Page 29 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

There was a collective gasp from the girls waiting near the stage, and even Stephanie seemed a bit flummoxed at the rapid pace of bidding.

“One-hundred...”

My arms wrapped around my waist as the bidding raced out of control, but I did my best to keep the fear off my face.If I ruined the experience, then there’d be an unimaginable hell to pay at the hands of Kasimir Korolev, and even I wasn’t that far gone yet.

Then, as panic began to grip my soul, a loud, clear, strong, and very familiar voice said, “Five-hundred.”

Half a million dollars.

The entire room fell silent, and I could swear that everyone could hear how violently my heart was beating against my ribs.Kasimir Korolev had just pledged a bid of half a million dollars to spend one night with me, and I felt a little dizzy with how my lungs seemed to no longer be working.

“Uhm...uh...I’m sorry,” Stephanie stammered.“Just to be clear...is that...that five-hundredthousand?”

“Yes,” Kasimir answered as he stepped out of the shadows, and now I knew why he had allowed me to participate in the bidding.

He was finally getting his revenge.

“Oh...uhm...well...okay,” Stephanie muttered, trying to shake off her shock.“Gentlemen, we have five-hundred once-”

“Just know that the next bid better be one-million dollars to best me,” Kasimir stated, addressing the rest of the room.“Anything less, and I will max the bidding out.”

No one said anything, and while I was certain that a few might be tempted to bid just to get even with Kasimir for this stunt, no one wanted to get a late-night visit from the psychopath later on.While a million dollars might not mean much to Kasimir, everyone in this room knew that he’d never tolerate insolence from anyone.

Not knowing what to do, Stephanie stuck with the script.“Five-hundred going twice...five-hundred going three times...?Okay...uh, congratulations, Mr.Korolev.You’ve...won yourself an evening with the lovely Ms.Hughes.”

The entire room was silent as I turned to exit the stage, and my arms tightened around my waist, doing my best not to throw up everywhere.The girls were also all looking at me like I was contagious or something as I passed them to head towards the dining area where all the paperwork was to be signed.

Once I entered the room, Dehlia was motioning me forward, but my feet wouldn’t move.I couldn’t believe that this was happening, and worse, I had no idea how to stop this insanity.Kasimir had played me, and I really should have seen it coming.He’d given in too easily, but I’d been too happy to have gotten away with my duplicity that I hadn’t questioned his motives as much as I should have.

“Montana, are you okay?”Dehlia asked, and that’s when I realized that she was no longer sitting at the registration table, but standing next to me.

“Oh...uhm...yeah,” I lied as I lowered my arms.“I just...I’m still trying to figure out what happened in there, I guess.”

She gave me a sympathetic nod.“I can see how it could be a bit overwhelming.”

I just nodded back as I finally followed her to the table, but all I could think about was how the math added up to three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollars, and the very thought made it hard to breathe.Of course, that was dependent on if Kasimir was really going to pay or not, because I could see him not paying me just to entertain himself while killing my dreams in the process.

Very kindly, Dehlia pulled out a chair for me once we got to the table, and that’s when she handed me what looked like a consent form of some kind.

“What’s this?”

“Just another added layer of protection,” she answered.“The final bid amount has been added to the form, so that there are no misunderstandings.”Pointing to the left side of the page, she added.“See there?The math has been calculated of what the auction will receive from your bid and what you will receive personally.”

My stomach felt sick again, but before I could throw up everywhere, that deep tenor that I heard in my nightmares was whispering in my ear, “Sign the form,lepestok.I’d like to be on my way as soon as possible.”

Refusing to look at Kasimir, I grabbed the pen with shaky fingers, then signed Montana’s name, though it might as well have been my own because there was no way that I was getting out of this.

I knew this.