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Once he has it, he smiles.
“Well, this will conclude day one of your stay. I hope you all had a delightful time,” he says, winking at Thirteen and Peter Struthers who are dancing closely in the corner to the soft music. “Now is the time for final bidding for the day. Only the non-virgins will be up for auction right now, so please keep that in mind.”
Two guards wheel in the bidding board from the lounge, and as I suspect, the price on Eve has risen to over three thousand dollars. There are bids on a few other women, including Thirteen who has made her rounds flirting with every man in the room, but otherwise, not many people have taken a large enough interest in the other women to spend their money.
“Anything you spend tonight will be donated to our charity, Glory Tree, to help support impoverished individuals.” Edgar throws out a wink as he says this.
I highly doubt that there is such a charity. It is simply the cover for their money-laundering operation. The money is going straight in the Cartel’s pockets.
One by one, Edgar brings up the women, having them stand in front of the crowd while bids are thrown out.
A few of the women are given to the first bidder for an embarrassingly low price, but as he gets towards the last few women, competition increases. Thirteen ends up being sold to Peter Struthers for the night for two thousand dollars with some heavy pushback from the man in the fox mask, who already purchased another young women earlier in the lineup.
Then, Eve is called up.
Just like when she entered before, she keeps her head high and her face emotionless. She doesn’t flirt or look scared. She simply looks strong, and as terrified as I am, I’m proud of her.
I raise my hand to increase the bid before Edgar can even make the call.
“Ooh,” he says, whistling low. “This is going to be interesting.”
The man in the fox mask increases every bid I make by one hundred dollars with no sign of slowing down.
Eve keeps glancing over at me, looking nervous, but I try to push all distractions from my mind. I have to stay focused. If I don’t win, Eve will go to another man.
The thought alone burns me up inside and makes my hands shake.
I raise my hand again to increase the bid, and when Edgar calls out a higher price, the man in the blood-red mask I spoke to earlier in the evening steps forward and nods for his name to be added to the bidding.
I haven’t seen him much all evening as he kept a rather low profile, but I can see the way he looks over at Eve. His eager interest seeps out, even from behind the mask.
“It looks like I better save my money for another evening,” Fox-Face says with a laugh. “You two gents have it out.”
Edgar is excited at the prospect of bringing in so much money, and though he isn’t talking quite as quickly as an actual auctioneer, he is getting close.
Ever couple seconds I’m raising my hand, raising the bid higher and higher and trying not to reach over and strangle the thin man bidding for my wife. Finally, when the price hits four thousand, I’ve had enough.
“Five thousand dollars,” I bark, turning to face my competition. “Will you match that?”
Edgar clears his throat. “That is my job,” he teases. Then, he turns to the man in the dark red mask. “Will you?”
The man looks at me, drags his eyes down Eve’s body, and then bows out with a courteous dip of his head.
Edgar grins as he directs Eve over to me. “That concludes the bidding for the night. If you won an auction, be sure to pay in the lobby before you head to your rooms. If you didn’t, do not worry. There are three more nights ahead of us.”
The thought makes me feel weary, but the dread is pushed aside when Eve walks over to me, a small, grateful smile pulling on her full lips. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the room.
For tonight, at least, she is mine.
* * *
As soon as I close the door to my room, I lock the door and rip my mask off.
“That was close,” Eve sighs, sagging back against the wall. “So now what? What are we going to do about—”
I shush her quietly with a finger held to my lips as I study the room. I checked it earlier when I arrived, but I’ve been out of the room for many hours now, and I want to ensure no one came in and planted any cameras or listening devices.
I check under lampshades, under the bed, and along all of the window ledges and molding. Finally, after several minutes, I’m content that we are actually alone.
