Secretly Mine

*Warning* Dark themes, disturbing scenes.

Immediately, bids began rolling in. It only took a matter of seconds before the bid price jumped to ten million.

I watched the poor creature that continued to claw at the cage with sadness. It should be in the wild, living a free life.

What do people even do with tigers? I can't imagine they make great pets...

A few minutes later, the MC dramatically raised his arms and declared the winner. "And SOLD to bidder 34! Congratulations!"

Everyone clapped for the winner and eagerly awaited the next item to be brought on stage. It took five staff members to roll the cage with the tiger off the stage carefully.

"Thank you for waiting! I am excited to present to you, the first of many...Romeo!"

A young man was dragged on stage. He was gagged, and his hands and feet were chained together.

Disgust and anger flared up inside of me. Although I knew the nature of this auction, seeing it with my own eyes was much worse than I could have imagined.

The young man stood slouched over, swaying slightly from side to side. I couldn't tell if he was recently sedated or drugged, but he didn't appear to be clear of mind.

His eyes were completely empty. There was no anger, no fear, and no sadness. It was as if he didn't realize where he was or what was happening to him.

"This is Romeo, a 19-year-old male! He's very healthy and has an exquisite physique, as you can see."

He went off, showing off every part of the man's body as if the young man were a shiny new toy.

"Oh, how lovely! He's quite the looker!" an older woman beside me exclaimed. Even with the mask on, I could still see her shining eyes as she hungrily looked at the man on stage.

After explaining all of the man's features, the MC lifted his arm. "I'm sure there are many of you who are interested in such a fine man! Bidding starts at twenty million! BEGIN!"

Bids immediately came flying in. There were so many interested people that the MC could hardly keep up.

The entire time, my hands were balled into fists.

How could so many people be okay with this? Do they not feel that this is wrong? What if it were one of their loved ones on stage?

What if it were them?

After a while, I couldn't continue looking at the poor man and shifted my gaze over to the floor in front of me. The only reason I continued to stand there was to obtain enough footage to permanently place as many of these people as possible behind bars.

A sudden gasp from the crowd pulled me out of my inner thoughts. I lifted my head just in time to see the MC announce the winner.

"Ninety million!!" The MC's mouth curved up into a huge smile. "Going once, going twice... SOLD! Bidder 105, congratulations!"

The older woman beside me squealed with joy. "Yay! I won! I won!"

From the corner of my eye, I did my best to see if I could identify the woman. There weren't that many people in the city who could easily drop ninety million at an auction, so whoever she was, she must have had ties with a business or government position.

Unfortunately, her mask and dress were much more conservative than most of the other ladies' dresses. It covered many more parts of her body, so I couldn't pick out anything special about her that would give me a clue as to who she was.

Her eyes were glued to the young man on stage. I didn't even want to begin to think of what she planned to do with him.

I glanced at the pitiful man on stage one last time as they pulled him off, making a promise to free him from this hell.

The next person who was brought on stage was a woman with long black hair. She was presented in a bikini to show off her physique.

As soon as she was turned to face the audience, multiple catcalls and whistles sounded from the crowd.

"This is Jasmine! She's twenty-four and is a total looker! Just look at her lush black hair!" The MC once again presented her as if she were an object, focusing on her physical features.

"Same as last time, bidding starts at twenty million! Please begin!"

This time, the MC really had an issue keeping up with the flood of bids and had to rely on the electronic prompter that accepted the bids directly.

It was my first time seeing a number jump from twenty million to one hundred million in such a short timeframe.

The men around me didn't even try to hide their lust for the busty woman on stage, whispering openly about all of the things they would do to her.

Some of it was so bad that I felt nauseous just from hearing it.

How are there so many perverted people in this world?

Most of the things they mentioned weren't anything a normal person would ever think of. Use of animals and certain items that I've never heard of...

My stomach turned.

Once again, I averted my gaze. This time, along with anger, a very deep-rooted sadness welled up inside of me.

Was this how my mother was treated at one point? Brought up to the stage, drugged, and presented like cattle?

Before I knew it, tears welled up in my eyes. I did my best to hold my emotions together, but after imagining my mother up on that stage, no amount of self-control was able to keep me together.

I managed to stay for a few more auctions simply to get enough footage so that there was no way anyone would be able to weasel their way out of being found guilty. After the trial period with Karl, I knew that unless plenty of irrefutable evidence was found, they would certainly find some sort of loophole.

The next few auctions were mostly female, and to make matters worse, one of them was just a child.

It was at that point that I could no longer find the strength to stand and watch.

I need to find where they're being held!