Episode 15
Episode 15
Godmother Knows Best
JULIANNE
“Memphis Taylor, this is your final opportunity to walk out that door—no questions asked.” Alana put a handheld recorder in front of the footballer.
Throughout the day, most of the candidates had opened up to each another, sharing bits and pieces of their lives. Memphis was an athlete who’d lost it all after an injury on the field. While Alana spoke with him, I checked him out. He looked dashing in the bespoke suit Alana had chosen for him. He was also massive, confident in his mannerisms, and very attractive. I was sure some debutante would snatch him up that evening.
“I understand,” Memphis stated clearly, dipping his head toward the device.
“Are you willingly entering into The Marriage Auction? Do you agree to marry whoever offers the highest bid for your hand in an arranged marriage?” Alana continued. “The rules have been explained and you’ve signed the contract. Now I want your verbal agreement that this is what you want, that you understand what you have committed to, and that you are not being coerced in any way. Please confirm your name and your agreement.”
“I, Memphis Taylor, understand the terms and agree as set forth in my contract. I am committed to marrying the woman who bids highest for my hand in marriage. I am not being coerced or forced in any way.” He finished with a bright smile.
“This is ridiculous,” I hissed under my breath as Alana approached me with an old-as-dirt handheld recorder.
“Darling, you’ve watched every last person here give me verbal confirmation. I expect no less from you. If you want to leave…”
“Yes, I know. The door is over there.” I let out a long sigh. “Fine. My name is Julianne Myers. I willingly agree to marry the highest bidder in tonight’s auction. I was neither coerced nor forced to enter The Marriage Auction. Happy?” I asked.
“ Oui .” She clicked a button, turned around, and faced the entire group. “Let’s breathe together,” she instructed, taking the group through a yoga-style breathing method for a few minutes.
It actually did help calm my irritation. Usually when I was nervous on the inside, it manifested as frustration on the outside. Alana would know that and was being kind not to call my ass out on my bitchy behavior.
Jade entered the room, a frown marring her pretty features. “Madam, I must speak with you.” She shifted from foot to foot.
“What is it, Jade?” Alana asked as she approached her mentee.
“Um, I made a grievous error. I accidentally made the start time the same for both auctions. Now all of the bidders are already here for Julianne’s private event and the others are also here for the primary one.”
“They’re all here now? At the same time?” she clarified.
My heart started beating wildly behind my chest. Very soon I was going to be leaving here with a stranger. A man I was supposed to marry and share my body with, regardless of whether or not there was an attraction or even a remote connection. I clamped my jaw shut, forcing myself to stay quiet and not interrupt. This was Alana’s world, and I would do well to remember that. She was helping me, not the other way around. And she wasn’t even taking a commission on my auction—even though I tried to fight her on that choice. She planned to give me her cut on top of whatever I brought in. Somehow I’d find a way to give that money back. I mentally planned to talk to my godfather about it in the future.
“I’ll handle it,” Alana stated flatly.
“I’m really sorry. The hotel is preparing the primary auction room now. Many of the bidders are already in the meet-and-greet space having hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. What do I do?” Jade’s voice shook.
Alana reached an arm out and put it over Jade’s hands where she was fidgeting. “Go into the meeting space. Tell them we have some very exciting candidates, but we are experiencing an unfortunate delay. Encourage them to drink freely at the open bar and assure them the wait will be worth it when they see the lineup we have tonight.”
Jade’s shoulders dropped. “Thank you, Madam. I apologize. It will never happen again.”
Alana smiled gently. “We learn through making mistakes, chéri . Now go. I’ll take Julianne.”
Jade nodded and bolted out of the room so fast you’d have thought fire was licking at her sky-high stilettos.
Alana spun around to face the group, a smile plastered across her face. She put her hands together in front of her chest in a prayer position. “As you likely heard, we are experiencing a scheduling snafu. Julianne, you will be auctioned first. As for the rest of you, I will have champagne brought in. Relax, freshen up, use the restroom, and mentally prepare yourself for your entire life to change tonight.”
The rest of the candidates looked at me sideways, but I didn’t care. I was very used to being the center of attention, good or bad. When you were the vice president of one of the most successful real estate firms around the globe, and also happened to be a woman under thirty, dirty or suspicious looks were par for the course.
“Come, ma petite fleur . Let’s get you a husband,” she cooed and offered me her hand.
I placed mine within her much smaller one and let her lead me out of the room and down a long hallway.
“So you’re not going to give me any information or even the slightest hint as to what I’m going to be up against?” I asked, my tone expressing my concern.
She shook her head. “That is not how this works, Julianne. I’ve already done something outside of the box by hand choosing the five prospective bidders. Christophe was shocked.”
I snort-laughed imagining my godfather being told that I wanted to enter the auction. “He’s not disappointed in me, is he?”
Alana came to an abrupt halt. I teetered for a moment, the fabric of my long, slinky white dress fluttering around my ankles and sexy-as-sin strappy Manolo Blahniks. The dress was stunning and fit me beautifully. It had spaghetti straps and was made of light, silky material that clung to my curves but didn’t dig in. The dress shimmered like diamonds but there was no beading or sequins anywhere to be seen. The way the material caught the light tricked the eye. It honestly could have been a sexy wedding dress, which felt rather appropriate seeing what I was about to do.
“Christo could never be disappointed in you, chéri . He is concerned about you, Brenden, and Giovanni. His heart is broken for all of you. However, he did try to encourage me to convince you to accept the money you need from us personally.”
I shook my head avidly. “Hell, no! There is no way I’d accept millions of dollars as a gift from my godparents.”
“A loan then?” Alana tried for the fifth time.
This very issue had been a point of contention between us leading up to this moment. One I very much wanted to nip in the bud. “No. I said no. I understand that you and Christophe mean well.”
“We love you very much, Julianne. We are your family. When your mother and father bestowed upon Christo and I the gift of being your godparents, we took that responsibility seriously.” Her dark gaze focused so intently on me that I swear she was touching my very soul with her affection.
“And I have known and felt your contribution and commitment to me my entire life. You allowing me into the auction when I know it’s the absolute last thing you want also proves how very much you care. But, Alana, I can take care of myself. This thing with Brenden…” I inhaled sharply, not wanting the many issues I had with my brother to invade my thoughts and put me into a spiral of blubbering sobs and tears. “Eventually, it will all work out as it’s supposed to.”
“Do you truly believe that, Julianne? You are planning to go after him and the family business with everything you’ve got. I know how incredibly capable you are. In truth, I fear for what will happen between you two. Your parents would be destroyed by what has already occurred. Part of me is thankful that they are not here to see what has become of the three of you. Their loss should have brought all of you together.”
“And instead, it ripped us apart. I know. I live it every single day. It’s forever on my mind,” I agreed. “But something has to change. I’m being pushed out of my birthright, and I need to find out why. That’s the primary reason I’m contesting the will. The people who raised and loved me would not have left me out. I don’t know what they were thinking. Maybe they were coerced. To be honest, there are too many questions and not enough answers. Lastly, I need to make sure everything I’ve built for myself isn’t pushed aside or washed away by my brother’s new wife, Hurricane Bianca.”
Alana closed her eyes for a moment and finally nodded. I could see the physical change in her expression from concern to determination. “Then let’s get you a husband for the highest amount possible.”
I grinned. “Now that’s the Alana I know and love,” I teased.
We came up to a door and she stopped when she put her hand on the metal knob. “I’m going to go in first and greet the men. Then I’ll call for you to enter, okay?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
Alana cupped my cheek and stared deeply into my eyes. “You are loved, Julianne. Never forget that. You have people you can count on.”
I put my hand over hers and nuzzled into her palm. “I know. Thank you for helping me.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Remember you asked to be in the auction. You also asked for me to choose the most ideal bidders according to my knowledge and experience. You might question one of my choices, but I assure you, Godmother knows best.”
My mouth dropped open as her words filtered through my mind. “Wait, what does that mean?” I asked as she opened the door.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” she tutted in that cultured voice I adored, and yet her words felt foreboding.
“Alana,” I tried again, but she disappeared into the room.
I paced back and forth for at least five full minutes before I heard my name called.
“You’ve got this, Julianne,” I said to myself as I faced the door. “In the past, you’ve come up against men twice your size and meaner than snakes and still ended up on top. Nothing and no one will stop you from achieving your goals.”
I plastered a smile on my face, opened the door, and walked into my new life with my spine straight and my head held high.
There was a circular riser in the middle of the room with five men sitting in chairs about ten feet from the platform. Close enough to look, not close enough to touch.
“This is insanity!” I heard the deep rumble of a voice I knew all too well. Sometimes I’d heard it in my dreams, or when I was reliving a particularly intimate moment from my past while manually stimulating myself.
My head snapped up and our gazes met. His the color of a pristine blue sky to my unusual aqua shade. I turned my head toward where Alana stood behind a small podium. “What is the meaning of this?” I barked.
She smiled brightly. “Please take the riser, Julianne.”
I did as she bade on autopilot, my gaze flicking to one of the last men on Earth I’d expect to be sitting in a chair at a private auction for my hand in marriage.
The man I’d lusted after my entire life.
My brother’s ex-best friend, business partner, and the man I’d given my virginity to.
The one person who had always been off-limits.
Giovanni Falco.
“I don’t need to go over Julianne’s information as it was all in the brief I sent when you received your invitation. Let’s start the bidding at three million dollars,” Alana announced.
Immediately a man with a large cowboy hat raised his hand. He was ruggedly handsome and dipped his head in greeting, a hand tipping the brim of his hat the way a southern gentleman might.
My cheeks heated as the numbers rose.
“Five million…”
“Ten million…”
“Twelve.”
My heart pounded so hard in my chest it was as if I’d run a marathon. I chanced a glance at Gio, and as I feared, he was beyond angry. His arms were crossed over his chest, his jawline firm and unmoving. His nostrils flared as he glared daggers each time a new bid was called.
Why was he even here?
He didn’t want to marry me. He barely looked at me as anything other than his vice president and his best friend’s little sister. After we’d crossed that intimate line on the best and most embarrassing night of my life, I’d kept myself scarce through college. Sure, we’d seen one another at family gatherings over the years, but I often brought a friend or a boyfriend in order to keep things between us completely copacetic and platonic. After years had passed, our relationship became strictly about business. He trusted me to bring in new, lucrative clients and help lead the business in the direction our parents set out for us.
Giovanni hadn’t shown romantic interest in me since we were teens. He certainly hadn’t made any advances after that night over a decade ago, and I didn’t push it. There was no way I’d embarrass myself again, even if he was the most attractive man I knew. And a gifted lover, if memory served.
The bidding had slowed, the last number at twenty-four million from the handsome cowboy.
I winked at him, and I could have sworn his cheeks pinked up but the shadow from his hat made it difficult to see.
“Twenty-four million going once…” Madam Alana said. “Twice…”
“Thirty million.” Giovanni stood, looking ridiculously handsome in his tailored Tom Ford suit. He turned away from me and faced the other men. “None of you will be leaving with this woman tonight. You can offer any amount of money, and I will beat it. Try me if you dare,” he growled.
The cowboy looked at me, opened his mouth as if to counter the bid, and finally shook his head.
Alana had her hand at her throat, her dark eyes darting from me to Gio. “Do I have thirty-one million?” she croaked.
Not a single person spoke.
The silence was thunderous and filled with tension that pressed against every last one of my nerve endings. When Gio turned around and looked me straight in the eyes, I could hardly breathe. It was as if the very air had been sucked out of the room by his fury, determination, and resolve.
“Sold to Giovanni Falco for thirty million dollars.”