Page 76 of Locked in Wonderland

Would he shrug and walk away?

My heart hammered so hard it hurt, and for the first time in my life, I considered praying.

Finally, the bidder shook his head. Relief had me feeling as light as air. The auctioneer smiled, but it was strained, leaving no doubt that the outcome wasn’t what he wanted. He repeated the countdown as the room collectively held its breath.

Then―

“Sold.”

I struggled to understand how I could be happy about being sold as they led me offstage. It was funny how quickly your outlook could change when someone showed you an even worse possibility. I might have doubts about Nico, but at least he was a known quantity.

Better the devil you know.

Was Nico a devil? Or something else? I was still pondering that when the man himself appeared. He avoided looking at me during the transaction, his cool detachment very different to the hot-blooded man from the night before.

Was it the night before? Time had started slipping again. Spending half your life unconscious did that to a person.

“Collar on or off?”

My head snapped up.

Off. Obviously off. I’d been electrocuted twice by it and it wasn’t something I ever wanted to experience again.

“Leave it on,” Nico said.

What the fuck?

The man handling the exchange smirked and passed over the remote and a key to Nico. “You’ve got yourself quite the disobedient one. Hope he’s worth it.”

I opened my mouth to say something cutting. Before I could, Nico held up a hand. I took heed of the warning, reminding myself that if Nico changed his mind, it left me right back where I’d started. So, despite it being excruciatingly difficult, I stayed quiet. I didn’t say a word when he wrapped the chain around his wrist and led me away from the stage like a dog. I didn’t complain when sharp pebbles dug into my bare feet. And I stayed silent when every single person we passed either wished him luck, or made lewd comments that reduced me to little more than a sex doll.

By the time we spilled out onto the Wonderland streets, all the words I’d swallowed felt ready to explode out of me.

And what made it worse?

Nico still hadn’t looked at me once.

Chapter Twenty-five

I lasted a few more feet before reaching bursting point. “Have I turned invisible?”

I barely got the sentence out before he cut me off. “Don’t talk.”

“Why not?” I asked.

He quickened his pace, as if he thought walking faster might make it impossible for me to hold a conversation at the same time. If he really thought that, he was dreaming.

“I get that wasn’t the best situation,” I admitted.

He wrapped more of the chain around his arm, forcing me so close that I could feel the body heat coming off him.

“I gave you one simple instruction.” He took a sudden right turn, and I recognized the apartment building in front of us as the same one I’d left of my own accord.

Curious looks followed us across the street as Nico pushed through the crowd. I guess even in this place it was still unusual to see one man pulling another by a chain in broad daylight.

“It wasn’t an instruction. You gave me an order as if you owned me.” I snorted. “Which, ironically enough, I guess you do now. Back then, though…” Nico’s expression didn’t change as he jabbed the button for the lift.

It arrived immediately, and he yanked me inside.