Bianca
The auction was in full swing, and I had to give Isaac credit—he was playing his part well. Every time an item came up for bid, he would raise his paddle with practiced nonchalance, always dropping out at just the right moment to let someone else win.
It was clear he wasn’t bidding because he actually wanted the items themselves, but rather for the appearance of being charitable.
One item was a rare first edition book; he bid up to five thousand before letting an elderly woman claim it. A weekend getaway package to the mountains? He pushed it to fifteen thousand before dropping out. He bid on a set of antique china that had once belonged to some distant royal relation until it drove the price up to twenty thousand, and then he gracefully bowed out to a competitive socia
