Page 76 of Teach Me How To Fly

The noise of the many discussions that were taking place at this moment made me take a deep breath and slowly move towards the first rows of seats.

“Maksen!” Lukyan’s voice caught my attention as I walked past the chairs, so I turned on my heels and looked in his direction.

He looked better than he did in the last couple of months, maybe because he was trying to portray a man he was not. He wanted to make an appearance here amongst all the vipers that were waiting to bite at any corner, and I was here to do the same. Only that I wanted to bite him.

“We’re standing in the front row,” he said, offering me a gentle smile.

I knew there were so many dark things hiding behind his smile, so I was content with just nodding and sipping a little gulp of the champagne.

He took me to the first row and sat down on one of the chairs. Before taking a seat too, I looked attentively at all the names written on the chairs and to my own surprise, I saw that we were sitting by the McKnights.

I sat on the chair next to Lukyan and I let my gaze fall on the chair beside me, where Laura McKnights’ name was written.

Great.

The lights went out in the whole room and the melodramatic music that was playing when I arrived stopped.

Now, the voice of a man opened the night as some yellow lights fell on the scene in front of us. When I raised my gaze tothe scene, I heard footsteps and the moment I turned to my right side, I saw Laura walking toward me.

She was wearing a long blood-colored dress that hugged her curves in a majestic way, and she made sure to match the dress with the red lipstick she had on her lips.

“Good evening, Maksen,” she whispered as she sat right next to me.

I smirked in the corner of my mouth and sipped from the champagne, trying so hard not to look at her as much as I wanted to.

“Good evening,” I quickly replied.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised to see you here, but I am surprised to see you here alone.”

“I’m always alone,” I said, pinning her with my eyes.

“But your heart is not,” she mumbled and her lips curved into a smirk. “Where is she? When will I be meeting her? I would love to meet precious Annalise,” she then added, fixing a strand from her hair.

How did she know about me and Annalise?

“I’m marrying your girlfriend in four months. Guess what you already know is just a fake rumor,” I lied so briefly that she opened her mouth in shock.

She looked at me a few more moments before speaking further, but when she went to say a word, the man on the scene announced that the girls to be auctioned were coming to our attention soon.

“May your sins be forgiven, son,” Lukyan whispered close to my ear, and by what he told me, I understood very well that he wanted me to win the auction tonight.

Everyone kept silent in the hall as the beautiful yet terrified girls started walking on the scene. But my heart stopped beating the moment I noticed how young they actually were.

Some of them looked like they were children. The make-up they had on their faces hid the hours they spent crying, which made my body ache in pain.

They were children. All of them. And all of the men in this hall were drooling at the sight of them, including Lukyan who was probably already thinking of how much money these girls could make. I had to do something. Either kill these men or buy all the girls to save them.

Laura tensed up beside me and I turned my attention only to see her facial expression which showed me how irritated she was by everything she saw. However, she pressed her lips into a straight line, then raised her glance up to me.

“These are minors,” she mumbled, trying not to be too loud so her family would hear her.

But I could feel the burning eyes on me now that everyone had noticed I was talking to Laura, including the eyes of Ender, the biggest enemy of our families.

Therefore, I allowed myself to let my gaze fall somewhere beyond her and meet the dark irises of her father. He was pinning me with his eyes, and I felt how he projected his hatred on me, but as soon as the man started presenting each girl, he turned his head to the scene and broke the visual contact.

“Yes, they’re all minors. I’m pretty sure of it,” I whispered close to Laura’s ears and I saw how she trembled hearing my words. “And I’ll buy the youngest one because that’s what’s going to bring me the most money,” I added, feeling how every inch of my skin was being cradled by icy shivers.

I was disgusted with myself for talking like that. There was no one in this world who had to know what was truly happening inside of my heart. Only Annalise, and I was sure she had second thoughts about it too considering she knew I was an assassin.

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