Chapter 2 A Flame That Defies Me

Lucien's POV

My eyes moved slowly across the line of girls standing before me. Dressed in rags, their wrists tied up. Most of these things wouldn't last a week.

Not with their weak spines and hollow eyes. I paced back and forth, my hands clasped behind my back. Each step I took was purposeful.

Every breath in this room belonged to me now.

"Move," I ordered.

One of the guards pushed the first girl forward. The weak thing stumbled, her knees hitting the floor with a dull slap. She looked up at me, shaking like a wet leaf in a storm.

I didn't care about asking what her name was. Her fate was about to be decided by me anyway. "She's fucking skinny."

I spoke flatly.

"Open your teeth," I commanded.

She opened her mouth. Nothing pleasant about her teeth. Yellowed. Chipped. Fucking useless.

"Sell her to the Balkan broker."

"She won't make much for us either way."

"Just sell her cheap. So that they would buy." I spoke, the girl pleading for mercy as one of my men dragged her out of the room.

It didn't matter to me anyways, I didn't become Lucien Freakin Moretti by listening to the plea of sobbing bitches.

The next girl followed. Then the next. The more I looked at all of them, the more bored I became. Then my eyes landed on her again.

The fifth girl.

Her head was bowed, but not like the others. It wasn't out of fear. It looked to me like a strategy. Her shoulders were still.

Waiting, calculating what she would do next.

Interesting.

"Look at me," I commanded.

She raised her head to face me. Her eyes were wide, dark, unblinking... locked with mine. No fear from her. Her goddamn lips are not even shaking.

Just quiet defiance.

I took a step forward closer to her, drawn into her despite trying to be myself. Something about her set my blood boiling.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She hesitated for a second before parting her lips to speak.

"Clara," she said.

Nothing about the name felt right on her. It all sounded fake. Her voice... steady. Clear. Controlled. I moved my head, studying every inch of her face.

Dirt plastered across her cheeks, but her features were the best among the others. Beautiful, even as much as I hated to admit. But it wasn't her beauty that made her dangerous.

It was the silent control behind her. She was playing a game. One that I didn't know the rules yet, but I was going to find out one way or the other.

"Keep her,". I said.

"Strip her. Search her and make sure that she's going to be worth every dime we would sell her for."

One of the guards moved behind the next girl. The smallest of the batch. Pale, weak, and even barely breathing. "She's sick boss," he grinned.

"Want me to make her death quick?" He asked. Raising his gun to kill her like it was nothing. A soft whimper escaped the girl's throat.

The last thing I needed right now was another fucking bitch sobbing in my ears for mercy. But before I could give the nod to go ahead, a voice cut through the room.

Clara.

She stepped forward.. not far, just enough to show that she wasn't afraid. "She's not useless," Clara said.

"You just don't see her value."

My men wouldn't even dare speak when I breathed, yet this fucking... this girl... this Clara was standing between me and my authority.

Every one of my men stared in disbelief. One of them stepped back. As if he couldn't bear to look at what I was about to do to this little thing that just challenged me.

"You're bold," I said.

Walking towards her. Close enough to smell the blood on her wrists from the ropes.

"Stupid rather, but bold."

"If trying to save someone's life is stupid. Then maybe you're used to being around too many liars."

Her words hit like a blade. But she wasn't worth talking to. "Kill her anyway. I snapped.

"Pl.....please spare me." The sick girl screamed.

"Kill her then," Clara spoke, her voice lower now, too quiet. "Then you'll prove that you're exactly what they say you are."

"A butcher with a crown made of bones."

She didn't flinch.

Not even once.

My hands itched to snap this little twig into two. To crush the rebellion in her mouth. But the heat in my chest wasn't just anger.

It was Something else.

Something I never wanted to name.

Did she want to play with fire?

Fine.

It would be my pleasure to see her gladly burn in it.

I took one step closer. Staring at her like a man who is looking into a mirror he hates... one that shows too much of him.

Every one of my men was silent. Waiting for me to make this girl regret ever standing up to Lucien Moretti.

"You think you're so brave, aren't you?" I said. "You think you're more special than the rest of them?" Leaning in, letting my voice wrap around her like a chain.

I watched the fear in her eyes... maybe not fear-calculation. That only made it worse for her. "You want to play the hero and protect her?" I asked.

"Then you have just struck a deal with the devil, Clara."

She didn't say a word, not when I spoke. But her eyes already told me she had made peace with whatever I was going to decide to be her fate.

"From now henceforth," I whispered into her ears, my voice ice-cold.

"You belong to only me."

"No one dares sell her."

"Not for trade."

"And not for death either."

Turning to warn all of my men.

"She's going to become my slave from now on," I spoke, turning to face Clara.

"I'll make sure you regret ever opening that pretty little mouth of yours against me bitch."

Chapter Three