𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧- (𝐒.𝐌)

Part 4~ Sold to the highest bidder

-One hour later-

Hannah

I am standing backstage and I hear a lot of men's voices. My heart is beating so fast and I can't stop thinking about Shawn. I peak out through the red curtains and, damn it is so many handsome men out there. "Okay, Hannah. Your turn" Alice says and places her hand on my shoulder. I close my eyes and taking a deep breath, I open the curtains and walk out on the stage. Here goes nothing.

On the stage, my heart was beating faster than ever with everyone's eyes on me and silence filled the room. I walked to the center of the stage and stopped, I glanced around at the masked eyes staring up at me, judging.

I just want to turn on my heels and walk back, but there is no turning back now. The toothpaste is out on the toothbrush and you can't put it back into the tube.

I see Shawn in the crowd and I immediately got a smile on my lips. He smirks and raises his champagne glass at me.

"This lovely young lady is our last prize. As you can see she has a lot of potentials. Bidding begins at 10.000 dollars" Alice says while standing beside me. I look at Shawn and noticed his eyebrows arching slightly. But I can't read his expression. I'm dying to know what he's thinking right now. Everyone is just staring at me and no one has bid on me yet and I feel the panic rising.

I see him open his mouth slightly and a familiar voice breaks the silence in the hall. "100,000 dollars," Mr. Donkey says and raises his arm in the air. Hell no. Anyone but not him!

"Wow! A fantastic opening bid for this new Prize. Who else is ready to invest in this striking young woman?" "You can try to bid higher if you have the money, but she's mine" Mr. Donkey smirks at Shawn who is standing beside him. I made a disgusted face and my eyes quickly went to Shawn. I need to grab his attention somehow. I wait for him to look at me and when our eyes meet, I wink at him. He smiles with his white teeth and winks back at me. Holly shit, his smile is to die for.

"I'm confident you all want to win this brilliant Prize. But only one lucky bidder will succeed. Do I hear higher than 100.000 dollars?" Alice says with her french accent. My panic abruptly ends when a middle-aged man bids 115.000 dollars. I don't know who it was, but I'm so glad that someone else is biding on me. It's way better than Mr. Donkey. But I wish that it was Shawn who was bidding on me.

"200.000 dollars!" What?! He is bidding on me?

"Wow! We haven't had a race this heated before" "220.000 dollars" Mr. Donkey race his hand and my eyes widened and my heart starts to beat faster again. "300.000 dollars!" Shawn raising his hand and wink at me. Mr. Donkey gives Shawn an angry face and then looks at me once again "500.000 dollars!"

"Oh la la. Do I hear-" "900.000 dollars" The handsome man interrupts Alice. "I think we have a winner-" Alice gets interrupted by Mr. Donkey "One million dollars!"

"Not so fast old man. 1, 250,000 dollars!" Alice breathing air in surprise and I were almost shocking. How can someone bid so much money on me? "Going once?" Please for god sake stay silent Mr. Donkey. "I think we have a winner. Bravo!"

"Congratulations darling!" Alice says to me when we are standing backstage and kiss me on each cheek. "When will I meet him?" I ask excitedly "Now when the bid is over it's going to be an after-party and there you will meet your bidder. And when he is ready to go from the party you follow him"

-A few minutes later-

I entered the after-party and see Alice talking to Shawn and I decided to walk up to them. "Oh, in perfect time," she says and turns to me and so does Shawn. "I'll take it from here. I'll see you in your office in a while to sign the contract" Even though he's talking to Alice, he doesn't take his eyes off me. He ignores her as she walks away.

"So are you happy that it's me?" He asked and take a sip of his champagne "I didn't connect with someone else. So I was hoping it would be you in the end. And not because Mr. Donkey is a total sleaze" he let out a laugh "His name is Egon" I widened my eyes "You two know each other?" "There's history" he shrugged

"So are you happy that you won me?" I bit my lower lip and smiled "Are you trying to be cute?" As quick he says that I looked down and felt my anxiety coming "What a ridiculous thing to ask. If I didn't like what I saw out there, I wouldn't have bid a single dollar" My cheeks turn red, I'm no match for him. "Ask me a more proper question" "Would you be so kind as to tell me your name?" Sure, I know his name already. But he doesn't know that I know.

"You'll find out when I'm ready to tell you. If you excuse me I need to sign the contract in Alice's office. Stay here and don't move" He walks off as quickly as he appeared, leaving me in the middle of everyone getting along with each other. "Hey girl!" Grace says running to me. "You are so lucky. Now you finally got the man you wanted" she laughed "I know. The luck is on my side today" I say and wink and pointing out with my tongue at the corner of my mouth. "Who is your bidder?"

"Grace!" a manly voice interrupted. She turns around and looks at her bidder and he is hot, but not as handsome as my bidder. "Is it okay if I go?" "Of course it is. Go and have fun! If we don't see each other again tonight, be sure to send me a text tomorrow morning" "Of course I do. Love ya!" Is the last thing she says before she goes to her bidder.

My buyer still hasn't returned, so I grab a drink and step outside for some fresh air. Out of nowhere, I hear an unwelcome voice behind me. I roll my eyes and pretend that I didn't hear.

"Hey, babe" "My name is not 'babe'" I roll my eyes and took a sip of my drink "Ouch, bossy" he places his hand on his chest, pretends to be in shock. "I'm serious. Whatever signals you think you've been getting from me, you're way off base"

"Stop trying to complicate things. I know you want me too" "Is that a threat?"

He puckers his dry lips in a mocking display of sympathy, and his voice drops to a whining sneer. "Darling, you hurt me, saying I'm threatening you. That's no way to talk to me" he takes a step closer to me and placing a strand of my hair behind my ear and I can smell the alcohol from him.

"Why don't we go to my car, huh? It's warmer in there. I'll pay you immediately" "No way I step into the same car as you! I'm not a prostitute! I don't want your dirty money! Leave me alone" He slid his hand around my waist but I quickly push it away.

"What do you think you're doing? Get your dirty hand off of my girl!" I heard a welcome voice getting closer and he sounded mad.