by MJ Bockarie
"This isn't going to be done in alphabetical order, all right? I'll pick which one of you I want, and you will go, whether you want to or not." He explained and all of us nodded.
"Good," he grumbled and walked over to a black curtain. He peeked his head through, gave a thumbs up, and turned back to us. "DeLiza?"
I reluctantly stepped forward. "That's me, sir."
His eyebrows raised. "Sir? Hmm, that's new. Anyways, you're up."
Some of the girls behind me wished me good luck. I headed towards the curtain, and once the MC got off the stage, I walked out.
Down the catwalk I went as men and woman applauded. Their eyes were dark and evil, twinkling with mischief. I spotted Alec, Austin, and Andy. I gave them a hard stare which Austin returned, then gave me a brilliant smile.
Alec's face was sad, although I could see he was trying to hide it. Andy wasn't impressed at all, and I had never seen such a big smile on Austin's face before today.
In the row behind them sat Nathaniel. He looked ready and determined. He gave me a slight nod and a thumbs up with a quick wink. I looked away as I stood at the end of the catwalk, squinting as the bright fluorescent lights shone down on me.
"Mariana DeLiza," the MC announced, "nineteen-years-old, 5'6, weighs 138 pounds. For those of you in the back who can't see her, she has long brown hair and blue eyes. We'll start the bidding at $50,000."
Alec, Andy, and Austin all looked shocked. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
The MC was calling out the numbers so quick that I couldn't understand most of them. Nathaniel was almost outbidding everyone, changing bids that started out at $100,000 to $400,000.
"How about a whopping $900,000?" The MC chuckled. It was now nearly dead silent. Nathaniel raised his little card and the MC smirked. "$900,000 going once, $900,000 going twice"
"$1,500,000." A deep voice rang out. Andy's jaw literally dropped. Alec and Austin gave each other panicked expressions. I looked at Nathaniel and he was as white as a ghost, mouthing something to me. My heart started beating profusely and my mind began to think the worst.
The MC pulled his collar away from his neck. "$1,500,000 going once—"
Nathaniel stood. "$2,000,000!"
"$3,000,000!" The other voice argued. Austin looked like he was about to pass out.
"$3,000,000 going once, $3,000,000 going twice..."
Nathaniel opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The words I dreaded came out of the auctioneer's mouth, and may the Lord help me, I was lucky I didn't pass out myself.
"Sold to Mr. Aleksander Shrepmeski for $3,000,000!"
Shrepmeski? Why was that so familiar?
Alec and Andy were yelling at Nathaniel as Austin called my name repeatedly. I was brought off stage, giving the boys one last glance before disappearing behind the curtain.
The man who brought me out on stage waited with me as he sent another girl out. Soon, a man emerged from the other side of the room.
His dark hair was slicked back, and his crystal blue eyes narrowed as he approached me. A smirk soon slid on his face. "Mariana," his accent was quite thick, but not thick enough that I couldn't under-stand him. He was either Russian or German.
"Come with me." He motioned for me to follow him. Maggie looked terrified as she watched me walk away with Aleksander.
I was angry inside. Angry at the boys. Angry at myself. Angry at Nathaniel for letting me down because at this point, I was sure I wasn't going to make it out alive.
TWENTY
Aleksander grabbed hold of my arm, dragging me out of the building. I struggled to keep up with him. I was stumbling over small rocks and nearly broke my ankle when my leg bent the wrong way.
"Slow down, please." I begged.
"No," he hissed, "we need to leave right now.”
"Leave where?" I asked.
He whipped around and slapped me. He dropped my arm and I stumbled back, holding on to my cheek. "Shut up." He growled. "Shut the fuck up."
I nodded. Aleksander grabbed my arm again and continue dragging me through the parking lot. We made it to a black jeep with tinted windows. He opened the door to the back seat and threw me in, then slammed the door.
I sat there, petrified. It was dark, and I had just noticed another man sitting in the passenger's seat. He turned and looked at me, and I realized it wasn't a man, but a teenage boy. One I recognized too quickly.
"Joey?" I whispered.
He grinned. "Hey, Mari. Long time no see, eh?"
"What are you doing?" I asked. "Why are you here?"
"I'm taking over the family business soon." He sighed. "My dad's dying, so he thought he should start teaching me his ways."
"This isn't a good life to get into, Joey." I shook my head. "You were working at the convenience store with good pay, you and Gen were happy, and you had the best friend ever!"
"That store was shit, that relationship was shit, and my best friend got kidnapped." Joey snapped. "My life was going downhill already, so what's the point?"
"Are you serious?" I scoffed. "Joey, that's the dumbest thing to come out of your mouth. Your life was fine. It was wonderful, because it was your life. You should've been proud of it."
"I wasn't." Joey faced the front again. "I wanted more."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you did, you piece of shit."
I heard a gun cock and stared at Joey in surprise. He was pointing a gun straight to my head, his eyebrows scrunched together.
"Joey," I gasped.
"I'm not some peasant you can talk to, Mariana." Joey hissed angrily. "You're going to treat me with respect, do you understand?"
I nodded and gulped. I saw his finger move to the trigger. "Speak when spoken to!" He growled.
"Yes!" I shrieked and in panic, tried to shield my body in case he actually did shoot. "I understand."
A bullet came from the gun and pierced the seat close to my right shoulder. The bang from the bullet sounded much louder because of the enclosed space and I was scared witless. "I didn't hear you!"
"I said yes!" I was practically screaming now, not wanting my life to end like this.
Joey was fuming. "You left me there, Mariana! I almost died!"
"And that's my fault?" I sobbed. "Joey, I couldn't do anything! I was being kidnapped, and we were half way to the car when it happened!"
"So suddenly your legs didn't work?" He hissed. "You couldn't come to my rescue?"
"I wanted to, Joey!" I tried to sound as convincing as possible. The angrier he got, the more I was afraid he was actually going to shoot me. "I really wanted to! I cried and cried for hours, thinking about what was happening to you!"
He scoffed and shook his head, retracting the gun.
The driver's seat door opened and Aleksander climbed him. He looked at Joey. "Have you introduced yourself to her?"
"No need." Joey replied. "We were friends before all this."
Aleksander turned around and looked at me, eyes wide. "You know my son?"
I nodded. "Y-Yes, sir."
The most sinister smile I had seen in a long while appeared on his face. "That makes this situation even more perfect."
My heart started racing. "Why?"
Joey sighed. "Because the whole point of coming to this stupid auction was to find me a wife."
I scoffed. "A wife? No, no. I'm not marrying anybody."
"If you want to continue to live, then I think you will." Aleksander shrugged with a sly smirk. "I mean, it's your choice, my darling."
I didn't even know what was going on anymore. First this was about Austin being in love with me, then it escalated to me and Alec secretly being in love with each other, and now it's turned into me being forced to marry my ex-best friend?
My brain was trying to process how this had all proceeded from one event to the next. It didn't add up.
I pulled my knees up to my chest as the car began to move. Joey was still visibly angry, and I wouldn't be surprised if he turned around and shot
me point blank.
I'd shoot me, too.
I missed Alec. I missed Andy. Hell, I even missed Austin. I missed all of them so much and would kill to be with them right now. At first, it was Joey and my family I wanted to see, but I suppose not anymore.
The car ride was silent. Neither Joey nor Aleksander spoke. I was smart enough not to say anything.
Finally, a small chuckle came from Joey and he glanced back at me. "So I hear you had a lover."
"Who?" I sniffed.
"Alec," he replied, "the little brother of the guy you're technically supposed to get with. I always knew you were a slut, Mariana."
"Fuck off." I growled.
"Want to repeat that?" He challenged.
"Fuck off."
Joey reached for his gun, but Aleksander quickly interfered. "No, Joseph. Don't kill her."
"Why not?!" Joey demanded. "I'm sick and fucking tired of her! She can rot in hell!"
I smiled. "I'm going there anyway, sweetheart. See you there, okay?"
Joey blinked multiple times, put his finger on the trigger, and pulled.
I didn't feel the bullet enter my chest the exact moment it happened. It took me a while to process things. Everything was happening in slow motion.
Aleksander's startled facial expression. Joey's blank face. The car halting to a stop. It all happened so slowly.
I looked down and saw the blood pouring out of my chest. The world around started to become disoriented. Everything eventually came to a stop, and I closed my eyes, not being able to hold on any longer.
TWENTY-ONE
Alec
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
I grabbed my jacket from my chair of clothes and went to my brother's room, pounding on the door. "Hey! Get your ass up!"
I could hear Andy fall out of bed, then hobble towards the door. He opened it quickly, and I would've laughed at his bedhead and the confused look on his face but I couldn't. Not right now, at least.
"What?" He sighed, breathlessly. "What is going on?"
Austin's door opened and he stuck his head out. "Alec, it's three in the fucking morning. Why in the honest fuck are you yelling?"
"That stupid son of a bitch who bought Mariana shot her." I growled. Austin and Andy looked more awake. "They found my number in her pocket at the hospital and called her."
"Did they bring her in?" Andy asked.
"Left her on the side of some road." I felt myself beginning to shake. "The chick who found her was surprised she was still alive. She was shot in the chest."
Austin's eyes widened. "And she lived?!"
"I guess so!" I ran my hand through my hair. "We need to leave... like right now."
Andy and Austin grabbed their jackets and the three of us left. Austin drove, speeding through every red light which nearly killed us three times, but that was okay. I could've cared less about what. All I cared about was Mariana.
Austin pulled up to General Hospital and I basically jumped out of the car, running into the ER. The nurse was sitting at the front desk with her ear-buds in, jamming to music as she flipped through a fashion magazine. I slammed on the desk and she jumped, ripping out her earbuds.
"I need to see the girl who was just brought in." I sighed.
"The one who's been shot?" She asked and I nodded.
"She's in surgery," she said, "you're just going to have to wait."
"Is–"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." She cut me off. "You'll just have to wait."
I nodded and walked over to one of the hospital chairs, plopping down in it. Andy and Austin soon came in, joining me.
"What's going on?" Austin asked.
"She's in surgery." I sighed.
Andy huffed. "So what exactly happened? Aleksander shot her?"
"I'm assuming," I grumbled, "unless someone else was in the car with them."
"Can't expect some random woman who found her on the side of the road to know." Austin ran his hands over his face. "She should've just gone with Nathaniel, anyway. We should've taken her before Aleksander got to her."
"I regret everything." Andy shook his head. "Because if this girl doesn't make it out of surgery alive, I'm going to blame myself for as long as I live."
Austin rolled his eyes. "How the fuck do you think Alec feels? He's hopelessly in love with her!"
"I ship it." Andy mumbled and I slapped his arm.
"I was such a fucking dick to her." I whispered.
And it was true. From the beginning, even during the times I was being "nice" to her, I was still a dick. But what they say is true. When a boy likes a girl, his only way of getting her is being an absolute douche.
I don't know who came up with that theory because 99.9% of the time, it doesn't work.
"It's okay." Andy patted my back reassuringly. "She's going to make it out alive. Mariana's a fighter. We've all learned that by now."
I nodded and didn't say anything after that. Surgical assistants and doctors kept coming in and out, and that only made me more nervous. One of the only people besides my brothers that I've ever cared about might die and it was potentially my fault.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, brother." Andy sighed. "I can see the look on your face. You're overthinking this. Mariana will be okay."
Finally, after four and a half more hours of waiting, a surgeon came out and let out a huge sigh. "Family of Mariana DeLiza?"
The three of us stood up quickly. The surgeon walked over to us, and she gave us a warm smile. "She made it."
I let out a breath and felt the tears coming, but I didn't care if I cried. I deserved the cry at this point. I hadn't cried in a long ass time.
"Although, Mariana sustained some very serious injuries." The surgeon went on. "In addition to the bullet lodged in her left shoulder, she had a cracked skull, probably from being dropped on the road where she was found. We were able to repair both her injuries. The bullet was out in no time; it was repairing her skull that took time."
"It didn't reach her heart?" Austin asked.
"Just about missed it, but it travelled up farther into her shoulder." She explained. "I'm sure her arm will be fine."
"But all in all, she's okay?" Andy asked and the surgeon nodded.
"She's okay." She confirmed.
"Can I go see her?" I choked out and she nodded, giving me a sad smile.
"Follow me, honey." She said. I did as I was told, following her up a flight of stairs to the ICU. She opened the door to a room and there Mariana was, lying in the hospital bed.
"I'll leave you alone." The surgeon whispered, putting a hand on my shoulder before leaving.
I fucking lost it.
Tears were just falling as I approached the bed. Mariana was hooked up to all these tubes. Scratches covered her face and a bandage was wrapped around her head. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, even though she had tubes in and out of her.
I sat down in the chair beside the bed and gently took her hand. I caressed it slowly, watching her face. Her features were so soft and gentle. She looked like a child. My heart ached for her.
"Princess," I leaned down and kissed her hand. The heart monitor beeped a quiet rhythm.
I was waiting for her eyes to flutter open, or for her to tell me to stop calling her that. It never happened, though, and that only made me cry harder.
TWENTY-TWO
Mariana
It was weird hearing Alec's voice and not being able to respond.
What was even weirder was listening to him cry and not being able to comfort him in any way. It was heartbreaking.
I just laid there, quietly enjoying the feeling of my hand in his. It had been like this for at least three days. Might've been more, but who knows?
He would mumble words every now and then, sweet nothing's like "I love you" or "I wish we had met under different circumstances", and so on.
It was cute, really. How someone who could be so cruel, who lived such a bad life could be one of the nicest people you could
ever come across.
I never hated Alec. Not even from the beginning when he shot Joey till now. I never did. I understood that there was something deeper inside. Hey, I was fucked up too. Fucked up people understood each other. We're usually the best people, anyway.
