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That would have to wait.
“Romeo?” Gio’s voice had me stilling, my shoulders tensing knowing that he was directly behind me. It was the moment of truth, the stage where he would either find out exactly what I was doing here, or fall for the setup I’d created. If he didn’t fall for it, then I had no goddamn idea what I was going to do. I didn’t have backup here because that would have meant telling Lorenzo what I was doing. Plus, I needed to act like it was any other time that I came to the club. So, I came alone. A risk that I was willing to take for Bailey.
Fuck. I couldn’t think like that, not now, not ever. I was here to do a job, and once that job was done…
“Gio,” I greeted, turning around slowly. I kept a mask on my face, like I did any other time I was around people. The only time I ever let it slip was when I was alone. I refused to be vulnerable. People like Gio used vulnerability as a target, he treated it like a weakness, which is how the people being sold here tonight had ended up here. He was good at shit like that, but I was better. I could outsmart him any day of the week.
Gio tilted his head, his gaze laser focused on me. “What are you doing here?” The suspicion was clear in his voice.
Blinking, I acted like I had no idea what he meant. “For the auction.” I pushed my shoulders back and crossed my arms over my chest, my movements telling him that I wasn’t happy with being questioned. He should have known better than that, but then again, he thought he had one over on me. That would end tonight.
Gio’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t tell you about the auction.” He took a threatening step forward, the air swirling between us. He thought he’d caught me out, and maybe to anyone else, he would have. But there was no way I was going to come into the lion’s den without having a solid plan in place.
“The fuck?” I dropped my arms, taking a step toward him too, meeting his threat with my own. “You did. You messaged me this afternoon about it.” I paused, but only long enough to see the frown forming on his face. “Would have been nice to have been given more notice, I had other plans tonight that I had to cancel.”
He stared at me for several seconds, his eyes telling me that he didn’t believe me, but then there was a small flash of doubt, and as soon as that appeared, he yanked his cell out of his pocket, clicking on the screen.
“What the…” He turned his cell around, showing me the last message that he sent—only, he didn’t actually send it, Remy did. It paid having our very own computer expert on hand now, thanks to Dante. “I…” It was clear he was confused as hell, but seeing the message on his cell along with the doubt that had been shimmering in his eyes was all I needed.
“We good here, Gio?” I asked, my tone deeper and rougher than usual.
He snapped his head up, his confusion clear for me to see, but within seconds he covered it with a small grin and a nod. “Yeah, Romeo. We’re good.” He cleared his throat and stowed his cell away. “We start in five. Take a seat.”
I didn’t stick around to see if he said anything else, not just because I didn’t want him to have the opportunity to figure out that it wasn’t actually him who sent the message, but also because if I stood by him any longer, I’d have lost my shit and done something that would have put not only me at risk, but Bailey too. I had to keep my cool, for now at least.
Clenching my fists, I made toward the row of chairs. He’d set the place out like an actual auction house, and most seats were already taken. I found a seat in the back row at the end, not wanting to be crowded by the other men in here.
There was movement in the corner of my eye, but I didn’t look as I glanced to the men around me. They were varying ages, some wearing suits, others in jeans the same as I was. Young and old, fat and thin, there wasn’t any one size or shape fits all here. But what they all did have in common was liking to take things away from people.
Fuck.
I scraped my hand down my face, spreading my legs apart as I leaned forward a little. I wanted to be anywhere else other than here right now. I’d rather have jumped into a pool of razor blades than be sitting here, waiting for people to be sold like they were damn cattle.
My leg bounced up and down, something that only happened when I was majorly stressed. It was an involuntary reaction, one that didn’t stop as I glanced up and saw Gio standing there, selling a young man. The man looked like he was shitting himself, and all it did was make me all the more angry.
“Sold.”
My breaths came faster, ragged in my chest. I needed to calm the hell down. I needed to get it together so that I could do this for—
“Next up is one of my favorites,” Gio said, with a gleeful lilt in his tone. “Some of you have had the pleasure of touching her.” I stilled as I followed his line of sight, and then when he commanded, “Come, Bailey,” I froze on the spot.
I held my breath as she slowly moved toward him, each step slower than the one before. It didn’t go unnoticed how she was holding her hand to her ribs and how she had a small limp on her right side. She was hurt. She was fuckin’ hurt.
“Gio had locked her up and punished her the night you took me.”
The man I’d kidnapped and tortured hadn’t been lying. Even through the dim light in the room I could see darkness on her body that no doubt were bruises. I slowed my breathing, trying to get ahold of myself as I gripped the edge of the seat so hard that I was sure I heard a crack. The rage was boiling over, needing to be let out, butfuckI couldn’t let it. Ihadto keep it inside and I goddamn hated it.
“This one is special,” Gio continued, then wrapped his arm around Bailey’s shoulders.
I lifted an inch off my seat, my body wanting to react to him touching her. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one fuckin’ bit. I watched as he whispered something to her, but more importantly, I witnessed her reaction to it. Her entire body tensed more than it already was. Whatever he’d said scared the shit out of her because her eyes were wide when he pulled back.
“Let’s start the bidding at…ten thousand.”
A man directly in front of me held his hand in the air, not waiting a single second.
“Fifteen?” Gio asked.
Someone in the front row raised their hand.
