A Life Debt Repaid novel (John and Cordy) novel Chapter 405

Jessica stood above the stage, asking everyone below, "Is Number 62 present in this hall?"

In reality, the paddle numbers were arranged before the auction—odd numbers were assigned to men, while even numbers were assigned to women.

Cordy Sachs had no idea why that was the case when she received her auction paddle, and simply presumed there would be a lottery or something else. After all, entertainment was necessary to keep things lively at a charity auction, and she realized now that the arrangement was for this mini-event.

Patrick obviously knew Cordy's number and teased, "Oh, this truly is destiny!"

Cordy shot him a sideways glare.

Destiny? She would already disagree when Jessica picked Noel with pinpoint precision for the first number, and had even more reason to after Jessica picked her as well.

There were only that many coincidences in the world—Jessica meant to do this, and as the host, she had a million ways to find out the numbers of every person in this ballroom.

"Number 62…" Jessica repeated.

"Over here!" Patrick suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Cordy.

Jessica feigned surprise as she gasped in turn, "It's Cordy?"

"Yes," Cordy replied calmly.

"Oh, what a coincidence! You and Noel… Oh, this is wonderful!" Jessica exclaimed with a look of utter joy. "Please, come forward."

Cordy pursed her lips, earnestly repulsed.

At her side, Patrick noticed her hesitation. "Just say no if you don't want to go…"

Cordy, however, didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble.

If Patrick had to challenge Jessica for her sake, he wouldn’t fare well, especially since his side of the family was having a clandestine power struggle against Jessica's.