“Two-fifty!”
“Three hundred!”
“Five-fifty!”
I was going to pay off all my student loans. Erase my failures. What they were offering was more than enough for me to pay it all back and start my life anew.
All my dreams glittered in the lights shining beyond. I could see myself in them, and I allowed myself to feel hope for the first time.
It wasn’t just the money. I was going to get the type of lover I’d always dreamed of and never had. All those bidding, they heard what I was into and didn’t shy away.
They. Want. Me.
“One million.”
That voice.
My heart dropped. Not because of the money on the table… but because I recognized it.
No way.
It’s been years… There’s no way she actually?—
The breath was sucked from my lungs when my eyes met hers. It didn’t matter that she was wearing a mask or that the lighting overhead cast shadows over her face.
The same brown wavy hair with a red tint fell just below her chin. The same facial structure. The same intense look in her hazel eyes. The same way she carried herself. The only difference was how much more muscular she’d become since high school.
Emerson Blackwell. The person who tormented me. My high school bully and now my?—
“Sold! To bidder fifty-nine for a million dollars!”
My purchaser?
The lights dimmed, allowing me to get a better look at her.
She was still everything I’d dreamed of and the exact person I was imagining buying me when I signed up for the auction.
Emerson’s smile told me all I needed to know.
I didn’t know how or why, but she’d come for me.
And I couldn't wait to see what she’d do with her purchase.
Chapter 2
Pearl
“Who knew you had it in you, Meadows?”
Emerson’s voice was smooth as velvet but had the same sting as back then.
She stood in front of me, her back to the door, unmoving, while mine was to the bed.
I could hardly believe it was her while I was signing my contract. But there she was, in the flesh and taking her mask off.
My stomach flipped when her beautifully cruel face came into light. Her eyes were sharp and not the least bit shy as they looked me over.
“Removing your mask is against the rules,” I blurted out, unsure of what to say. Maybe she should keep her mask on. I wasn’t sure if it would make this more or less surreal.
