Sold to a mafia billionaire

My name is Ava Cole. I am 21 years old. I am not a student. I never had the chance to go to college. I work as a waitress and cleaner at a small downtown diner, twelve hours a day, for $12 an hour. My shoes have holes in them. My uniform is old and faded. But I wash it every night because it is the only one I have. I live with my stepmother. My real mother died when I was eight. Since then, my life has been about surviving. Today was supposed to be a normal shift. It was 3 p.m. The diner was busy. I was carrying dirty plates to the kitchen when the bell on the door rang.

Three girls walked in. Jessica, Chloe, and Maya. They are rich girls from the rich side of the city. They have hated me since high school because I was the poor girl who got good grades. Now they come to the diner just to humiliate me. "Oh my God, look! The little orphan is still here cleaning tables!" Jessica shouted loud so everyone could hear. She took out her iPhone and started recording me. "Please, not today," I whispered. "Please just let me work." "Work?" Chloe laughed. "You call this work? My maid lives better than you." Customers were looking. My boss was looking. No one said anything. No one ever defends me. Jessica walked to the back and grabbed the big metal bucket we use to mop the floor. The water inside was black, dirty, with food scraps and soap inside. It stank. My heart started beating very fast. "Jessica, no, please don't..." "Say hi to your TikTok fans, poor girl!" she screamed, and before I could move, she poured the whole bucket over my head. Cold. Filthy. Dirty water covered me. It went into my hair, my eyes, my mouth. Pieces of old food stuck to my face and dress. My white uniform turned brown and black. Water dripped from my nose, my ears. The diner exploded with laughter. Jessica and her friends were laughing so hard they were crying. They were filming everything. I stood there, shaking, dripping, humiliated. My broken shoe was full of dirty water. My hands were shaking. I wanted to disappear. I tried not to cry. If I cried, the video would get a million views. That is when I heard it. SCREEECH! A car braking so hard outside that everyone jumped. A black Bentley. Shining, expensive, worth more than this whole block. It stopped right in front of the diner window. The driver door opened. And he stepped out. Tall. Over six feet. Broad shoulders. Perfect black suit that looked like it was made for him. Expensive watch. But his eyes... his eyes were cold. Ice cold. Dangerous. On his neck, just above his collar, I saw a tattoo of a black dagger. He didn't look like a normal rich man. He looked like a man who could kill someone and never blink. The whole diner went completely silent. He walked in. He pushed the door and it banged against the wall. His eyes scanned the room once, and stopped on me. On me, dripping, dirty, humiliated, standing in a puddle of mop water. Then he looked at Jessica, who was still holding the empty bucket. His voice was low, calm, but every person heard it. "Who did it?" Jessica's smile faded. "We were just... just playing, sir..." He walked closer. "I asked you a question. Who poured dirty water on her?" Chloe pointed, shaking. "She... she did." Jessica dropped the bucket. It clanged loudly. The man didn't even look at her again. He walked straight to me. I stepped back, scared. "Don't... please..." He didn't care that I was dirty. He took off his jacket. Heavy, warm, smelled like expensive cologne and power. And he wrapped it around my shoulders, covering my wet, transparent uniform. His hand brushed my cheek, wiping dirty water away. "Stop shaking," he whispered only for me. "No one will ever do this to you again." Then he turned to the room, voice like steel. "From today, this girl is under my protection. My name is Alaric Knight. If anyone in this city touches her, bullies her, insults her, or even looks at her the wrong way - I will find you. I will ruin your family. I will burn everything you love. Do you understand me?" Jessica started crying. "We didn't know she knows you, Mr. Knight!" Alaric Knight. My heart stopped. Everyone knows that name. Alaric Knight, 32, billionaire CEO of Knight Enterprises. The youngest billionaire in the city. Rumors say at night he is something else. A mafia boss. The most feared man in the city. And he was standing here, in a dirty diner, with his jacket around me. He looked down at me. "What is your name?" "Ava," I whispered. "Ava Cole." "Ava," he repeated, tasting my name. "Come with me." "I... I can't. I have to work. I don't even know you..." He leaned closer, his lips near my ear. "You have two choices, little one. You stay here, and tomorrow they will come back with worse. Or you come with me, and I promise you - no one will ever make you cry again." He held out his hand. And just as I was about to take it, his phone rang and his driver shouted from the door: "Boss, we have to go NOW - her stepmother just sold her to Harrison for fifty thousand dollars!" --