Page 1 of Bought By the Ruthless Pakhan

Chapter One

Anna

"Get out." The words hit me from behind like a bullet grazing my ear.

Before I could react, someone shoved my lower back, and I tumbled out of the van's rear seat. Lucky for me, I didn't hit the ground. An arm caught me around the waist from behind.

"Easy. Damaged goods don't sell."

The hand slid down, making two deliberate circles around my ass. Even through my jeans, I could feel the heat of his palm.

He squeezed, like he was checking the merchandise.

I looked up. Light stabbed into my eyes.

The Ember Room.

Never heard of it. But I knew damn well why I'd been dumped here.

A few hours ago, I'd just walked out of school when they stuffed me into that goddamn van.

The guy in the passenger seat flashed me a grin, yellow teeth stained with tobacco. "Your father owes us money. He's using that cherry of yours to settle his debt."

When he said "settle," his tongue rolled between his teeth like he was chewing on a piece of fat already in his mouth. His eyes stripped my clothes off. Worse than that—he looked like he could already see me naked, calculating my worth in his head.

Using me as payment? How the hell could they say that shit out loud?

I wanted to scream, to tell him to go to hell, but my throat closed up like someone had their hands around it.

Because I knew he wasn't lying. The man I called father had been rotten to the core since I was four. Drunk. Abusive. After divorcing Mom, he'd gambled away what little he had left.

The passenger held his phone to my ear.

"Anna, just help Dad out one last time. I owe them money—they'll kill me if I don't pay. Just one night, that's all..."

One night. Like sending his daughter off to get fucked was some kind of noble sacrifice.

Before I could say anything, he hung up. Then they dragged me here.

Standing at the club entrance, I took a deep breath, trying to steady my voice. "Sir, I'm an adult. My father has no right to sell anything that belongs to me."

I turned to leave. Before I could take a step, cold metal pressed against my lower back.

"Little girl, here's what you need to understand—as long as your name is Anna Bennett, you pay his debts."

The man in the suit leaned down, his nose nearly touching the back of my neck. He inhaled deeply. "Smells good... got me hard already. If you weren't worth more intact, I'd pin you against this wall right now and fuck you till you broke."

My stomach clenched. "This isn't fair!"

"Fair? You're talking to us about fair?"

The gun barrel dug deeper, hard enough to numb my side. "Girl, you've got two choices. Walk in there and let people bid onyou like a good little product, or stay out here and let us have our turn. Pick."

He said choice. But I knew there was no choice.

From the moment I was born, I'd never had real options. All I could do was surrender and walk into the hell in front of me.

The cramped room was lit harsh white. A few girls huddled in the corner. Some trembling, some staring at the walls.