Chapter 7 - THE AUCTION
Sophie’s blood ran cold, but her training took over. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t step back. She offered Marcus Vance a cool, perfectly detached smile.
“I’m afraid you are mistaken, monsieur,” Sophie said in flawless, aristocratic French. “My name is Genevieve Laurent. I am from Monaco.”
Vance stared at her, his eyes darting to the diamond bracelet on her wrist. His face tightened. “I would recognize Marie’s bracelet anywhere. I was there the night she received it. You’re Sophie.”
He took a step closer, lowering his voice to a dangerous whisper. “If the Russos know you are here, they will slaughter everyone in this room. You need to leave immediately.”
“I’m not leaving without that clock, Marcus,” Sophie dropped the accent, her voice turning into steel. “I know what’s inside it.”
Vance’s face drained of color. “Your father’s ledger.” He looked around the room frantically. “Sophie, you don’t understand. I didn’t just acquire this clock by accident. Camilla Russo brought it to me this morning. She ordered me to auction it tonight.”
“Camilla has it?” Sophie gasped.
“She doesn’t know the ledger is inside,” Vance whispered urgently. “She just knows it belonged to your father, and she wants the pleasure of selling off his legacy piece by piece to humiliate him. If she sees you bid on it, she’ll know why you’re here.”
Suddenly, a loud chime echoed through the ballroom.
“Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats!” the auctioneer called out from the stage. “We will now begin the bidding for our centerpiece item!”
“Hide,” Vance pleaded, turning away.
Sophie ignored him. She walked straight to the front row and took a seat just as Camilla Russo entered the ballroom, flanked by four massive bodyguards. Camilla sat in the VIP booth, sipping champagne with a cruel smirk.
“We begin the bidding for the 18th-century French Embassy Clock at fifty thousand dollars!” the auctioneer announced.
“Fifty,” a man in the back called.
“Seventy-five,” another yelled.
Sophie raised her paddle. “One hundred thousand.”
Camilla’s head snapped toward the front row. Even from a distance, Sophie could see the exact moment Camilla recognized her. The cruel smirk vanished, replaced by sheer, venomous rage.
Camilla immediately raised her paddle. “Two hundred thousand.”
The crowd murmured.
Sophie didn’t blink. “Five hundred thousand.”
Camilla stood up from her booth, her eyes burning into Sophie. “One million dollars.”
The room gasped. The clock was barely worth a hundred thousand.
Sophie gripped Alessandro’s titanium card. “Two million.”
“Three million!” Camilla shrieked, losing her composure.
Sophie realized Camilla wasn't going to stop. She had unlimited cartel funds. Sophie could bid ten million, and Camilla would bid eleven just to watch her fail.
Sophie needed a distraction.
She looked at the clock. She remembered her father’s lessons. The gears were delicate.
“Three million going once!” the auctioneer yelled.
Sophie stood up, pretending to stumble in her high heels. She fell forward, crashing directly into the velvet display stand. The heavy antique clock wobbled violently and tipped over, smashing onto the marble floor with a deafening crash.
The glass shattered. The wooden casing splintered.
“No!” Camilla screamed.
The crowd erupted in panic. Security rushed forward. Sophie scrambled to her knees amid the shattered wood. Her bleeding fingers ripped the pendulum housing apart.
There was no leather book. There was no ledger.
Hidden inside the wooden cavity was a single, rusted iron key.
Sophie snatched the key, slipping it into her gown just as Vance’s security guards hauled her to her feet.
“Hold her!” Camilla shrieked, pushing through the crowd with her bodyguards. “Kill her right now!”
The lights in the ballroom suddenly violently shut off.
Pitch blackness swallowed the room. Screams echoed as the crowd panicked.
May you like
A strong hand grabbed Sophie’s arm in the dark, pulling her hard into the shadows.
“I told you not to talk to Camilla,” Alessandro’s voice whispered in her ear. “Run.”
