Chapter 2 - The Auction
The air in my lungs turned to pure ice.
I stared at Larkin, desperately searching his face for any sign of a joke.
There was none.
"People cannot be bought and sold in Manhattan," I whispered frantically.
Larkin took a slow sip of his bourbon.
"In my world, everything has a price tag," he corrected me quietly.
"Thomas set you up," Larkin explained, his eyes scanning the crowded ballroom.
"He told the Russian and Italian syndicates that you were a clean, untraceable asset."
I gripped the edge of the table, my knuckles turning white.
"He wanted them to bid on a mousy, terrified secretary for their own amusement," Larkin continued.
"But you walked in looking like a dark goddess."
Larkin set his glass down with a sharp clink.
"You just became the most coveted prize in the room."
I looked across the ballroom and saw a massive, heavily scarred man staring directly at me.
It was Victor Donatelli, the brutal head of the local Italian commission.
Donatelli smiled, revealing a row of gold-capped teeth, and began walking toward our table.
"Can you just say no to the bid?" I asked Larkin, panic rising in my throat.
"If I refuse a legitimate bid at the Solstice Gala, it violates the truce," Larkin said grimly.
"It would start a street war tonight."
Donatelli reached our table, flanked by four massive enforcers.
"A beautiful prize, Larkin," Donatelli boomed, his greedy eyes wandering over my exposed back.
"She is not for sale, Victor," Larkin stated firmly, standing up to block the man's view.
Donatelli chuckled, a wet, unpleasant sound.
"The rules of the auction say otherwise," the rival boss reminded him.
I stood up, refusing to cower behind Larkin's broad shoulders.
"I am an employee of Steves Financial, not a piece of property," I said sharply.
Donatelli looked at me and threw his head back in laughter.
"She has fire," Donatelli grinned, stepping uncomfortably close to me.
"But I did not bid three million dollars for a pretty secretary, Miss Woods."
May you like
Donatelli pulled a folded piece of paper from his tuxedo jacket and dropped it on our table.
"I bid on the woman who has been embezzling millions of dollars from Larkin's accounts for the last three years."
