As I stepped up onto the pedestal, my first goal was to not fall. The heat of the spotlight. The glass of wine in my otherwise empty stomach. The height of the high heels. They all work together, fighting against me.
What if I fell?
What would happen?
Would it save me or would I wake up as someone’s property?
I refused to search the crowd for Curtis. I told him what I thought of him when I left the cabin. He’d brought me here to Malaking Kuta, promising me the impossible as he begged for my help. And then, once we arrived, the reality became all too clear.
I’d been deceived.
Instead of being someone special to Curtis, he’d discovered that I could be more useful if he shared. No longer his fiancée—I threw that damn ring into the surf—I was simply a plaything his friends or even strangers were willing to pay to play with.
My mind swirled with the possibilities the night would hold.
Would I survive?
Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.
What would be asked of me?
Would it be asked or demanded?
I scoured the crowded room. So many people, male and female. Laughing and nodding. Drinking and eating. This was a spectacle, and I was their focus. A rare statue or perhaps a painting to be assessed and scrutinized.
“Let us see more,” a man called above the din.
Some of the others agreed while others simply smiled.
Depraved was what they were. Not one person present appeared shocked or appalled by what was happening.
I lifted my chin in an attempt to look above their heads. I didn’t want to remember their faces or their grins. As I did, I found myself bound to an unexpected anchor—to a gaze that steadied me.
It was an unlikely tether, yet Cameron’s dark eyes on me were a mix of emotions.
Anger. No, more intense. Rage.
Impatience.
Annoyance.
While also predatory and determined.
And still, there were more.
Could it be desire?
Mr. Knapp’s voice barely registered. Even the calls from the crowd were muted under Cameron’s stare. With my chin held high, I found myself unable to look away. There was a strange sense of security as well as trepidation in the familiar dark eyes.
I was about to be sold, of that there was no doubt.
What if my fate didn’t land at the feet of a stranger but at Cameron’s feet?
Mr. Knapp reached for the silk wrap, pulling me back into the present and my gaze away from Cameron.
“Stop,” I said, pushing his hand away.
The crowd erupted in laughter. Not everyone. Cameron’s expression hardened.
“One million,” an older man called out. The woman on his arm nodded.
Did they expect a threesome?
“One million ten,” another man called.
My head snapped to Mr. Knapp. “Two million and I purchase myself.”
“Oh,” he replied excitedly. “I told you she was first-class merchandise. Come now, surely someone will outbid the lady herself.”
Time wasn’t moving or maybe it was. More bids came and went as others called again for the silk to be removed.
“Two and a half million,” a tall man with dark skin said, stepping to the front of the crowd. “And she’ll accompany me back to my homeland.”
My eyes widened. “What? No. This is one night.”
“We have two and a half million,” Mr. Knapp said with a grin. “While this was meant to be a one-night arrangement, we here at Malaking Kuta are always willing to make exceptions. As luck would have it, the contract Ms. Pierce signed could be open for interpretation.”
My flesh prickled with goose bumps as the room began to swirl.
What was happening?
I eyed the edge of the pedestal. I could make a run for it, but then what?
“My offer stands,” the tall gentleman said.
“Going once. Going twice.”
“Five million.”
A hush fell over the crowd before it erupted, blooming into a symphony of murmurs and gasps. Through it all, only one man came into focus. The man who had just bid five million for me.
He was the same man who’d earlier held my stare. Cameron Kidwell stepped forward until he was in the front of the crowd beside the other bidder.
His dark eyes were more focused than they’d been a few minutes earlier. He wasn’t looking at me, but at Mr. Knapp. In his tuxedo, Cameron was an incredibly handsome man, his shoulders broad, chest wide, and waist trim.
Sometime over the course of the last few years, he’d changed. He was still intimidating, but there was more. There was energy that permeated from him, powerful and steady. His presence commanded the room.
“You heard my bid.” Cameron lifted his long leg, stepping up to beside the podium and turning toward the crowd. “Five million for this woman. I would suggest not countering; however, that is the way Mr. Knapp’s entertainment is done. Last chance, do I hear any?”
Even the man who had bid before shook his head.
“Mr. Knapp, do your job.”
Booker Knapp lifted his hand. “Ladies and gentlemen, remember we have two more excellent specimens yet to be auctioned. The night is still young.” He turned to Cameron. “Very well. Five million, going once, going twice.” He took a deep breath before bowing graciously at the waist. “Congratulations, Mr. Kidwell, may your deepest fantasy come true.”
Cameron offered me his hand. “Briana.”
“I—I...” Words didn’t want to form.
“Take her away. We have another to take her place.”
I placed my hand in Cameron’s. His long fingers surrounded mine as he helped me to the floor. Before leaving the spotlight, he unbuttoned the jacket of his tuxedo and without a word, removed it and wrapped it around my shoulders.
The spicy scent of his cologne mixed with the fresh aroma of bodywash filled my senses as the jacket enveloped me. With Cameron’s hand at the small of my back, we took a few steps. Before we reached the side stage, another woman passed by wearing a silk similar to the one I had been told to wear. Her eyes were red from tears, yet she continued to walk to where I had been standing.
Had she been given the same choice, dignity or hog-tied?
The crowd began their cheers and calls.
I was forgotten by all but one patron—the man who arranged my sale.
Curtis stepped from behind the side curtain. Avoiding my gaze, he spoke only to his brother. “Look at this, my little brother is taking sloppy seconds.”
Before I could speak, Cameron’s fist connected with Curtis’s chin.
“Oh,” I gasped as my fingers came to my open lips.
Curtis staggered backward before standing straight and rubbing his chin. “Don’t give her back broken.”
Cameron’s neck straightened—tendons and cords coming to life—with the obvious restraint he was enlisting to not hit Curtis again. “Goodbye, Curtis. Go back to Detroit. Briana’s condition is no longer your concern. I’m not giving her back.”
This time, Cameron reached for my hand and escorted me away.
The black velvet sky sprinkled with millions of stars came into view as the Alpine lift moved farther and farther away from the mansion. It wasn’t until we were near the beach that I finally spoke. “I don’t know if I should thank you or hate you.”
Cameron’s lips quirked upward. “There’s a good chance that before the night is through, you’ll do both.”