Chapter 2

The men in the crowd were shouting numbers, their faces flushed with excitement.

"Fifty thousand!"

"Seventy-five! For a whole weekend with that little thing!"

Wendy Fuller leaned over the VIP railing, her voice shrill. "Look at her, Matthew! She used to be so proud. Now she' s just a piece of meat for sale."

Debra, her mother, added, "It's what she deserves. Her mother thought she was too good for us. Now she' s begging."

My mother, Maria, took a shaky step forward. She looked up at Matthew, her voice trembling but clear. "Matthew, please. I helped your family. Your father' s ranch was bankrupt. I convinced my family to save you."

Matthew sneered. "Save us? You mean indebt us. You held that over our heads for years. This isn't cruelty, Maria. This is repayment. You're just paying back what you owe."

He was twisting the past, turning my mother' s generosity into a weapon against her. He was justifying this horror as some kind of financial balancing of the books.

On the stage, Molly flinched. The drugs couldn't completely numb her to the humiliation. Her head drooped, her blonde hair falling over her face. I saw she was wearing a bracelet, one I had given her before I left. They had taken everything, but they had let her keep that. Or perhaps they just hadn't noticed it.

I looked back at my mother. Her clothes were worn, her face etched with lines of stress I had never seen before. She looked a decade older than the last time I saw her.

The Cullens were known for their wealth, but my mother had been cast out for marrying my father, a weak man who had now abandoned her completely. She had been living on her own funds, which were clearly gone.

I gave Rufus a sharp look. "I want a full report. Now. How did they lose the ranch? Every detail."

He tapped on a tablet, his fingers flying across the screen. He didn't need to speak. The information would be in my secure inbox within minutes.

I thought about the last three years. The isolation in the Outback was a part of my training.

I was cut off by design. But the last month had been different. My uncle' s "accident" had been a veiled assassination attempt by rivals.

All communication from the family compound had ceased. That' s why I hadn't known. That' s why I was late.

Down below, Molly lifted her head. She looked directly at Matthew.

"We were supposed to get married," she whispered, her voice cracking.

Matthew laughed. "Married? I was never going to marry the daughter of a washed-up socialite. I'm with Wendy now. She knows her place."

The crowd roared with laughter. A few drunken men near my mother reached out to grab her.

"Maybe we should auction the mother too!" one of them yelled. "Get a matching set!"

Matthew waved them off. "Not here. This is Cullen territory. The new boss, whoever he is, doesn't like messes." He had no idea the boss was a she, and that she was watching him.

"Grovel, Maria," Matthew said, his voice low and menacing. "Get on your knees and beg. Maybe I'll stop it."

Molly screamed, "No, Mom! Don't!"

My mother straightened her back. A fire I hadn't seen in years lit up in her eyes. She looked from Molly to the auctioneer.

"I'd like to make a bid," she said, her voice ringing with newfound strength.