CHAPTER 4: PUBLIC CLAIMING
Blackhaven after midnight was like a torn beast, half alive with neon lights, the other half with sewer screams.
Evelyn walked between those two extreme, not on her feet.
Viktor held the leash around her neck, Diego followed behind.
Not pulling hard, but not letting her lead either. A kind of "escort" that was neither like protection nor kidnapping.
Like someone leading a newly tamed leopard out of its cage, not afraid of it biting, but not forgetting that it once roared.
Tonight, she was not wearing the white silk dress.
Instead, a black lace dress as thin as frost, the buckle made of thin steel loops worn around the lace straps wrapped around her waist as an unspoken reminder
"You are not hiding anything anymore. You exist to be seen."
Taking the elevator down to the basement, the door opened not to the parking lot, but to a crimson velvet hall, the light from the wall lamps shining in.
The air smelled faintly of gunpowder mixed with perfume and old blood.
Vorak Consortium's closed casino.
There was not even a sign or a main door. Only the powerful knew the password.
The two bodyguards bowed to Viktor ands opened the door, their eyes not looking at Evelyn.
As if she were just a commodity in their hands.
---
Inside, dozens of men in suits, luxury watches, surrounded by roulette tables, casinos, glasses of dark red wine, and silhouettes of women relying on the hands of those stronger than them to survive.
The whispers began to spread like fire on oil:
"Is that the girl who almost caused the two sides to explode a missile?"
"They said she was just a commodity, but it turned out to be true."
"It… doesn't look like a bar girl."
"No. It looks like a reason to die."
Evelyn heard the whispers around her. She didn't argue, didn't defend herself.
The fate of the chess piece wasn't to explain why it had been pushed to the board.
A highclass poker table was in the middle of the casino.
The yellow light shone right on the table, red as a coffin cloth.
Viktor led her there, then stopped, grabbed the chain, gently pulled her to her knees, not pushing hard, just lowering her posture.
Diego pulled up chair next to him, turned his wrist, took off his watch and put it on the table, as if preparing for surgery rather than playing cards.
No one gave him verbal order.
They didn't need to.
Evelyn put her hands on her thighs, straightene her back, and looked down at the table as if she were playing the role of a witness to an evil religious ritual.
A card was placed face down on the table. The clatter was clearer than any gunshot she had ever heard.
A man across from her laughed bitterly:
"I didn't expect Vorak to play a showy game like Serrano."
"This isn't showy," Viktor replied, leisurely pouring wine. "This is a testament to peace."
Diego propped his arms on the chair, leaned over and looked Evelyn down:
"If you want to rebel, it's best to do it somewhere where there aren't fifty guns staring at you."
She laughed softly, not looking up: "What am I rebelling for? Do you two think you're keeping me on a dog leash?"
"No," Viktor said. "By the city."
The game began.
No one spoke of Evelyn anymore, but all eyes still slid over her, as if she were a lightbulb in the middle of this game.
She was not allowed to touch the cards. She was not allowed to do anything until the command to leave her position or speak.
The bondage here was not by rope.
It was by position.
Diego won the first hand, Viktor won the second. Both were silent, but each chip bet, each finger touch on the table seemed to be using her as an invisible boundary.
A Serrano man sipped his wine, and said loudly:
"If she is the reason we stopped the war, then I want to know… exactly what it is about her that makes it worth it."
The atmosphere in the room was tense.
Viktor put down his glass, slowly, his eyes colder than steel: "You have no right to ask that question."
Diego smiled, the smile of someone who would shoot someone for a single word.
"Curiosity is good," he said. "But there are things that should be off limits to outsiders."
Evelyn looked at no one, but heard her own voice in her head:
You are making me an excuse, not a person.
A moment later, when the conversation turned from gambling to the division of new shipping lines in the North Port, Viktor released the chains and turned her face toward him.
"Look up," he said.
She did.
The yellow light shone on Viktor's face, reflecting in his ashen eyes.
"From now on, you are not brought here to suffer," he said softly. "You are here to remind them… who we stopped the war between the two factions for."
Diego placed his hand on her shoulder from behind, his fingers slowly sliding over her collarbone as if marking territory, not caressing.
She took a small breath.
He whispered, "You haven't suffered much tonight. But tomorrow…"
His fingers paused on her skin, "…everyone will know who you belong to, and not just by words."
Evelyn closed her eyes for a second.
Not out of fear.
But because she understood: There are invisible chains. And those
are the hardest to break.
Tonight is just a stage.
Tomorrow, Evelyn's body will become Blackhaven's first diplomatic weapon.
But because she understood: There are invisible chains. And those are the hardest to break.
Tonight is just a stage.
Tomorrow, Evelyn's body will become Blackhaven's first diplomatic wea
pon.