1 Aphrodite Club

"A hundred thousand! That's my price for her! If you give me that much, then you can take her with you!" Maisy Owen could hear her father's desperate yell while she was half awake. "Take it or leave it! She's already a college student! Two more years, and she'll be able to work and earn money for you! I would never have resorted to selling my own daughter, but I really have no other choice left!"

Sell?

Maisy's head was spinning. She tried her best to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was the deep frown and grief on her father's face. Next to her father stood a few tall and muscular men. All of them looked scary. It sent a shiver down Maisy's spine.

Why was her dad here? Didn't he run away because the debt collector was after him? He'd been gone for years...

Maisy was completely confused by the situation and with herself. All she could remember was that when she got home, she drank a cup of fruit juice and started to feel sleepy. She fell asleep after that. When she regained her consciousness, she was in this nightmare-like situation.

"Fine," one of the men replied with a laugh. "She's quite pretty, I must say. A hundred thousand it is." The man waved his arm and a couple of men behind him approached Maisy to lift her up.

Maisy tried to summon all of her strength to struggle but failed to do so. Her effort was futile as she didn't feel like herself. It was as if she was drugged and her energy had completely left her. She was completely devastated as she was being carried out of her house until she heard her grandfather's weak shout coming from inside of the house.

"Maisy? No! My poor child!" Maisy's grandfather cried and turned to yell at her father. "You bastard! What have you done? How dare you sell your own daughter? Either you kill me or you leave her alone!"

Maisy's grandfather charged at the man who was carrying her, trying to take her back by force.

Unfortunately, Maisy's grandfather was old and weak. It was impossible for him to go against a few well-built men. The man simply pushed the older man back, and the latter fell to the floor. With his cane swept to one side, Maisy's grandfather had a hard time trying to get back up. All he could do was look at Maisy while weakly and desperately extending his hand toward her.

Grandpa...

Tears began to fill Maisy's eyes. She wanted the men to stop hurting her grandfather. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make a single sound. Her consciousness was starting to fade. Although she tried her best to keep herself awake, the drowsiness took the better of her. When she regained her senses, it was already in the evening the next day.

Maisy woke up with intense pain in her head. After looking around, she realized she was in a weird room. The room was completely white, from the paint job to the curtains, bed, table, and even the carpet. She almost thought she was on a movie set. She then looked at herself and discovered that she was wearing a white lace nightgown.

'Where am I?'

That was the first question that came to Maisy's mind, but another question quickly came into her mind.

'Wait... Who changed my clothes?'

Her head began to ache again. Scenes of her grandfather being pushed down to the floor replayed in her head, as well as her father's troubled expression and the exchange he had with the group of men who seemed more like a nightmare. Everything seemed like a dream to her.

'Was that not a dream? Did dad really sell me?'

Maisy quickly jumped out of the bed and tried to open the door to check where she was, only to learn that the door was locked from the other side. She tried and tried but failed to open to door.

"Let me out!" Maisy screamed terrifyingly. "You can't lock me up like this! It's illegal! Let me out!"

Suddenly, an angry woman's grunt came from a corner of the room. "Shut up! Stop yelling! Do you even know where this is?"

Maisy was still completely shocked. She cowered in another corner and turned to look at where the voice was coming from. Tears slowly rolled down her charming face. "W-who's there?" Her body was trembling in fear. "What is this place?"

There wasn't another person in the room with Maisy, only a camera and a speaker. The person on the other side saw how scared the young lady was and smirked. "Well, you sure are a cute one. Looks like you are worth every penny I spent," the person mumbled in reply to Maisy's question. "Welcome, darling. Welcome to the Aphrodite Club. I'm the HR manager here. You can call me Mother, just like everyone else."