Page 72 of Secret Offer
Unclenching my jaw, I say, “I’m going to bid high and keep on bidding until the clock runs out. And pray no one will try to top my max.”
“What about the pitcher?” Nate says “He’s not the richest of the three, but you said he was in it to win it. He could snipe you at the last second.”
It’s true. Polansky’s a professional competitor. And I have no idea what he’s been up to behind the scenes since he met Blair. What if he signed on for a new sponsorship or accepted a licensing deal for merchandise? If Polansky wanted Blair badly enough, there’s no telling how far he’d go to fatten up his bank account in order to clinch the auction win. I’ve never hated a match before, but I do right now.
“Then I’ll just have to bid everything I’ve got. That’s the way these auctions work.” I put my fingers over the keyboard, my shoulders tensing. “Blair is mine. I’ll do what I need to do.”
He nods. “Good luck.”
“Here we go,” Theo says. “Thirty minutes and counting.”
My stomach twists.
“The first bid is up,” Nate says.
It’s the entitled Brit, of course. He’s offered one million even.Not unheard-of for an opening bid, but I didn’t think we’d hit the seven-figure mark for another few minutes at least.
The next bid comes in right behind it. Then another, and another. Two million. Three. The minutes tick by, and the money keeps rolling in so fast that I don’t have time to think or feel. I can only watch the numbers climb higher and jump in with my own bids whenever the action starts to slow down. There’s another extended pause in the bidding when it reaches four and a half million.I enter five.
Blair’s life, her future, her happiness, all on the line for five million dollars. Clenching my fists, I sit in front of the computerand watch the timer tick under twenty minutes, my heart thumping as I wait for the other bidders to stand down and leave me the winner.
But then the bids start climbing again. Five and a quarter. Five and a half.
“Fuck.”
The countdown on the timer is steadily winding down, but it feels like an eternity until the bidding stops again. We’re at $7,777,777.Someone’s hoping they’ll get lucky with that bid.
I enter eight.
Becker moves to my side and watches, arms crossed, as we reach the ten-minute mark.
“The Brit just messaged me,” he says. “He wants to know when a fourth bidder was authorized.”
Nate jumps in. “Tell him to read his contract. We can add vetted bidders at any time, to any match. You got this, Sebastian.”
“Five minutes and counting,” Theo says. “Keep those fingers ready.”
We all stare at the screen as the bidding stalls out at 9.25 million. It’s my bid. The ticker shows sixty seconds. Fifty, forty-two. Twenty. Ten.
Shit.
I enter one last high bid, as high as I can go—an astronomical amount that I don’t even have in hand, but that I’ll find a way to get if I win this thing. I can’t let anyone beat me.
Three. Two.
One last final bid comes in right as the clock hits zero, and before I can see the amount, the web page reloads as the bidding software sorts out the winning bid. Fuck.
My pulse is pounding, my ears ringing, a bead of sweat trickling down my back, and then the page shows the final amount—$10,100,100 and eleven fucking cents—but it’snowhere near as high as the unhinged maximum bid I put in.Not by a whole decimal place.
“Holy shit,” I say. “I did it.”
The auction is over.
Blair’s hand was just purchased for over ten million dollars. By me.
I’m barely aware of Theo and Nate thumping me on the back and jostling my shoulders as I unsteadily rise to my feet.
Turning to Becker, I hold out my hand. “Consider my resignation letter submitted.”
