Page 8 of Sins and Secrets

“Are you seeing anyone these days?” I pile more steaks into the cart. “You haven’t said anything about anyone since you dumped that last piece of shit.”

“I've been seeing someone, I think. I don’t know. It’s complicated with him. I think we’re both just looking for a little fun and that’s all that it’s going to be for now. I don’t have time in my life for another person.”

I eye her for a moment, wondering if this man has the potential to be more than a little bit of fun. For her sake, I hope not. I love Emilia like she is my own sister, but she has the worst taste in men. Far too often, she dates a man because he charms her for the first week or two.

When he starts acting like an ass, she stays and insists that they are in love.

I’ve tried everything I can to help her, but none of it works. At this point, I’ve settled for being there when she needs me but largely keeping my opinion to myself. She doesn’t listen to it anyway.

All I can do is be her friend and hope that it’s enough.

“I got you something,” Emilia says, changing the subject as we head off in search of the ingredients for lasagna.

She reaches into her purse and pulls out a little black envelope. I take it from her and open it up, seeing a date and address embossed in gold on the black paper.

“What is this?” I ask her, holding out the envelope.

She whispers, “It’s the invitation to the auction.” Emilia smiles as my heart pounds in my chest.

Oh, my god.

I put the invitation in the back pocket of my ripped jeans.

“You’ll have to pretend to be me, but they should let you in. Everything is anonymous so all they have is a name. One of the girls I work with was invited, but she had to pass it up. She was in their other one, so she recommended me as her replacement, and they took me up on it.”

“You’re kidding,” I say, staring at her in disbelief, joy and dread filling me in equal parts. “There is no way that you got an invitation that fast. Holy shit. This is amazing, Emi. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it.” She grabs a couple of massive packs of ground beef and tosses them in the cart. “And I really do mean, don’t mention it. The auction is supposed to be a secret. If you want this to work, you can’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“I won’t.” I smile and grab a couple of packs of bacon. “Holy shit, I might be getting out of here soon. Two hundred thousand dollars is more than enough money to disappear.”

“It is.” Emilia takes the list from me and crosses a couple of items off. “What are you going to do once you leave?”

I shrug. “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“You probably should.”

“Once I get home, I’ll start trying to figure everything out.”

Nothing about the escape is going to be left up to chance.

If I go through with this, I will have to be at the beck and call of whoever buys me, for several weeks. But after that, I’ll be two hundred kay richer and free to leave.

Oh, shit. I’m going to have to let some stranger touch me.

My skin crawls. Never in my life did I think that I would get to this point.

Maybe there is a way to be more of a maid. I don’t want to sleep with a strange man — especially not for money. I’m going to do everything I can to avoid it, but I don’t know what kind of man is going to buy me.

I need to prepare myself for the worst-case scenario.

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Emilia asks, concern in her eyes as she looks at me. “If you don’t, we can find another way.”

I smile and shake my head. “I have to do This. I appreciate it, though. Auctioning myself to a man may not be something I look forward to, but it’s the fastest way to get the money I need to start our lives over.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am,” I say, though I’ve never been less sure of anything in my life.

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