“Last up for tonight, but certainly not least,” the clouds parted as the Auctioneer showboated, “we’ve got our most exclusive treasure on the docket, item 0693.”
I sat up a little straighter as the crowd cheered. This was our target. Fuckingfinally. I readied myself for the bidding, guessing from the sheer excitement of the surrounding hoard that the competition would be fierce. Just as I was starting to think nothing was worth all this hype, she walked out.
I hadn’t expected the last auction item of the night to be a woman. Some stolen artifact, maybe, or the unknown original of a painting by an artist whose other works were in places like Paris and New York City.
But it was clear even before I saw the numbered sign around her neck that we weren’t here for something as petty as a priceless object.
Our intended acquisition was lithe and elegantly curved, her body poured into a dress that stunned me, made my mouth turn dry—deep blue silk-satin something that glided over her skin like the cool ebb of the tide, decked out in jewels that only madeherlook like the priceless diamond she clearly was.
The girl’s eyes narrowed, a hand coming up to block the bright lights from her view.
I could tell instantly that the wobble in her step was largely due to nerves, even if the heels she was wearing must not have helped matters.
Her face, lovely and open and sweet enough that I could practically taste it all the way back in the crowd, was a portrait of innocence that didn’t belong here.
This wasn’t a safe place for the innocent.
It wasn’t even a safe place for someone like me.
“Some lucky bidder will get the right to the greatest pleasure a man can experience,” the Auctioneer’s voice rang out through the speaker system. “being the first man to ever fuck a sweet young thing.”
This time, the crowd was near-feral, the volume of their roars practically seismic.
“Fucking hell,” I heard Devin swear, and Alex and I exchanged a look that shared in Dev’s sentiment. My first thought, a hope more than a real possibility, was that there was some kind of mistake.
But the more I thought back over my father’s instructions, the more this started to make sense.
His insistence that we’d be knocking Ferrara down a peg.
The twinkle of wickedness in his eyes. The sly smirk as he told me Devin, Alexei, and I were “welcome to share.”
“In fact, that would be a perfect bow to tie on this whole thing. Share in the winnings, and show that conniving bastard just how far we’re willing to go to keep him in his place.”
My father wanted us—all three of us—to take this young woman’s virginity. She must be important to Ferrara somehow. There were rumors, after all, that he had a daughter.
“And in this case, as you all can see, our sweet little virgin is a very special lady indeed.”
That just about confirmed my suspicion, then. If this wasn’t Robert Ferrara’s only daughter, she had to be someone even more special. A long-lost foreign princess, maybe. A literal alien from outer space.
“You sure you didn’t know about this, Jonny?”
It was Alex’s icy voice that came to me, the volume strategically low so no one around us would hear the tension building at our table. Any sign of us being out of control, any whiff of infighting, would reflect poorly on the Buteras.
But I sensed the accusation he leveled at me, and I channeled my father as I gave him a look in response. It was the kind of look that saidAsk me that again and see if you come through it unscathed.
“So we’re gang-banging in a whole different way now,” Devin spoke quietly, shaking his head through the cruel irony of it. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“We’ll start the bidding at twenty-five thousand dollars.”
The number was damn-near offensive. My car was worth more than that, and they wanted this lovely woman to sell herself for it? Luckily, the numbers started climbing rapidly. By the time the bidding was at $150,000, which still wasn’t enough, I was at least a little less pissed off on her behalf.
“We can do better than this, fellas! Look at that tight little body!”
As if anyone in the room could look anywhere else. But him pointing it out this way, calling attention to her body and the way it was being commodified, made me feel like a disgusting letch.
I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth at the thought of all the mouthbreathers in the crowd who were leering at her, stomping their feet like this was some kind of competitive sporting event.
The asshole auctioneer shoved the girl forward, making her stumble a little, throwing off her precarious balance in those fucking impractical shoes.
