Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
“Hello,” I say with a forced smile.
“Oh, where are my manners?” Caroline says with a roll of her eyes. “This is my husband, John. John, this is my friend, Daisy Douglas.”
John nods at me.
Her friend, Daisy? I guess I still have one left.
“I hope that old guest bed is comfortable,” she says with her voice racing nervously. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like.”
John shoots her a side-eyed look, but she ignores him.
“You don’t have to do that,” I quickly say.
“Oh, nonsense,” she says as she places a cup of tea in front of me. I wrap my cold hands around it and breathe in the peppermint scent. Mmmmmm. It’s funny how I enjoy little things now like the smell of peppermint. Before, when I was riding high, I needed a five thousand dollar dress or a night out in a five-star restaurant in Paris to get the same feeling that the smell of this tea in this cracked mug is giving me.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask in a shaky voice. “I hope you know that I don’t have any money.”
She looks hurt and I instantly feel bad. I’ve been so used to everyone in my life wanting something from me. Immediate suspicion is a habit now. There are no genuinely nice people when you’re rich.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as I look at the bobbing tea bag in my mug.
She comes over and rubs my shoulder. “It’s okay,” she says. “You needed help and you helped me once. I never forgot it.”
I tear up as I look up at her. “I did?”
She nods. “I remember in ninth grade, my dog died and I was so upset. I didn’t study for the chemistry test, so you let me cheat off you. And then when the teacher caught me looking, you told her that you were the one who was cheating.”
Oh yeah. I forgot all about that. I knew how much she loved that dog and I just wanted to give her a break.
“Cooper,” I say with a smile.
“That was him!” she says with a big smile. “Best dog ever.”
“I still remember that picture in your locker. The one with his big tongue hanging out.”
“You’re a good person,” she says with a warm smile, “despite what everyone is writing about you.”
Oomph. I wonder what articles she’s been reading.
I tell them everything. About Miles, about the lies, the deception. I’m crying as I tell her the truth. By the time my tea is empty, all of it has been said. I don’t expect her to believe me—no one else does—but she’s different. She sees the good in people. Even in me.
“It will work out for you,” she says as she pats my hand. “Because you’re a winner.”
A laugh bursts out of me. The last thing I feel like right now is a winner.
“It’s true. You’re smart, capable, a true entrepreneur. You’ll bounce back.”
Bouncing back seems like an impossibility. I’m completely deflated.
“Didn’t Steve Jobs get fired from Apple?” she says, nodding to her husband for help.
“He did,” John says. “And then he started Pixar.”
“See?” Caroline says with wide eyes. “You could start the next Pixar!”
The kids start arguing in the living room and Caroline excuses herself as she rushes in.
“There could be another option,” John says in a low voice. “If you want to really start over.”
I look at him with blank eyes.
“A guy at work’s sister did it. There’s this auction for billionaires.”
“Okaaayyy…”
“The woman gets paid one million dollars to be auctioned off to a roomful of billionaires.”
I roll my eyes. “You can’t be serious. That’s not real.”
But even as I’m saying it, some old memory is triggering in my brain. Wasn’t there a rumor that the billionaire CEO of a German conglomerate won his new wife at an auction? Breeding Auction House or something like that?
“It’s real,” he says with certainty in his eyes. “I can get the number for you. You get a million dollars if you join the auction, but you have to marry whichever rich suitor buys you. They’re from all over the world, so maybe you’ll be moved to somewhere fancy like Italy or Switzerland. You could start over fresh.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I say, looking in the other room for Caroline. Her daughter is wrapped around her leg screaming, so she might be a while.
But I can’t quite seem to shake the idea that it might not be so ridiculous after all. A million dollars. I could repay the money my sister and parents lost, as well as give a bit to my extended family. I don’t expect them to talk to me after that, but at least, I’ll stop their hurting a bit.
And maybe I could leave this continent and start over somewhere new. That could be good…
“Oh,” he says as he shakes his head. “You have to be a virgin, though. That’s the catch.”