Page 54 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 4

“Well, I think that’s a dynamite idea!” Mom had clearly overheard our conversation.

“You’re the boss,” I winked at Nay as she rolled her eyes and shook her head, then went back to her work.

“Anyway, we’ll be home in a couple days to help with the wedding plans.”

“Speaking of the wedding, I’ll need to know the number of guests Naomi is inviting from her side.” I was about to butt in when she continued, “I know we’re keeping it small. Just your sisters, and any relatives that live close, as well as the handful of friends you’ve mentioned, but I need a final tally from Naomi.”

“I’ll get back to you on the guest list once I’ve confirmed things with Naomi.” My phone beeped, and I glanced down at the screen. It was Jade Lee from The Marriage Auction calling. For some reason, that made me excited and nervous at the same time. “Hey, Momma, I’m getting another call. I’ll hit you back later. Love you.”

“And I love you, son. Please tell Naomi she has our gratitude for returning our home to us. And I can’t thank you both enough for paying off the mortgage in full. Your father and I…” she croaked, “we’re just so appreciative and so damn proud of you, son. That’s all. Talk soon. Love you. Bye.” My mother hung up so fast I couldn’t even respond.

I hit the button to accept Jade’s call. “Hi Jade, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

“I’m RSVPing for your wedding. I will be attending on behalf of The Marriage Auction.”

I frowned. “Jade, I invited you because we’re friends, not because of your job.”

“Well, be that as it may, I have to inform you that I am attending as your friend but also on Madam Alana’s behalf. She has a situation she is handling in France that prevents her from attending. Though she sends along her well wishes for a long and happy life together.”

“Okay, now that you’ve got the work part out of the way…it’s me Jade. You can speak freely. Is she okay?”

Jade sighed. “I don’t know. I’m worried about her. She left for France with someone having threatened her and one of the other candidates.”

“No shit? Who?” I started running through the list of my candidate peers, attempting to guess but coming up empty with someone who may have a shady side.

“Maia Fields,” Jade answered. “But I could get in trouble for saying anything, so keep it to yourself.”

“I know anything we discuss about The Marriage Auction is confidential. I’m not super familiar with her. She didn’t speak much during the whole process. Dang, now I wish I’d connected more with her. She was threatened?”

“Yeah, and her place was trashed. Her bidder swooped her off her feet and they are supposedly fine now, but I know there’s more to the story than what Alana has shared. She was really cagey and curt in her correspondence with me last week. She’s even given me the go ahead to start working on the next set of candidates and bidders by myself.”

“That’s good news, right? It means she trusts you.”

“Or she’s got something keeping her away that she doesn’t want me to know about.”

I started laughing. “Seriously, Madam Alana is beloved by everyone. I can’t imagine a single soul having a beef with her. It’s probably one of her admirers gone rogue. I’m sure Christophewill take care of her. But in the meantime, I’ll reach out. I’m actually surprised she hasn’t been checking in.”

“Wait a minute… She hasn’t been checking in weekly with you?”

“Nah, I haven’t heard a single word since we left Las Vegas.”

“You see? That right there is proof something strange is going on. She always checks on the candidates. When I first started, I even offered to do the weekly check-ins, and she said she needed to hear their voices herself. Make sure every candidate was okay. Now you’re saying she didn’t check in.”

“Maybe it’s because she knows me better than the others? I’d contact one of the other candidates to see if they’ve heard from her. Is she responding to communications?”

“We haven’t had anything pressing in the last week, so I didn’t need to reach out.”

“Give her a call and maybe check in with Julianne. That’s her goddaughter, right?”

“Oh my God!” Naomi screamed. “Memphis, you need to see this!” Naomi was pointing at her laptop. “Put the phone on speaker. It’s important.” Her eyes were wild and her face pale.

“What is it?” I got up from the barstool I was perched on in the kitchen and went to the table.

“I got bored of designing so I thought I’d read the latest news…” She pointed to an article inThe New York Times.

My heart started pounding as I read the paragraph out loud.

“It has been revealed that business mogul Giovanni Falco, the heir to the Falco dynasty and his new bride, Julianne, were two of the three persons that perished in last week’s mid-town explosion. The other victim was real estate magnate Brenden Myers…”

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