Now, I’m not so sure.
The girl smiles, fluttering her eyelashes and twirling once the bidding begins. The murmur of voices dies down once paddles start rising, and the auctioneer shouts out numbers.
Ten grand. Fifteen. Twenty.
Going once.
Going twice.
Sold.
I sip my champagne, feigning interest in what’s happening on stage, but little by little, I’m angling my body to keep an eye on the door.
Three girls have been sold before I catch a movement there as Koby and Ryder enter. The tension in my shoulders bleeds away, replaced by something steadier. I’m still scared, but it’s a different kind of fear... all teeth and determination.
Confusion and disbelief ripples through the crowd, conversations swelling. A few tables away, someone asksare those Willard’s men?loud enough for Octavius to hear.
It’s staged. The whole thing. The questions raised by Carter’s trusted allies, planted by Noretto for the sole purpose of ensuring Grey notices Koby and Ryder’s presence.
He looks over his shoulder, eyebrows pulling together.
“Ah,” Blaze says, not missing a beat. “I didn’t think yesterday’s message meant anything. Apparently Willard has a proposition and these two have been sent to discuss it privately after the auction. Thought it was a joke, to be honest.”
Octavius studies them for a moment, suspicion warring with curiosity in his eyes. “Carter Willard... I wonder what he wants.” His lips curve. “I guess we’ll see.”
He beckons one of his bodyguards. “Watch them,” he says.
Koby and Ryder pause near the back, exchanging words with the usher, who shows them to an empty table. As if he can feel me watching, Koby’s eyes meet mine...
And the room between us falls away. The noise, the lights, the weight of what’s coming. Thewhat-ifsand doubts become irrelevant.
The room is full of monsters... but this one fights for me.
My lungs decompress.
My spine straightens.
I lift my chin.
Game on.
38
Koby
The air inside the auction room tastes like cigar smoke, ash, and expensive alcohol. Heavy cologne mixes with the floral perfumes the girls appearing on stage have been bathed in.
It gives me a fucking whiplash and forces flashbacks of Broadway and I sitting at the front of this very room, his fingers squeezing the paddle as he bid on Violet.
Just like then, the place is crowded with self-absorbed men in tailored suits. Each one thinks they’re above the rest. Each one thinks he owns the world while the truth is, he’s just a pawn in a bigger player’s hands.
Ryder walks a step ahead, following the usher who navigates the clustered tables, and I try... I really fuckingtrynot to look for Leilani, but I fail.
I knew I’d fail.
My eyes dart her way and the tightness coiling my gut all day unwinds when I find her.
She’s already watching me.
