THE BILLIONAIRE'S PRICE

CHAPTER THREE : The Offer

Isla Raymond's Point of View

My mouth was dry. My hands were shaking. I could not find any words that made sense.

I could smell Caspian Grey's cologne because he was so close to me. It smelled like high-end things I could not put my finger on. People around us were still talking and laughing like nothing had happened. But everything was different now. The richest and most dangerous man in the city had just spent ten million dollars on a joke I wrote at midnight when I was tired, desperate, and falling apart.

"I apologize," I said. My voice sounded small and strange. "That was just a joke." I did not mean—

"Not here," Caspian said in a low voice. He put his hand on my elbow, not hard but not soft either. It was more like he was just making up his mind that we were going. "We should talk in private."

A man came up next to us. Very tall. Looks sharp. He was dressed in a suit and had a face that did not look like it smiled a lot. I did not know who he was, but he moved like he worked for Caspian. Like he did everything Caspian asked him to do.

The man told Caspian, "Everything is ready, sir." He did not even look at me.

Ready? What was made? What was going on?

"Good," Caspian said. He was still holding onto my elbow. "Will you come with me, Miss Raymond?"

It was not really a question. I could sense that. But I did not have any other options. Marcus was looking at me with a blank look on his face. Sarah sent me texts that I could not read. People were still watching. I was standing next to the most powerful man in the city, who thought he could buy me at an auction, and I was wearing a borrowed dress that did not fit right.

I nodded because I did not know what else to do.

Caspian took me to the back of the auction house. He kept his hand on my elbow the whole time. We walked by the room where I had been trying to look brave in the mirror just an hour before. Now it feels like it was a year ago. It felt like everything was different. It was like everything was happening to someone else and I was just watching it happen.

The second floor had a private room that only the owners and important clients ever used. Caspian brought me there. The man with the sharp face followed us inside, but then he stood by the door like a guard. The room was quiet and cost a lot of money. It made my apartment look like a closet.

"Sit down," Caspian said, pointing to a chair.

I sat down. I could not stand up anymore because my legs were too weak.

He sat across from me and stared at me for a long time without saying anything. His eyes were dark and cold, and they made me feel like he knew everything about me. Like he knew about the debt and the hospital bills and how I cried in my car yesterday because I could not figure out how to save Maya.

He said, "Isla Raymond is your name." It was not a question. "You work at the auction house." You have been there for five years.

My stomach sank. How did he find out? "Yes," I said in a low voice. "But the list was—"

He kept going like I had not said anything. "Your sister is Maya." "Twenty-two years old. Three months ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia. She is currently getting treatment at County Hospital, which does not have the best survival rates for her type of cancer.

The room began to spin. "How do you know that?"

Caspian said, "I know a lot of things, Isla." He leaned forward a little bit. "I know you have borrowed money from people who are not very nice. I know you are about to miss a payment to someone named Viktor. I know the good hospital, the one with a 90% survival rate, will not take Maya because you can not pay for it.

I could not get any air. I tried to get up, but my legs would not let me. "Why are you saying this to me? Who are you? Why did you even go to the auction?

"Because I was waiting for you," Caspian said without any other explanation. "And because I have an offer."

"An offer?" It sounded crazy, but I laughed. Not working. "You can not really buy a year of being married. That is not true. I was just kidding. Everyone can tell I was joking.

Caspian got up and walked to a table with a folder on it. He picked it up and came back to me. He put it on my lap. "Open it," he said.

I opened it with hands that were shaking. There were papers inside. A lot of papers. Legal papers with words I did not get. But I got the gist of it. Sign a contract. Getting married. One year. Ten million dollars.

Caspian said, "The auction house's rules say that all items, even jokes, are legally binding contracts." He spoke in a calm voice, like he was talking about the weather. "My lawyer has looked over everything. The contract is good. If you want to, you can fight it, but you will lose. And you will lose anyway because you can not pay to fight me.

I looked at the papers. This could not be happening. This was crazy. In real life, people did not really do things like this. Rich men did not buy wives at auctions. This was nuts.

"I will not do it," I said, but my voice was shaking. "I do not care about the deal. I will not sign anything.

Caspian sat back down. He took out his phone and showed me the screen. It was a bank account. A number that was so big it did not seem real. Nothing but zeros.

He said, "Ten million dollars." "Your account will be credited as soon as you sign. All of your debts go away. Tomorrow morning, your sister will go to Mercy Hospital. There is already a bed ready for them. The best care. "The best doctors." He stopped for a moment. "Or you can say no. You can go back to the hospital in the county. You can keep working even though your debt collectors are at your door. You can watch your sister get the cheaper treatment and hope it is enough.

My chest hurts. I could not think straight. I could not say anything. I could not help but look at that number on his phone.

Caspian said softly, "One year." "That is all I want. A year of being married. Public and private. Then you can go. The cash is yours. You hold on to it. "Not a single string attached."

"Why?" I said in a low voice. "Why would you do this?"

Caspian's eyes stopped moving. "Isla, I want you to marry me." For a long time, I have wanted that. He got closer. "And I always get what I want."

I thought my heart was going to break through my chest because it was beating so fast. There was something in the way he spoke. Something dark, sure, and very scary.

He went on, "If you are thinking about saying no, I need you to understand something. I will not ask again. I will not bargain. "No" is not an answer for me. He got up and went to the window. "You have ten minutes to make a choice. The life of your sister. Or your ego.

He turned around to look at me. His expression was blank but his eyes were hungry. Looking. Waiting.

"Isla, what do you want?"