Page 83 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

“First off, how did all of this start?” Moreau asked.

“Well, I guess we’d have to go back thirty years if we were to start at the very beginning,” I answered. Because ultimately, as Angus said, all of this was my fault.

“We’re ready when you are. Take your time,” the detective said gently, his tone kind but firm.

“When I arrived in the United States, I was an eighteen-year-old South Korean orphan. Angus ran something called The Marriage Auction.”

Detective Moreau frowned. “Like a mail-order bride situation?”

I shook my head and then thought more about it. “Actually, it was kind of like that. We had to pay him a bunch of money tolegally bring us to the United States. Once there, we agreed to enter into his auction.”

“For marriage?”

“Oui. We were flown to Las Vegas from Europe. When we arrived, he made us get cleaned up and dressed for the event. We stood on stage the same night, and he put us up for auction to the highest bidder.”

“This sounds more like sex-trafficking,” Moreau interjected.

I shook my head. “Non, each candidate agreed to be in the auction. We weren’t forced. You see, we were promised a lot of money. Most of us had very little and no hope for the future. We were all in precarious positions and considered this an opportunity to change our lives. Which was what it was for me. In exchange for Angus getting us into the US and providing this service, he took a commission of our bid, a very large one. We then would receive the remaining amount over the years. But only if we served the full five years.”

“It still sounds questionable.”

“Oh, it definitely was. He could have handled it all better. Most importantly, he should have had safety precautions in place and a system by which to vet the bidders. Other than that, the marriages were entirely legal,” I said with confidence.

“Technically not all were completely legal,” Christophe muttered, surprising me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He licked his lips and looked down at this lap as though shamed. “Our marriagewas legal because I had my lawyers make sure everything was on the up and up, especially with the French laws. Before you walked down that aisle, I’d had our contract revised.”

“Christophe,” I whispered. “You never told me that.”

He closed his eyes. “There were many other things I kept from you. But you must understand, you were so traumatized byall you had experienced prior to us finding one another and then with Celine’s loss, I didn’t want you to worry. I handled things on your behalf, and then time passed, and none of it mattered anymore.”

“Such as?” I snapped.

He let out a long breath. “Darling, Celine’s marriage to Darren was never legal.”

I gasped at that revelation. I’d been under the impression the entire time that, although Angus was a horrible business owner and operator, at the very least he had been honest with his candidates.

“Is the Celine you’re referring to Celine Holt?” Moreau asked. “The same woman Angus went to jail for ten years over?”

Both of us nodded but it was Christophe who spoke next. “Celine is the reason my wife was kidnapped today. It’s all my fault.”

I stepped back and put my hand over my mouth as I came around the bed so that I could look my husband in the eyes.

“Your fault? Angus said it wasmy faulthe went to jail for his part in Celine’s case. He kidnapped me so that he could seek revenge against me. Planned to put me in the basement of one of his dreary homes and leave me there to rot for ten years.” My voice rose as Christophe’s red rimmed eyes became shimmery, but I continued undaunted, needing to say my piece. “I knew nothing of what Angus spoke. You and I both left The Marriage Auction and Angus’s name out of everything, lest he retaliate.”

“You did protect that information,” Christophe’s voice cracked, clearly pained, not from the stitching the doctor was doing, but from something else.

A part of me knew that whatever my husband was about to say was going to destroy everything I’d believed up until now.

“Christo? What did you do?”

He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together.

“Christo!” I demanded.

“Once Darren had been put away, I contacted the primary detective on the case. I shared all that had occurred from the time you and Celine joined the auction up until her death. Angus deserved to go to jail for putting her in that situation. He knowingly subjected your best friend, the sister of your heart, to an evil man that had nothing but ill intention. Darren had a record a mile long. Domestic violence, attempted rape, and a host of other crimes that he’d used money to escape from.”

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