Service

The Jakarta sun blazed at its most merciless as Sienna Anindita stepped through the gates of her friend's house. A lingering smile still played on her lips — she'd just visited a newborn, tiny and impossibly perfect, and a flicker of warmth had settled into her chest. A simple wish: to have a small happiness like that someday, far from the cold walls of the Holland household.

A black luxury sedan pulled up directly in front of her. The window slid down, revealing a face she knew well — a man in an impeccable suit.

"Uncle Mahesa?" Sienna blinked in surprise.

Mahesa, thirty-seven, owner of a prestigious hotel chain, gave her that warm smile of his. His mature face and calm demeanor had always made Sienna feel safe. He was the only adult who'd ever treated her like a human being while her stepfather Holland and her grandmother treated her like damaged furniture.

"Sienna! What a coincidence — I just came from a meeting nearby," Mahesa said gently. "Hop in, I'll drive you home. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be waiting for a cab out here in this heat."

Sienna hesitated, but her trust in Mahesa outweighed her caution. "You sure it's not too much trouble?"

"Not at all. Come on."

She climbed into the cool interior. The scent of expensive cologne filled the car, but beneath it was something else — sweet yet sharp, faintly unfamiliar.

"How's school? Your stepfather isn't still trying to marry you off to that old business partner of his, is he?" Mahesa asked, easing the car into traffic.

Sienna let out a heavy sigh. "Same as ever. Grandma's been piling on the pressure too. Sometimes I just want to run."

Mahesa chuckled softly. His wrist, sheathed in an expensive watch, reached over to pat her shoulder. "Hang in there. You know I'm always on your side. Anything happens, you know who to call."

"Thank you, Uncle. You're really the best."

Sienna leaned her head against the seat. For some reason, an overwhelming drowsiness crashed over her out of nowhere. Her eyelids turned to lead, and that sweet scent in the car now felt suffocating.

"Uncle... the smell is kind of strange..." she murmured weakly.

"It's just a new air freshener, Sienna. Take a little nap — I'll wake you when we get there." Mahesa's voice sounded far away, impossibly far, before darkness swallowed her whole.

Her skull felt like it had been split open with a hammer when she started to come to. Her vision swam. A white ceiling with a glittering crystal chandelier was the first thing she saw. She wasn't in the car. She was in an enormous hotel room.

Sienna tried to sit up, but her body felt boneless, like jelly. Her bag lay discarded on the floor, and the balcony doors were sealed shut.

Click.

The bathroom door opening sent her heart plummeting. She heard footsteps, then a baritone voice she recognized all too well, speaking on the phone. Sienna froze. She squeezed her eyes shut and played dead.

"Relax, Holland. Your merchandise is safe with me at the Grand Deluxe," the voice said. It was Mahesa. But the warmth was gone from his tone. What remained was something greedy. Something cold.

"..."

"Of course — wire the rest tomorrow morning after we make it official. But remember our deal: before she's legally 'mine' tomorrow, I want to take her for a test drive tonight. Consider it a bonus for covering all your gambling debts."

"..."

Mahesa laughed. The sound made Sienna's skin crawl. "Sienna's a beauty, Lan. Way too good to just let sit there. She thinks I'm some noble uncle looking out for her. Poor little thing has no idea she's the payment."

Sienna's world collapsed in that instant. Tears nearly spilled, but she fought them back with everything she had. Nausea surged through her chest. The man she'd considered her protector, the man she'd respectfully called Uncle all these years, was nothing but a predator who'd just bought her from her own stepfather.

Mahesa hung up. His footsteps drew closer to the bed where Sienna lay.

"Wake up, sweetheart... Uncle knows you're already awake," he whispered right beside her ear.

Sienna's eyes flew open. The fear was gone. In its place: pure, blazing fury. She shot upright, jerking away from his hand before it could touch her cheek.

Mahesa flinched, then that disgusting smirk spread across his face. "Ah, already up? Faster than I expected. The drug doesn't last long on that little body of yours, does it?"

"You piece of shit, Mahesa!" Sienna's voice came out low and razor-edged. "You and Holland actually did this to me? You think I'm something you can buy and sell?"

Mahesa laughed openly, loosening his tie as though he'd already won. "Sienna, Sienna... the world runs on transactions. Your stepfather needed cash to plug his gambling holes, and I needed a pretty new plaything. You should be grateful — better me than one of Holland's geriatric business cronies, right? I'm rich, I'm still in my prime, and I can set you up for life."

"Set me up for life?" The nineteen-year-old spat on the floor. "You're just a pathetic old man so lonely he has to buy girls because no sane woman would touch a monster like you!"

Mahesa's face turned scarlet. She'd hit the nerve. "Watch your mouth, you little slut! I paid top dollar for you. Tonight, you're going to learn how to service your master!"

He lunged forward, grabbing for her shoulders to slam her back onto the bed. He expected a weak girl who'd dissolve into sobs.

He was dead wrong.

The instant Mahesa's hand shot out, Sienna caught his wrist with lightning speed. With textbook aikido technique, she wrenched his arm until something in the joint cracked.

"AGHH! What the hell are you doing?!" Mahesa howled, his body folding involuntarily with the twist.

"You think I stayed quiet all these years because I was weak?" Sienna whispered directly into his ear, her voice arctic. "I trained in martial arts for years for exactly this. For the day some piece of garbage like you tried to put his hands on me."

"You—"

Mahesa swung wild with his free hand, a sloppy haymaker aimed at her face. Sienna slipped it cleanly, then drove two rapid punches into his solar plexus. He choked on his own air.

"That's for every ounce of trust you betrayed!"

Sienna grabbed the collar of his shirt and drove her knee upward with full force, directly into Mahesa's most prized possession.

CRACK!

"ARRRRGHHHH!"

Mahesa shrieked at a pitch no grown man should be capable of producing. He crumpled to his knees, face turning blue, both hands clutching between his legs as violent tremors racked his body. He couldn't even scream anymore — just pathetic, strangled whimpers.

Sienna stood tall, straightening her slightly disheveled clothes. She grabbed her bag and stared down at Mahesa, writhing on the hotel carpet, with undisguised contempt.

"One thing you should know, Mahesa. This deal is off. And you can tell Holland that starting this second, he no longer has a stepdaughter."

She strode to the door. Before stepping out, she glanced back one last time. "Oh, and don't even think about coming after me — not if you want those reproductive organs of yours to keep working. Because next time, I won't just kick them. I'll destroy them."

Sienna walked out of that hotel room with her head high and her pulse roaring. She knew Holland and Mahesa wouldn't let this go. She had to disappear. She had to find a way to make sure no man could ever claim her as property again.

And that was when a wild idea struck her, right as she passed a billboard for an international fertility clinic on the way home.

IVF.

If she got pregnant, no man would want to buy her as a mistress or a political pawn for his family. She'd have her own world.

Another car pulled up beside her — but this one wasn't Mahesa. It was someone whose face made Sienna's eyes flood with tears she'd been holding back, because it had been so long.

"Sienna, what bar fight did you just walk out of? Your hair looks like you got struck by lightning." He stared, bewildered, at the girl who was usually the picture of poise.

"Harris, I need you to send me to Mexico."

"Mexico? Out of nowhere? Are you drunk?"

"I'm not drunk. I want to get pregnant. Right now."

"P-PREGNANT?! You're not even married and you want to get pregnant?"

"What the hell has gotten into you?"

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