Page 28 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

Chapter 14

Zoya~

I’d drawn number four, and even without the earlier encounter with Kasimir, I’d still be the nervous wreck that I was now.Even though I knew that I couldn’t back out now, I was mentally questioning what in the hell I was doing as a girl named Regina Parker was wracking up bids, her worth currently at twenty-three-thousand dollars.

I also couldn’t stop thinking about how Kasimir had chosen to let me participate in the auction.I’d been sure that he’d wanted to take me out back to shoot me dead, but he’d hadn’t, and I still couldn’t make sense of it.Plus, what was with that damn singing of his.While a lot of it had been a constant mumble of hums, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear that he’d been singing The Wheels on The Bus, but the very idea that a man like Kasimir Korolev would be singing a child’s melody was ludicrous.

Another collective applause snapped me out of my thoughts, and blood rushed through my ears as Stephanie announced Montana Hughes’ name, and there was something comforting about my real name not being used.Montana and I did resemble each other enough that I could feign ignorance if anyone here recognized me later.Outside this hotel, I was Zoya Orlova Kuzmin, and only Marcelle and Kasimir knew it.

Doing my best to steady my breathing, I passed Regina as she exited the stage, leaving me as the newest prize under the spotlight.Once I was standing next to Stephanie, I looked out into the crowd, but I couldn’t see anything.The lighting had been designed for the men to have the visual advantage, and it made sense when you thought about it.

“Gentlemen, let me introduce Montana Hughes,” Stephanie announced.“Please refer to her profile card that is identified as the number four and take your time getting to know the lovely Ms.Hughes as we will be opening the bids in one minute.”

Now, while a minute might not seem like a long time, it really was when you were waiting to be fed to the sharks, though that wasn’t exactly aligned with the truth.I was standing up here voluntarily, so I could hardly blame any of the men in the audience for my predicament.In fact, there was only one man responsible for all this, and it was my Uncle Armen.I could accept that, even if my mother couldn’t.

Then, exactly one minute later, Stephanie spoke again, and it wasn’t anything like I’d been hoping for.“You may begin bidding, gentlemen.”

Before I could even process that this was really happening, a man called out the first bid, surprising me.“Fifteen.”

What in the hell?

“Sixteen,” another man called out.

“Twenty,” came a third man, and my mind began to unravel with how unbelievable this was.

I thought back to how Marcelle had suggested that I check missionary to make me appear boring, but that’s not what was happening right now.For whatever reason, these men were bidding on me like I was some sexual goddess, and I just didn’t get it.

“Twenty-three...”

“Twenty-five...”

“Thirty...”

“Thirty-two...”

“Thirty-four...”

“Forty...”

I felt sick to my stomach as the bids kept rising, and it wasn’t because I didn’t need the money.There was no way that these men were bidding this much money for something as simple as missionary, so I felt duped.I’d been given the impression that this auction was a safe place for women who were desperate for money, but it didn’t feel like that at all anymore.Fear gripped me as I wondered what was really going to happen in the rooms upstairs, but I also knew that the Korolevs would murder me where I stood if I tried to run off this stage now.

“Fifty...

“Fifty-three...”

“Fifty-five...”

“Eighty...”