Entrapped by the billionaire

Chapter 13 : Mind games

Khloe POV

I stood on the high podium where everyone could see me. Alexander was sitting in the middle role discussing with a man who I presumed was Michael Ortega. He was a wealthy businessman who dealt with cars but he wasn’t clean in making his money.

He also has a gang like Alexander but not as powerful as the one Alexander ran. A few days after I had done some research, I found out that he had connections with most of the men he had given me on the list.

I composed myself and tried not to panic from all the gawking stares from the audience.

The other secretary I was to compete with was more confident in an emotionless state. She didn’t even blink her eyelashes and that scared me. If I were to fail in this stupid game then my life would be in jeopardy.
I glanced at Alex again and breathed in as the auctioneer climbed the stage. I suddenly felt suffocated in the dress I was wearing even though it was not too tight on my skin.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the twentieth Grand annual action. This year, two of our highest bidders over the seasons have decided to participate in the win-win game. As we all know, the winner has to go home with the grand prize of fifty percent of the opponent’s bids and his secretary,” the man announced to the audience who was rather disinterested in his long speech.

“Try not to lose because I won’t accept another loser under my wing,” the other secretary flashed a creepy smile at me before facing the crowd again.

I had a feeling that she was going to cheat and foul play would be regarded as a smart move. So to survive this hellhole, I had to be shrewd and attentive to my surroundings.

Before the game started, I observed the position of everyone in the room to point out who was my ally or foe. The man introduced their game and I stood firm watching the other secretary.

She picked her first paper out of the box that was placed in front of us and then stepped backward with a smile on her face. I repeated the action she did but didn’t smile as I found it useless to do so.

We selected another set of paper and waited for the first round to end.

Someone stepped forward to take the paper we had selected and I quickly sneaked a look into it.

The words were written in Spanish making it difficult for me to comprehend what they meant.

“For the second round, our participants will have to step up and select a lucky card.”

After the host announced the details of the next round, the bald man stood up with a proud smile as other guests clapped for him. Later on, Alex followed suit with his stern face that had no atom of emotion.

They both selected a card and stepped back waiting for the next instruction of the host.

“Now let us see what they both have and declare our winner,” he said and the crowd went silent.

I looked around for any suspicious activity as I was not ready to lose. Just as I was but to turn my head to the left, someone breezed past me quickly exchanging the paper I had in my head.

I glanced back at Alex and noticed a part of his lip was cracked up. He had something up in his sleeve and whatever it was; I had the gut feeling that it was going to be a lucky cheat.

“Please show your cards to the crowd,” the host said and they showed it up.

Everyone began to gasp and talk making me get anxious about what Alex had chosen.

“I will read out the paper their secretaries selected,” he stepped forward to take my paper but a menacing hand grabbed his shoulder.

“The young lady can read,” Alex muttered in an eerie way that scared me.

“If you insist, please read out what you have,” the host gulped down in fear as Alex’s glare terrified him.
My eyes read through the sheet and I flushed red. Alex was seriously a big bastard; he was teasing me at a time like this.

“I don’t think I can read what I have sir,” I stuttered in embarrassment. What was scarier was letting the host get hold of the paper.

I swear Alex wanted me to fail at all costs so that he could save my ass and have it for himself. But I was not going to fall for his stupid game.

“I can’t read my paper because it is blank,” I lied.

“Please step forward and choose another paper while you are at that, the second secretary should read out what she has,” the cup passed from me to her and I was glad that I could breathe for a short time before my turn again.

The second paper I chose was also written in Spanish and Alex was mad at me. But I didn’t care; I was alone in this game.

“Are you dumb? Can’t you decipher hidden letters?” he grumbled in a low tone and snatched the paper out of my hand.

He looked at it for a while then brought me close to him. “I won’t go easy on you. So choose, my hands or toys?” he darkly whispered into my ears and I froze up again.

“Don’t look at the literal meaning, you naughty fool,” he called me and I turned to him in surprise.

“You just said stupid things to me and called me a naughty fool?” I glared at him for his imprudent words.

“I guess you are hopeless at reading things with metaphoric meaning. If your opponent finds out the answer to her task, then you will be stuck with them. I thought you understood Spanish,” he scoffed and moved away from me.

I read the content of the paper and realized that he wasn’t joking. What he translated to English was exactly what I had on my sheet. Was this how rich people play their mind games?

How the hell was I supposed to know the metaphorical meaning of these perverted sentences?