Chapter Twenty-four
Nico was here.
Some of the tension bled out of my shoulders, and my next breath came easier. I waited for him to say something. Or do something. That was why he was here… right?
But as the bidding continued, he didn’t move so much as a muscle. I tried to make out his expression, but there wasn’t enough light shining on his face. Was he looking at me? Angry? Frustrated? Resigned?
Had he given up? God, not that. Anything but that.
The bidding had become background noise..
“Two thousand…”
“Two thousand five hundred.”
“No?” The auctioneer’s voice cut through the haze.
I dragged my gaze away from Nico. One bidder had gone from nodding to shaking his head. He leaned back and lifted both hands in a gesture of surrender.
One down.
Two to go.
The woman dropped out a few rounds later at two thousand eight hundred.
A smirk appeared on the remaining bidder’s face—a smirk I didn’t much like the look of that said he was already making plans. Plans I wouldn’t enjoy.
I stared at him. My new owner. What would happen to me in his possession? Who would I become?
“Going once,” the auctioneer said.
I closed my eyes.
“Going twice.”
There was no gavel, but I could hear the last crack of it anyway.
“Going―”
“Four thousand.”
The voice rang out as clear as a bell.
My eyes snapped open as Nico stepped out of the shadows.
A collective gasp swept through the audience. People twisted in their seats to look at the man who’d waited until the last possible second.
Nico looked bored, as if this was inconvenient, as if he had somewhere better to be.
Even the auctioneer seemed stunned into silence.
Nico brushed a piece of lint off his sleeve. “Four thousand,” he repeated.
The auctioneer recovered quickly. “That’s a big jump, Mr. Ravenscar. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to dial it back? Perhaps three thousand?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Nico said, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice.
Color leached into the auctioneer’s cheeks. “Of course not, sir.”
He turned to the remaining bidder. Time seemed frozen as we both awaited his response.
If the man outbid Nico…
Would Nico care?
Would he shrug and walk away?
My heart hammered so hard it hurt, and for the first time in my life, I considered praying.
Finally, the bidder shook his head. Relief had me feeling as light as air. The auctioneer smiled, but it was strained, leaving no doubt that the outcome wasn’t what he wanted. He repeated the countdown as the room collectively held its breath.
Then―
“Sold.”
I struggled to understand how I could be happy about being sold as they led me offstage. It was funny how quickly your outlook could change when someone showed you an even worse possibility. I might have doubts about Nico, but at least he was a known quantity.
Better the devil you know.
Was Nico a devil? Or something else? I was still pondering that when the man himself appeared. He avoided looking at me during the transaction, his cool detachment very different to the hot-blooded man from the night before.
Was it the night before? Time had started slipping again. Spending half your life unconscious did that to a person.
“Collar on or off?”
My head snapped up.
Off. Obviously off. I’d been electrocuted twice by it and it wasn’t something I ever wanted to experience again.
“Leave it on,” Nico said.
What the fuck?
The man handling the exchange smirked and passed over the remote and a key to Nico. “You’ve got yourself quite the disobedient one. Hope he’s worth it.”
I opened my mouth to say something cutting.
Before I could, Nico held up a hand. I took heed of the warning, reminding myself that if Nico changed his mind, it left me right back where I’d started.
So, despite it being excruciatingly difficult, I stayed quiet.
I didn’t say a word when he wrapped the chain around his wrist and led me away from the stage like a dog.
I didn’t complain when sharp pebbles dug into my bare feet.
And I stayed silent when every single person we passed either wished him luck, or made lewd comments that reduced me to little more than a sex doll.
By the time we spilled out onto the Wonderland streets, all the words I’d swallowed felt ready to explode out of me.
And what made it worse?
Nico still hadn’t looked at me once.