Page 17 of Wife Number One

Liam nodded. “Fair enough. Let’s see where this goes.”

“Strong opening bid from bidder two seventy. Thank you, sir. Can I hear nine hundred and fifty?”

The agent representing a telephone buyer raised her hand. “Nine-fifty.”

“Excellent! Can I hear a million?”

“Steady,” Liam warned. “That’s a suggested bid, not the one you have to make.”

I nodded, raising my hand to bid nine seventy instead, but the auctioneer took a bid from elsewhere in the crowd. “A million! Excellent.”

My stomach lurched, and I raised the paddle. “A million and five,” I called out. I would find the extra five thousand somewhere, even if I had to steal it. It was only five K.

The agent on the phone lifted her hand. “One million and fifty thousand!”

I sucked in a shocked breath.

Liam grimaced and made a disappointed sound beneath his breath. “Listen, man. It wasn’t—”

“One point one,” I called out, raising my paddle again.

Liam stared at me. “We don’t have—”

“One point one five,” the agent called out, then went back to speaking quickly into the phone.

My heart thrummed behind my chest. Anxiety and adrenaline mixed inside me, swirling dangerously. “One point two,” I yelled before I could even think about it.

Liam yanked my arm down. “What the hell are you doing? We don’t have approval for anything over a million!”

“I’ll get the money.”

“From where? You going back to running drugs and selling women?”

I froze.

Liam shook his head and swore beneath his breath as the agent on the phone bid another twenty thousand. “I’m so fucking sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

The auctioneer turned my way, peppering me with questions about whether I had another bid in me. I shook my head, letting the paddle drop from my fingers, while Liam’s words echoed around my head.

Liam ran a hand through his hair and let out a sharp breath. “Hayden, shit. I didn’t mean…”

I pressed my lips into a tight line. “I know,” I assured him. “You were right to bring it up. I was in over my head and needed to be reminded of my place. And it ain’t here.”

Liam tried to grab my arm, but I pulled away, walking out of the building and leaving a dream behind.

6

KARA

Ididn’t dare take my eyes off Hayley Jade. Firelight flickered over her sweet face, and I’d removed my veil without permission, not caring if I was caught in public without it. I refused to have my vision obstructed by anything when watching my daughter. Making sure she was safe was more important than it had ever been.

Alice tried to convince me to go and pack a bag, but I shook my head stubbornly. There was nothing in my room I wanted. Josiah had long ago stripped away everything I cared about. I had no idea how we were going to get out, or how we’d get away with no money or resources, but none of that mattered when Hayley Jade wouldn’t even be here in twenty-four hours if we tried to delay long enough to make a plan. If Josiah had his way, she’d be sold and shipped off.

I’d already lost her once.

I wasn’t going to lose her again.

It took another hour, but eventually Shari came back from the woods for the second time, more haggard and used up than I’d ever seen her. The second man, the one who’d bid on Hayley Jade, had taken his turn with Shari after all. A consolation prize when Josiah had refused him the thing he really wanted. The newcomer zipped up his pants as he returned to the circle, and Shari brushed fallen leaves and dry winter grass from her hair and the back of her top.

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