Magnolia Voss stood seven feet tall in the auction yard, but she had never felt smaller. Every whisper cut as sharply as the rope burns on her wrists. To the crowd, she was a spectacle, something to laugh at, something less than human. They mocked her size, her strength, her very existence. What they didn’t know was that the world they thought they understood was about to shift.
The auctioneer, Clyde Hargrove, circled her like a predator. “Look at this specimen,” he barked. “Seven feet of pure labor. Built stronger than any woman you’ve ever seen.”
The crowd jeered. No one placed a bid. Their rejection stung worse than their cruelty, until heavy, deliberate footsteps silenced the yard. Sterling Maddox had arrived. The wealthiest man in Texas, he carried a reputation that was equal parts power and fear.
“How much?” he asked.
The auctioneer stammered. “Fifty dollars—”
“One hundred.”
Gasps rippled through the crowd. He didn’t need to pay that much, but the gesture was deliberate. When his eyes met Magnolia’s, she braced for disgust—but instead she saw something far more complicated: recognition, and guilt.
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