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Still, each time I bid, Lorien or another would bid again, driving the price up again and again. I wanted to look up, to see Kenz, but I couldn’t. I had to focus on the tablet, my finger hovering above the bid button, pressing it so fast but still failing some of the time to land the next spot.
Please, let me win.This was the only thing that mattered, the only thing I needed this badly. I had to win. This was Kenz’s life on the line, and nothing had ever meant more to me.
Lorien’s number felt like a mocking voice, laughing in my face each time he got the top spot, but he wasn’t the only one. Countless other numbers, ones I didn’t recognize, took spots as well.
It felt like I was failing, like I was already losing Kenz. What did Lorien matter if I failed here? If Kenz was bought by fuck only knew who? Bradley wouldn’t make this easy on us if someone else won, knowing we wouldn’t just sit back and accept it.
The timer counted down on the top of my tablet. Ten seconds left. The price was up at thirty-eight million, having kicked out quite a few bidders so only about four of us kept going.
I took the top bid when we hit thirty-nine million, five seconds left, my finger waiting to press that button again.
Four. Three. Two.
The screen flashed, a new number, one I didn’t recognize—9260—taking the top spot with a bid of two-hundred million. I hit the button as fast as I could, not caring that the amount had jumped so high, sure that between the four of us we could make it work.
The screen went dark, fear eating away at me. Did I win? Had I hit the button in time? Did it accept my bid? Had Lorien managed instead?
I lifted my gaze to the top screen at the stage where it would list the winning bidder, where the auctioneer would announce it.
The auctioneer looked down at his own tablet, an unsettling smile across his lips before he walked to the cage that held Kenz. He set a hand on the bar, beaming out toward the audience with a level of charm that showed what a threat the man could be. “Wasn’t that exciting? This item sold has taken the top spot for the most expensive thing we have ever sold at this auction. The winner, who will be granted exclusive ownership of McKenzie Williams, with all the rights, risks and benefits that go along with that, is bidder 9260.”
The tablet slipped from my fingers, crashing to the ground as my knees gave out.
I’d failed.
And now some stranger owned Kenz.
* * * *
Hayden
I struggled to keep myself in check as I walked into a large back conference room at the auction.
We’d lost.
That kept repeating in my head, probably because I couldn’t come to terms with the reality of it. After how hard we’d worked, after all we’d risked, all we’d done, in the end, we’d lost.
Even if Lorien had won, we could have killed him, could have removed him, but now?
Some other person had bought Kenz, taking it all out of our hands.
Bradley must have recognized just how unhappy everyone would be, because as soon as the auction ended, a few burly security guards had come toescortme to a room. I saw the same thing happened to Tor, Char, Vance and Lorien—that asshole looking as though he’d dressed up like an old man.
The room was huge, with a heavy oak table in the center and fancy antique chairs surrounding it. It all looked so professional, so legit, but I knew the truth, the ugliness beneath it all.
It didn’t matter how Bradley dressed this place up—what happened to Kenz proved what it really was.Inhumane.
I took a seat between Vance and Char, with Tor on the other side of Vance. They all appeared unharmed, but all on edge. Then again, no doubt we were all on the same page—looking for an opening where we could do something,anything,to resolve this.
Lorien sat across the table from us, far enough that even if I leapt over the table, it would be a struggle to reach him before the man security guards stopped me. I had no gun—they were harder to sneak in than blades—but I’d bet Char had one.
Still, killing Lorien wouldn’t solve this problem, would it?
He wasn’t our only—or arguably our biggest—issue at the moment.
Though, judging from his expression, he was no happier about the outcome than we were.
I guess we can agree on that if nothing else.
