Chapter Two
Adrienne
Adrienne almost cried in relief when Miriam caught up with her again, startling her out of her enthralled state and bringing her back to reality at once.
She probably just imagined the three men. They might not even have been looking at her at all.
Maybe it was time she packed up and left the city forever, leaving not a trace of herself behind. With her mother, thankfully, non-existent in her life, and her father gone—it had been almost four years since the day he passed away, she could disappear, and no one would care. The only other person she would miss would be Miriam. Still, if anyone could understand her need to escape, even while being held at arm’s length throughout their relationship, it would be Miriam.
Adrienne had more money than she knew what to do with. She’d made a name for herself in the world of electric cars and cruise liners, working twice as hard to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world.
But she trusted her allies as far as she could throw them and never allowed anyone else to steer her ship. Now she religiously but anonymously pumped millions upon millions of dollars into charitable organizations to fight poverty and increase education all across the globe.
When she was a child all she wanted to grow up to be was a princess with a princess dress and a magic wand that could make anyone unhappy, happy again. Her mother had told her she was too fat to be a princess. She’d been six years old then.
When she started working for her father in his maritime business after getting her business degree, her mother then told her the only way she would be successful was if she spread her legs like the good little whore she was destined to become—because that was the only way a woman could make it in a man’s world.
Look, Mom, I’m a billionaire and still a virgin.
“Stupid, Adrienne,”
she murmured, still needing her mother’s approval.
Her father would have been proud though, but he would have also told her she didn’t need to prove anything to anyone. He divorced her mother when Adrienne was twelve years old on account of her being unable to love their only child. The week before Rebecca, in a happy drunken stupor, had brushed Adrienne’s waist-length hair into a high ponytail and then promptly cut it off.
Her hair grew back. Her mother remained a drunken jerk.
Yes, she made up her mind. She was going to become a swamp lady hermit who could scare everyone off with just a glowering gaze. Everyone would leave her alone. She never had to be someone else. It was exhausting, all that pretending, and she was tired.
So, contrary to Miriam’s misdiagnosis, she needed sex like she needed a cactus in her panties, so she was going to die a virgin too.
Take that, Mom.
“Did you see them?”
Miriam asked in a rush, her face flushed.
“Fresh meat in the water, babe.”
“Who?”
Adrienne asked, paying attention now.
“Those three unparalleled, magnificent, young man-gods,”
Miriam said, gesturing to her right.
“I’ve never seen them before at functions like this. My god, aren’t they majestic and I’m talking about what’s going to be in their pants if their faces are so fucking beautiful.”
It didn’t take Adrienne long to spot them. Every woman in the banquet hall of the posh hotel seemed to be looking at the three newcomers, clutching their hearts and fanning themselves as they smiled coyly.
Arg.
Who were they really? They were standing together and seemed familiar with each other, so they obviously came together. She had never seen them before as charity events, Miriam was right. Jackson introduced one of them as an upcoming entrepreneur which meant nothing.
And it didn’t matter one bit, either. She had already nipped her body’s overreaction to them right in the bud and now she was feeling a little grumpy, or maybe she was just hungry.
Who could blame her? It required a lot to maintain her size four figure naturally by keeping her boobs and butt where they belonged. Her fantasy of being a secluded hermit lady also meant she could eat whatever she desired and not care about the repercussions on her hips.
She could go soft in all the right places, and nothing would make her happier. The idea was growing on her more and more, to the point where she could taste that kind of freedom in her mouth.
She hadn’t eaten any chocolate in eight years. She forgot what pizza tasted like, let alone what it looked like, and strategically sipped from the same glass of champagne at events like this the whole night long. She didn’t need the extra calories.
“Oh, it’s going to start. Here,”
Miriam said, handing Adrienne a gold auction paddle with the number ‘three’ on it.
“Time for Mama to go shopping.”
Adrienne mindlessly took the paddle and then allowed herself to be dragged along by Miriam to get to the chairs in front of the stage. Adrienne knew she had every intention of just sitting out the auction. She was not interested in buying a date for the night. Or any night. She’d write a check for the hostess all the same and that would be the end of it.
Miriam, of course, always threatened her with ending their friendship if she didn’t bet on a guy and take him home, but she never carried out her threat to completion. Adrienne was just not built for fun and games.
Her first boyfriend broke up with her before he got to kiss her because he thought she was cold and stuck up. The only reason she knew what he’d been thinking was because he told her she was cold and stuck up. She was seventeen. She didn’t know why it shocked her that he mistook her reserved nature for coldness and snobbery.
There were twelve to fifteen attractive men on the stage, all dressed in designer suits and looking as well-groomed as money could buy. Some were bachelors, most were married, and their wives would bid on them, all in good fun. Everyone on the stage was recognizable, within her circle.
Except them.
She knew all their names now from the name tags that hung around their necks. Darien Price, who she met, Austin Brown, who she bumped into, and the third guy who had looked at her like he was undressing her, Emerson Foley.
All the other single ladies fell over themselves bidding for the three of them, but Adrienne was out. Complete seclusion was calling her name, and she was ready, taking her virginity with her.
She had already started to envision what it would take to wrap everything up. Her staff was hand-picked and trained by herself. They could run her whole operation without her being there. She supposed she just needed to decide if she wanted to sell up or keep her company. The idea grew more vibrant in her head. Selling up would mean complete detachment from the outside world.
It hadn’t been a bad life. So she hadn’t fallen in love and had babies, but that was okay. She could live with it. Alone.
Bored with the auction and desperate to get home, where she could just breathe and start planning her new life, Adrienne paid little attention to the bidding wars happening around her.
She had also stuck to her guns and not once allowed her gaze to vacillate at all toward the three mysterious men. They were going up last for auction.
When her purse buzzed softly against her thigh, from inside her purse, she was glad for the distraction.
But the text message drained her blood and left her cold. She turned uncomfortably in her seat, expecting to see the monster behind her.
“You okay?”
Miriam asked beside her, sensing her entire body freeze up. She nodded a little too enthusiastically.
“Just work.”
“It’s not just work. What was that about?”
“Nothing. I’m fine,”
Adrienne said softly, smiling broadly.
“You sure?”
Miriam gave her that look. The one she issued when she knew Adrienne was lying.
“Of course.”
Another lie.
“Something is wrong, but I know you well enough to know that you’re only going to tell me when you want to or need to. So, I’m going to wait, okay?”
Miriam patted her hand, looking at her with genuine concern in her eyes.
“Okay,”
Adrienne whispered, biting the side of her cheek to stop herself from crying. She didn’t cry. It had been something she learned from Miriam.
Unless you’re watering revenge plans, your tears are wasted.
That had been Miriam’s mantra.
She wiped at a single drop that fell onto her cheek before she could suck it up. Her life flashed past her, coming to a stop on that one decision that was now going to change her life forever.
It was a stupid epiphany to be experiencing at a charity auction where socialites got to spend vast amounts of money bidding on men they were either married to or had never seen in their lives before.
She quickly righted herself and calmed her mind. But the letters of the text kept swimming before her like eye-floaters buzzing behind her vision before they formed the words that made her want to scream. She was far too displaced and off-balanced to regain her signature equilibrium. Miriam’s hand tightened on hers.
“Do you want to leave?”
She shook her head. She was not having a panic attack over that text. That would give the other person in question more power than they deserved.
She was not having a panic attack right there at Cassie’s charity auctions. Not when there were those three men on the stage, looking directly at her as if they were still undressing her.
She bit her lip, something she hadn’t done since she was a teenager. Her body became a flustered mess. Her nipples ached, and she wanted fresh underwear immediately, but ... but ...
“Three hundred thousand dollars,”
she said, raising her paddle when Emerson Foley came onto the stage.
Miriam’s gasp echoed around her, riddled with shock, but Adrienne ignored her for a little while. She wasn’t even listening to Cassie, who was acting as the auctioneer as well.
“Four hundred thousand dollars,”
someone else said behind her.
“Five hundred thousand,”
Adrienne said before Cassie could say anything else.
“Six hundred thousand.”
Someone else shouted.
“Ten million dollars for the three of them,”
Adrienne said, using her paddle to point to Emerson, Darien, and Austin. She wasn’t prepared to enter a bidding war. She wanted to annihilate her enemies and leave the battlefield with her spoils.
...Before she changed her mind.