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Irritation feathered through me as I focused on Mark Rolson as he took center stage as it were.
“Good evening ladies,” Rolson said, making brief eye contact with me and smiling before he looked away to somewhere else in the room, “and gentlemen. I’m not going to bore you with the pleasantries. We have ten items in our catalog available this evening, all payments are due upon acceptance of the bid and must be completed before you leave the room. Without further adieu…”
He moved to the side as an assistant carried out a painting. Not the one I was looking for, though this one had been missing for several years. He detailed the provenance, and the man with the painting certified the authenticity. They also showed the pictures of the painting’s edges where they bore distinctive markings.
It went for a cool four million. In a hush of quiet, yet intense, bidding. The next item was a jade dragon, the carving was exquisite and it dated back several centuries. Milo set his water glass on the table and rested his free hand lightly against my lower back. Ezra leaned toward me, head tipped as though covering the fact he was speaking.
“That would look lovely if we tattooed it along your spine… You like dragons, don’t you, Kotyonok?”
“Don’t,” I told him as I took a drink of the water. Ezra chuckled but Milo went tense, then Ezra raised his hand and Rolson looked right at him.
“Seven hundred thousand is the bid, do I have seven five?” He flicked a look past us. “Seven five, do I have eight?”
Ezra lifted a fresh glass of champagne I hadn’t even seen him receive. The bidding went back and forth until they settled on one point five million for the dragon. “You’re welcome,” Ezra murmured as he trailed a finger down my arm and Pretty Boy wrapped his arm more firmly around my waist. When he settled his hand on my hip and pulled me under his arm, I let him.
While I didn’t need the protection, Ezra seemed determined to get under my skin tonight. Even more than usual. I didn’t know what game he was playing, but he was definitely up to something.
Still chuckling, Ezra used his phone to transfer the money while new items were presented and quickly sold. The bidding grew contentious more than once, though it was done with a kind of ferocious intensity that belied actual disagreement and yet—a real menace.
ThenCount Lepic and his Daughterscame out and Ezra gestured for another glass from a passing waiter. He took my glass of water and replaced it with the champagne. I shook my head and focused as Rolson listed off the provenance. The painting had been missing for years. The fact it had been resting in a private collection meant nothing to anyone here.
It shouldn’t mean anything to me either, except my grandfather wanted the painting. Items like this were too valuable to disappear entirely, unless they were actively destroyed. Even then, without concrete evidence, most art collectors would not accept it. They would always search for their unicorn.
“Bidding will begin at five million,” Mark Rolson said and I lifted my hand only to have Ezra take it. He locked his hand like a shackle around my wrist, then he pressed his lips to my palm. “I have five, do I hear six? Six, what about seven?”
“Let me go, Ezra,” I ordered him. Rather than obey, he scraped his teeth over the heel of my hand.
“Let her go,” Milo ordered and he shifted around to get between us.
“Ten million,” Mark Rolson said. “Do I have eleven?”
Milo clamped his hand down on Ezra’s shoulder. It was his bad one. He’d taken a bullet through that shoulder just a couple of months earlier. A grimace crossed Ezra’s face as Milo’s knuckles went white.
“Fifteen million…” Mark kept track of the bidding and then Ezra released my hand and I turned, catching Mark’s eye and raised my hand.
“Sixteen million, there’s seventeen,” he looked back at me and I nodded. “Eighteen. What about nineteen?” It kept going all the way up to twenty-eight million. One by one the other bidders fell off.
Someone behind me was also bidding but I didn’t dare take my attention off Rolson. He wasn’t slowing the bidding.
“Thirty million,” he said, looking at me.
“Thirty-five,” I countered, speaking for the first time directly rather than just motioning.
A faint smile touched his lips. “Thirty-five million, do I have forty?” He looked past me and the silence elongated. My heart hammered and even though I was aware of Milo and Ezra glaring at each other next to me, I kept my whole focus on Rolson. “I have forty,” Rolson said, then looked at me.
I nodded.
“Forty-five,” he said and this time the quiet went on for an interminable amount of time. Finally, he nodded. “Sold for forty-five million dollars.” His gaze tracked back to me and there was polite applause.
Relief threatened to take me out at the knees. Expensive, but worth it. The painting was removed as another item was placed up there but I ignored it. I had what I wanted. I opened my clutch and pulled out my phone. It would take a call to the banker to free the money. One of Rolson’s assistants was already heading toward me.
He handed me a slip of paper with the account numbers on it. Moving away from the table, I circled the boys and headed for a spot of privacy. The sense of them following me was right there but I said nothing. While most bankers kept rigid hours, ours took our call whenever we made it. It was crucial the wire not be held. He could authorize it immediately.
Five minutes later, I entered the account numbers for the auction into the banking app and placed the transfer. Confirmation came through within three minutes. The last item sold while I was handling the banking, I turned to find Ezra glaring at Milo as Milo kept him from coming anywhere near me.
“We’re finished,” I said as I tucked my phone back into my clutch. “We just need to pick up the painting and the paperwork.” I also wanted to make sure it was exactly what they’d put on display for us. Authentication was an important part of Rolson’s reputation. As a middleman, he couldn’t afford to try and con either the buyers or the sellers.
At the same time, it didn’t mean he was honest either. Look at what he was negotiating the sales for.
