Auctioned While Pregnant: 99 Nights Of My Husband’s Betrayal Chapter 02
Every head in the room turned towards me.
The silence that followed was different from before. Tighter.
“Is she insane? Does she not understand what she is right now?”
Someone else muttered something about IQ dropping to zero. Nobody bothered to laugh at it this time. They were too busy staring.
The auctioneer offered me a small, apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Vance. Tonight, you are the item.”
He spaced the last two words out. One syllable at a time.
The spotlight above me got brighter. Hotter.
I squeezed my eyes shut, then made myself open them.
“Ninety-nine men in this room, and you’re all afraid of one pregnant woman?”
I turned my head. Swept my gaze across every seat in the hall.
“Don’t tell me your wallets are thinner than mine.”
Discontent rippled through the crowd. Fast.
“Who the hell does she think she is?”
“Fine. Let’s go. I’ll show you I’m impressive in more ways than one, sweetheart.”
Yet the auctioneer shook his head at me. “I’m sorry, Ms. Vance. You are not eligible to bid.”
My brow tightened. “Why?”
The panoramic screen cut to a new image. My bank account.
Two characters filled the center of the display, tall enough to read from the back row.
FROZEN.
My breath caught.
“Ms. Vance, your accounts have been flagged for irregular transactions. All assets under your name are frozen.”
I froze. Hands on the table. Didn’t move.
Then I turned toward Julian.
He was already watching. Relaxed. Smiling like he knew.
He did know.
He’d set it all up. Before tonight. Before I walked in.
“Man, if Julian hadn’t messed up the Vance Group deal, she might’ve actually pulled it off.”
“Ha! You guys were pretty convincing back there, pretending to be scared.”
I sat down. My hands were in my lap. I couldn’t tell if they were shaking.
“Let’s continue. Three million, opening bid.” The auctioneer said.
“Wait.”
Julian’s voice cut through the hall.
I looked up.
The men around me went still. Whispers crawled between the rows.
“Is Julian having second thoughts?”
“I mean, they are married. Maybe he still…”
The side door opened. Men in suits filed in, single-file.
Their shoes clicked against the floor, one pair after another, until the sound stopped in front of me.
A stack of documents landed on my table. A pen placed on top, centered.
Julian looked at me.
“I can buy you an insurance policy. Head to toe. Pick the coverage yourself.”
The pages fanned out in front of me.
Arms. Fingers. Thighs. Toes. Every body part, its own line. Its own price.
Minimum coverage: one million. Maximum: thirty million.
“These bastards aren’t gentle. Since we’re still married, I insured you. “
“Just so you aren’t left with nothing when you’re… fucked dry.”
A laugh scraped out of me. Nothing like a laugh at all.
“Thirty million. That’s a lot of zeros, Mr. Sterling.”
“It’s not much. “
He ran his thumb across Claire’s knuckles. His voice was loose, almost bored.
“But it’s just enough to take Claire on a nice trip through Scandinavia.”