"Explain this."
Diane looked away.
"It means nothing."
But Adrian already knew.
He opened the envelope from the SUV.
Inside was the contract.
A transfer agreement.
A signature.
My name.
And Diane’s.
My stomach dropped.
I had known she was cruel.
I knew she was selfish.
But seeing my name written like I was something to be handed over broke something inside me.
Adrian folded the paper.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then he looked at Diane.
"The deal is canceled."
Diane froze.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"But the money—"
"There is no money."
Her face turned pale.
"You can’t do this."
Adrian looked at me.
Then back at her.
"I already did."
For the first time in years, someone stood between me and Diane.
Not because they wanted something from me.
But because they saw what she had done.
Adrian removed his coat.
He placed it around my shoulders.
The warmth almost made me cry.
Almost.
Because I had forgotten what kindness felt like.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
I nodded.
But my legs failed.
Before I fell, he caught me.
And for one second, I hated myself for feeling safe.
Because safe was something I never had.
The bodyguards behind him remained silent.
Diane stepped back.
Her eyes changed.
The confidence disappeared.
She looked afraid.
Not of losing money.
Of losing control.
As Adrian helped me toward the SUV, my phone suddenly vibrated.
I froze.
Because I didn’t have my phone.
Diane looked at her pocket.
Her face went white.
She slowly pulled out a second phone.
A phone she had hidden from everyone.
The screen lit up.
One message appeared.
And Adrian saw the name of the person who sent it.
His expression changed instantly.
Because the sender was someone I thought had been dead for ten years.
May you like
The message contained only four words.
"She knows the truth."
