AVA’S POV
I couldn't stay locked in that room another minute. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, and all I could think about was Elise in danger while I hid away from the truth. I needed to get out, needed to think, needed someone I could trust.
Sophie.
I grabbed my jacket and the bag of money from the auction house, then climbed out my bedroom window onto the fire escape. I couldn't face Gabriel right now, couldn't deal with his lies and half-truths when my sister's life was at stake.
The walk to campus gave me time to think about what I was going to tell Sophie. How do you explain to your best friend that you almost sold yourself at an auction? How do you admit that you've been living a lie for weeks?
Sophie was in her dorm room, textbooks spread across her bed, when I knocked on her door. When she opened it and saw me, her face went through a dozen emotions at once.
"Ava?" She looked me up and down, taking in my disheveled appearance. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Can I come in?"
"Can you—" She stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "Are you serious right now? You disappear for days, ignore my calls, act like you don't want to be friends anymore, and now you just show up looking like you've been through a blender?"
"Sophie, please. I know you're angry—"
"Angry?" She stepped back, but left the door open. "I'm way past angry, Ava. I'm hurt. I'm confused. I'm worried sick about you."
I walked into the familiar space, and it felt like coming home after being in a foreign country. Everything was exactly the same – Sophie's messy desk, her collection of coffee mugs, the photos of us together pinned to her bulletin board.
"I'm sorry," I said, sitting down on her roommate's empty bed. "I'm so, so sorry."
"Sorry for what? For lying to me? For shutting me out? For acting like I don't exist?" Sophie crossed her arms, but I could see the hurt behind her anger.
"For all of it." I took a deep breath. "But mostly for not trusting you enough to tell you the truth."
"What truth?"
I looked at my best friend, the girl who'd been there for me through everything, and made a decision that should have been easy from the beginning.
"The truth about everything." I pulled the bag of money onto my lap. "About where I've been living, about the job that's not really a job, about why I suddenly had twenty-five thousand dollars to help my sister."
Sophie's eyes widened when she saw the bag. "Ava, what is that?"
"More money than I've ever seen in my life." I unzipped the bag slightly, just enough for her to see the stacks of bills inside. "My payment for doing something I never thought I'd do."
"Payment for what?"
I took a shaky breath. "Sophie, I need you to promise me you won't judge me. And you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."
"Ava, you're scaring me."
"Promise me."
Sophie sat down on her bed, her expression serious. "I promise. Whatever it is, I promise."
I met her eyes. "The winning bid was one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars."
Sophie's jaw dropped. "One hundred and twenty-five thousand? For one night?"
"For my virginity. For my first time." I felt tears starting to form. "I was the final lot. The most expensive one they'd ever had."
"Oh my God, Ava." Sophie moved to sit beside me. "What happened? Did you... did you go through with it?"
"That's the complicated part." I wiped my eyes. "The man who won the auction... it was someone I knew."
"Someone you knew? Who?"
I looked at Sophie, knowing this revelation would change everything. "It was Professor Thorne."
"Professor..." Sophie's eyes went wide. "Professor Gabriel Thorne? Our literature professor?"
"Yes."
"The one you've had a crush on all semester?"
"I didn't have a crush—"
"Ava, you literally doodled his name in your notebook during sociology class."
"That's not the point." I felt my cheeks burning. "The point is, he bid on me. He paid one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for a night with me."
Sophie stared at me in complete shock. "Professor Thorne paid one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for you?"
"Yes."
"Did you sleep with him?"
I was quiet for a long moment. "It's complicated."
"How is it complicated? Either you did or you didn't."
"We didn't sleep together that night. But he did pay for me. And now I'm living in his apartment."
"You're living with Professor Thorne?" Sophie's voice hit a pitch that could shatter glass. "Ava, what the hell?"
"He said it was for protection. That the men who bid on me wouldn't just forget about losing."
"And you believed him?"
"I didn't have a choice. He had the money. He made me sign a contract."
"What kind of contract?"
"An employment contract. I'm supposed to be his research assistant, but really it's more like... I belong to him now."
Sophie stood up and started pacing. "This is insane. Completely insane. Your professor bought you at a sex auction and now you're living with him?"
"When you put it like that, it sounds—"
"It sounds exactly like what it is!" Sophie turned to face me. "Ava, this man has basically bought you. He's your professor, he's probably fifteen years older than you, and he paid six figures to own you."
"He doesn't own me."
"Doesn't he? You're living in his apartment, working for him, under some contract that you signed because you didn't have a choice."
I felt tears starting to fall. "Sophie, it's not like that."
"Then what is it like?"
"I think... I think I'm falling in love with him."
Sophie stopped pacing and stared at me. "You're falling in love with the man who bought you at an auction."
"I know how it sounds."
"Do you? Because it sounds like Stockholm syndrome."
"It's not Stockholm syndrome. Gabriel is... he's complicated, but he's not a bad man."
"Gabriel? You're calling him Gabriel now?"
"That's his name."
"He's your professor, Ava. You should be calling him Professor Thorne."
"The situation is complicated."
"The situation is that your professor took advantage of a desperate student and now you think you're in love with him."
I stood up, clutching the bag of money. "You don't understand."
"Then explain it to me. Make me understand how any of this is okay."
"He saved my sister's life. If he hadn't bid on me, someone else would have won. Someone who might have actually hurt me."
"So he's your hero because he bought you instead of letting someone else buy you?"
"He's my hero because he protected me when no one else would."
Sophie sat back down on her bed, looking exhausted. "Ava, I'm scared for you."
"Why?"
"None of this is fair, Ava. That's the point." Sophie looked at me with sad eyes. "You're my best friend. I love you. And I'm watching you disappear into a situation that scares the hell out of me."
"I'm not disappearing."
"Aren't you? When's the last time we hung out? When's the last time you called me just to talk? When's the last time you made a decision that wasn't influenced by what Professor Thorne wanted?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out.
"I'm meeting the men who are threatening Elise tonight," I said finally. "I'm going to give them this money and end this whole nightmare."
"You're going alone?"
"I have to."
"Like hell you do." Sophie stood up and grabbed her jacket. "If you're going to do something this stupid, I'm coming with you."
"Sophie, no. It's too dangerous."
"Everything about your life is dangerous right now, Ava. At least let me help you with this part."
I looked at my best friend, the girl who'd been there for me through everything, and felt a wave of gratitude wash over me.
"Okay," I said. "But you stay in the car."
"Fine. But Ava?"
"Yeah?"
"After tonight, we're going to have a long talk about Professor Thorne and what he's really doing to you."
I nodded, though I wasn't sure I was ready for that conversation.
"Let's go save your sister first," Sophie said. "Then we'll figure out how to save you."