10
Elvira
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT they look like?" Levi asked Elizabeth.
Beth, as she preferred to be called. The tall woman scanned the room full of museum curators, historians, and a few journalists who had heard about the price tag of the collection.
Levi, Beth, and I were standing in a corner waiting for the auction to start, wine glasses in hand.
The tall, muscular blonde woman shook her head. "I don't see the usual suspects." She cursed, which sounded jarring and oddly endearing in her accent. "I can't believe those fuckers want it. You know they will rip the evidence and make it seem like their favorite murder king did nothing wrong."
"We don't know if there's any evidence yet," I chimed in, earning a glare from Beth. "The entire collection might turn out to be nothing but the musings of a fifteenth-century gentleman."
The color in Beth's already pale face drained. "Don't say that. Your boyfriend's reputation is on the line!"
I was about to correct her when I heard a familiar trill. I whipped my head toward the laugh to see the last two people I expected to see enter the room. "Fuck," I muttered.
Levi glanced at what caught my attention. A scowl marring his face, he said, "What are they doing here?"
Beth peered at Billie and Wyatt strolling arm in arm, perusing the collection.
Wyatt did not deserve to look as handsome as he did in the lounge suit he had on, nor did Billie have to shine in her red sheath dress.
They were smiling. They looked happy. A cold block formed around my heart.
Continuous white noise filled my head as Beth spoke. "Who are they?"
At that moment, Wyatt saw us and made a beeline for us with Billie in tow. Why were they coming here? Why were they here at all?
Wyatt flashed a white smile that did not reach his eyes. "Well, well."
"Wyatt." Levi's hand encircled my waist. A move that went unnoticed by both Billie and Wyatt.
"Are you here for the collection?" Wyatt's obvious question was meant to be an icebreaker, but it felt like a tease.
"I assume you're here for the same thing?" Levi said.
"Yeah. As part of the Richard of Gloucester Historical Society, I feel it is my duty to help the Society gain such an important piece of history."
I scoffed. "Since when? You've never been into medieval history?"
Wyatt's specialty was the Roman Empire. He thought medieval history was boring and well-trodden ground. As though fucking Rome, of all things, wasn't over-studied.
Wyatt smirked. "Call it a hobby of mine."
My eyes narrowed. He was here to cause chaos.
That could be the only explanation. He might not be a threat if Wyatt were just any other historian.
But, like Levi, he too came from a rich family.
He had enough money to buy the collection three times over.
And I doubt he had to marry Billie to access his trust fund.
The two chatted with us for a few more minutes.
Nothing serious. Only pleasantries barely concealed by hatred, especially on my end.
The comforting thing was that Levi took his assumed role as significant other and held me to him like I was his lover.
Wyatt's gaze kept darting to where Levi's hand touched the curve of my waist. I doubt it was jealousy he was feeling.
Wyatt just didn't like that someone else had what he took for granted.
When they were gone, Beth said, "That was one of the most tense, pleasant exchanges I've ever been a part of. Colleagues of yours, I assume?"
"Something like that," I said, waving my empty wine flute. "I need another refill." Spending time in their presence made me want to drown myself in a barrel of wine. I went to the buffet table to pick up a full glass of champagne when a hand reached for the same glass I was going for.
"Sorry!" Billie yelped. When she saw me, her face fell."Oh. It's you. Sorry," she said again.
I snorted. "Are you? You seem quite unapologetic."
Billie rolled her eyes. "I know how it looks, but you have to know that we didn't want you to find out the way you did. We had planned on telling you properly."
My hand shook from the slow bubbling rage percolating inside me. I gripped the stem of the wineglass with force. Any tighter and it might break. "And how long was this planning? Did it take you all summer in the Hamptons to plan it out?"
Billie had the decency to blush.
"Spare me the apology. I don't need it."
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I love him? I didn't do it out of malice; I fell for him."
A scornful laugh bubbled out of me.
She blanched. The pleading in her voice was gone, replaced with a slight accusatory tone. "You, of all people, should understand."
I scoffed. "Explain that one to me. How the fuck does that make sense?"
She darted her eyes to Levi. "You were having an affair of your own."
"I—that's not—"
"You should have seen how hurt Wyatt was when he found out. The betrayal goes both ways."
I placed the wineglass down, almost tipping it over because of my shaky hands.
I held them together so I would not punch her fucking face.
"Poor Wyatt. Did you suck his sadness away?
I mean, it was only the morning after I saw you two fucking in my bed that he saw me at Levi's place. Not having sex with him, mind you."
She gave me a tight smile. "Of course you'd see yourself as the victim."
"That's because I am!"
I was so loud that the room went quiet, and everyone's gaze swiveled to us.
I didn't need to see their faces to know they were staring at me.
Billie's wide-eyed stare only made me seem like I was a crazy person who had lashed out at an innocent bystander.
I dared not look at anyone until the crowd went back to minding its own business.
Levi materialized beside me. "Everything okay?"
I picked my wine up again and said to him with a tight smile, "Yes." We went to sit in our chairs as the auction was about to start.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing."
Beth, who was sitting on my left side, did not seem convinced, and Levi, who was on my right, knew I was lying but did not push it any further.
The auction began soon after. While the auctioneer shared the auction rules and starting values, my gaze trailed to Wyatt and Billie.
They took their seats a few rows ahead of us.
Wyatt was flipping his bid paddle in Billie's face playfully.
I rolled my eyes. Please, by all means, ham it up for the crowd.
Levi squeezed my hand. "Don't mind them."
"Levi?"
"Yes."
"You better fucking win."
And the auction began.
The starting bid was five hundred thousand pounds.
All bidders raised their numbers. Then it went to five hundred fifty thousand pounds.
And up and up it went. The higher the number, the fewer the paddle numbers went up.
When the bid reached ten million pounds, only three bidders remained: Levi, Wyatt, and a private bidder.
"Word on the street says it's a Saudi prince," Beth said in my ear when the man on the phone raised his bid card.
Unease filled me at the thought of Levi potentially losing to some collector. "Why would he want to buy something so esoteric?"
"According to rumors," Beth said, "the prince is an Anglophile obsessed with the War of the Roses."
"Great. What we need is more bidders with unlimited funds." At least if the Saudi prince wins the bid, maybe he might grant us access to the documents. I doubt Wyatt would.
The bid rose again to fifteen million. The three men did not budge.
The room was silent now, as the amount went up by a million, and each time, Wyatt, Levi, and the private bidder all raised their cards.
When it reached twenty million, the Saudi prince pulled out.
A collective gasp vibrated in the room when both Wyatt and Levi raised their cards.
My tongue was stuck in my throat as I watched Levi raise his hand again when the auctioneer called out twenty-two million.
"Levi," I said in a low voice. "Are you sure?"
"Twenty-three million," the auctioneer called out. "Still, the two gentlemen for twenty-three million. This is getting exciting, folks. Twenty-four million?"
Wyatt raised his card. And so did Levi. "I don't want the fucker touching what's mine ever again," he said in a low voice. Interesting that he thought the collection was already his, but why did I have a suspicion he wasn't referring to that but to something else?
"Twenty-five million?" The crowd gasped when the auctioneer called out the high number.
There was a pregnant pause when Wyatt and Levi did not raise their cards.
And then Levi raised his. The crowd gasped again.
"Twenty-five million on number forty-five.
Number thirty-three?" Wyatt shook his head.
"Going once. Going twice. Sold!" The auctioneer banged his gavel.
"To the gentleman with number forty-five! "
Applause rumbled as everyone clapped for Levi.
"Wow!" Beth was fanning herself with a pamphlet, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't know it was going to be so… interesting."
"Me neither," I said as I watched the impassive Levi accept the congratulations he was getting from the surrounding people.
He didn't seem shaken, like I or Beth were.
He looked like he had just purchased a toy and not one of the most expensive medieval collections.
Wyatt and Billie were already making their way out.
A couple of journalists were already making their way to us, eyes popping, phones held like microphones as they swarmed toward us. "Come on," Levi said, taking my hand in his. "I don't want to deal with them right now."
I can't believe it. He bought it for twenty-five million pounds, like it was nothing.