Page 18 of While He Breathes

Interesting.

“We have one million. Can we get five?”

A man on the other side of the aisle raises his arm, and the auctioneer doesn’t even finish saying ten when Ember’s arm is up again.

“The pretty girl in the middle is very keen on their piece. How about we bump things up to twenty million?”

The guy who bid before raises his paddle slower this time, as if he’s not sure he wants to fork out that kind of money. Not that it’s not worth every cent, because it absolutely is, but art at these things almost always goes for a fraction of its worth.

“Do I have thirty million?”

Ember raises her paddle again, and Max says something to her that earns him a smile.

Anger bubbles in my chest. I hate seeing her smile at any man who’s not me. Am I aware that’s completely insane? Yep. But that doesn’t stifle the jealousy that’s been running rampant since I first saw Max touch her.

“I wonder what he wants with the Van Gogh,” Killian says quietly.

“I’m not sure,” I reply, my hand tightening around my own paddle. A plan is beginning to form, and I can’t help but smirk as everything falls into place.

If Ember won’t come willingly, I guess I’ll have to make it impossible to refuse me.

CHAPTER TEN

EMBER

“Forty million?” the auctioneer asks, and my heart stutters in my chest.

This is way more stressful than I thought it would be.

I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me that spending this much of Max’s money would stress me the fuck out, but it probably should have.

Someone behind us must raise their paddle because the auctioneer locks eyes with them and gives them a swift nod.

Max lets out an amused chuckle, and I look up at him to see what he’s finding so amusing about having to pay even more for this piece of art that he’s buying Darius as an anniversary present.

Yep. You heard that right. He’s buying his husband a priceless Van Gogh piece that hasn’t seen the light of day in God knows how many years for their three-year wedding anniversary. It’s not even a big one!

When he told me how much he was willing to spend, I swear to god I almost passed out. But he was adamant, and he can afford it.

Max works primarily in property development, something that has made him billions over the last decade. But he also has investments in several illegal casinos and fighting rings, which bring in almost the same amount of money.

Most of the work I do for him has to do with the shadier sides of his business, as well as some light extortion of his developer rivals, but this has to be the job that’s made me sweat the most…by far.

“Looks like your boyfriend just got involved,” he murmurs.

I look up at him with confusion, but he just seems like he’s finding this entire experience amusing. Not a word I would use for it, that’s for sure.

I glance over my shoulder and find Orion staring straight at me, his intense gaze locking me in place and stealing the breath straight from my lungs.

Max wraps his hand around mine and lifts my paddle with me, telling me I’ve completely missed the auctioneer’s prompt.

Fucking Orion.

I turn back to the stage, but don’t miss the way Max chuckles to himself at my reaction.

“Are you sure this piece is worth this much?” I ask in a whisper as we surpass sixty million.

“No. It’s likely not. But I’m enjoying having you spend Orion’s money.”