Chapter 46
Nina’s POV
The auctioneer’s gavel hovered mid-air. Thirty million going once.
My eyes stayed squeezed shut. Stage lights seared through my eyelids like branding irons. The crowd’s roar pressed against my skull, a living thing hungry for blood.
I waited for the final strike. For the number that would seal me into someone’s possession.
Then a new voice sliced through the noise. Cold. Precise. Familiar.
“She will be mine forever. Fifty million dollars.”
My eyes flew open.
Dante stood at the edge of the VIP balcony, black tuxedo immaculate, no mask needed because everyone knew that face. He held his paddle high, expression calm as if he were bidding on a vintage car instead of a human life.
Relief crashed through me first—sharp, dizzying. Dante. The devil I knew. Th
