Mafia's Caged Poppy

My husband brought me to an underground auction in Budapest.

He was there to show off his new toy, a shop girl who'd clawed her way into his bed.

She pressed against his shoulder, trembling like a frightened rabbit.

"Boss, these people are so brutal... I'm scared."

I couldn't stomach her pathetic act.

"Weren't you the one begging Mason to bring you here? You wanted to 'see the world,' remember?"

"If there were fewer thrill-seekers like you," I added coldly, "maybe fewer souls would be forced onto these stages."

My husband’s response was a chillingly calm defense of his pet. "Darling, why pick a fight with a girl?"

He let her cry into his suit jacket and said nothing more.

But later, he had his men drag me from the restroom and dump my body onto the circular stage in the center of the hall.

Ready to be sold.

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1

When I woke up, I saw Mason Kane standing in the VIP section, his arm draped around Emma's waist.

The spotlights were blinding me.

"You wanted to save the poor souls, didn't you?" he called out. "Well, now you can perform for everyone."

Emma leaned against him like a delicate bird. "But Irene is your wife. It doesn't seem right for her to perform like that."

"What's wrong with it?" he sneered. "She knows all about the art of the human form."

A chain was clasped around my neck, my hands and feet shackled. I was tethered to a steel pole in the middle of the stage like a dog.

I opened my mouth, but my throat was raw.

I could only manage a choked whisper. "Mason Kane, what did you do to me!"

"You're too loud. I was afraid you'd disturb the guests," he said calmly. "It just stops the screaming. You're not going to die."

I was once a well-known figure in Chicago. I cherished my reputation. Now, my own husband had silenced me with poison.

Tears streamed down my face in silence. "Why?"

"My wife is so gorgeous. Of course, more people should get to see her." He smiled. "Stop wasting time. Start your pole dance."

Someone behind me cracked a whip across my back. The force threw me to the floor, and a cold sweat of pain broke out over my body.

The man ordered me to start dancing in accented English.

I looked around in horror. The buyers' eyes were filled with a perverse excitement.

Before me was a cold steel pole. The site of my coming humiliation.

A fall from that would leave me crippled, if not dead.

The guard behind me kept cracking his whip, urging me to get up. When I didn't move, he struck me again and again.

With every lash, a new, bloody gash opened on my back.

Emma couldn't hide her smile anymore. "Mason, if Irene falls and ends up paralyzed, you'll have to take care of her for the rest of her life."

"How about we watch something different?" she suggested. "Let's have her do a striptease."

Mason pinched her chin. "Alright. Whatever you want."

He then announced to the room, "Irene! If your striptease satisfies me tonight, or if any of the bosses here are willing to pay for your freedom, you can leave."

"And if I refuse?"

Mason's smile widened. "I forgot to tell you. You've been sold as one of the auction items."