Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 102

Chapter 102

The auction moved through its middle lots. An old silver tea set A first-edition novel. A string of pearls that drew polite applause. I watched each one come and go without lifting my paddle.

And then the final lot was wheeled out.

The auctioneer’s voice shifted higher. “Ladies and gentlemen, the final lot of the evening. A privately held sapphire necklace, custom-made in mid-century Europe. The seller has requested anonymity.”

The cloth was pulled from the tray.

The necklace lay against black velvet. A fine silver chain held a single teardrop sapphire-small, but so deep in colour it looked like a piece of night sky had been compressed into stone. The light from the chandeliers hit its surface and scattered into a thin halo of blue.

My heart stumbled for a beat.

I couldn’t explain it. But my eyes were locked on that sapphire, and I couldn’t look away

An image flashed through my mind. It was so clear it didn’t feel imagined.

A woman sitting by a window. Evening light falling across the sill. Her slender. pale fingers resting on a teardrop sapphire at her throat. She was tracing the surface of the stone, slowly, with a gentle smile

I had never seen my mother’s face. I didn’t know what she looked like. But the pull it exerted on me was real A quiet, inexplicable gravity drawing my chest forward.

I sat up straighter. My spine pressed against the back of the seat. My hands, resting on the pile of items in my lap, curled slightly

The auctioneer announced the starting price. A million.

I turned my head toward Ryder. “I want that necklace. Can you lend me some money?”

Ryder looked at me Then he shook his head slightly. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card He held it out to me.

“No need to borrow “He smiled. “Before Mum died, she set up a trust fund for you. We’ve never touched it. There’s enough in there to buy everything in this room.” He placed the card in my

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Chapter 102

hand.

I looked down at the card. Then back up at him. My throat felt tight. “Thank you,” I said.

He nodded once and looked away.

288 (Vouchers

The bidding for the sapphire necklace began.

I lifted my paddle on the first round. My voice was steady. “Two million.”

Someone across the room answered. Three. I went to three five. A man in the second row pushed to four. I took it to five million without pausing.

The auctioneer’s pace quickened. His hammer hovered between each call, ready to fall. Then Victoria’s paddle went up.

“Five million one.”

Her voice carried. I tightened my grip on the paddle.

“Six.”

“Six one.”

“Seven.”

“Seven one.”

Every time I raised my bid, she raised hers by the smallest possible amount. Never enough to scare off the other bidders. Just enough to keep me in the game.

She wasn’t trying to win the necklace. She was trying to bleed me dry.

My jaw tightened. The card dug into my palm.

I lifted the paddle again. “Eight million.”

Victoria didn’t hesitate. “Eight million one.

The auctioneer was talking faster now. The room had gone quiet around us.

I pressed my lips together. I raised the paddle one more time-

From the right rear section of the hall, a voice cut through the room. “All in.”

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