Auctioned for a Dollar, Claimed by the Billionaire Chapter 06

Champagne dripped off Ryan’s chin. He didn’t wipe it.

“What… did you say?”

For one heartbeat, nobody moved. Then the room exploded.

“No way. No way!”

“That’s not her! He hired an actress to save face!”

“Ryan, did you get a model from an agency? Nice try, buddy!”

“That photo was a two-hundred-pound girl in a hoodie! This is a joke!”

A handful of guests rushed forward, holding up their phones with my old photo, zooming in on my face, hunting for a lie. A woman in Chanel pushed to the front. She was Margaret Ellison, one of my father’s oldest board members. She

stared at my face for a long time.

Then her eyes went to my left eyebrow.

To the thin white scar that cut through the end of it.

“Oh my God,” Margaret breathed. “That scar. She got that when she was ten. Her father told the whole board about it. She came home with her eyebrow split open after fighting three boys in an alley, and she refused to say why.” Her hand

went to her mouth. “It’s her. It’s really Ava.”

Somewhere behind me, I heard Damien inhale sharply.

The room flipped in an instant.

“It IS her! Look at the old photo! Same scar!”

“She lost, what, seventy pounds? She looks better than every woman in this room!”

“And Ryan put THAT on an auction block for a dollar? Has he lost his mind?”

The guests who’d been holding up my old photo lowered their phones, faces burning.

Ryan’s breathing turned ragged. His eyes were bloodshot. He took a step toward me, staring at the scar he’d kissed a

hundred times.

“Ava? How… What the hell happened in Paris? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“And miss this?” I tilted my head. “You put me on a scale, Ryan. Did you want progress reports?”

He swallowed hard. I watched his eyes move over my bare shoulders and my waist. The disgust was gone. In its place was something desperate and hungry. He forced a soft, coaxing smile I knew too well.

“Babe. Okay. You got me. Joke’s over.” He reached for my hand. “I’m pulling the lot. Let’s go home and talk.”

The ballroom erupted.

“Pulling the lot? Two minutes ago she was a cow!”

“Can’t take back a donation once it’s posted, Ryan!”

Sloane shoved her way forward, her face swinging between pale and green. She grabbed Ryan’s arm and lifted her chin

at me.

“Ava! So you lost weight. Congratulations. That doesn’t give you the right to humiliate Ryan in front of everyone. He did

this for the hospital! For the company! Have some class!”

“Class?” I looked at the sapphire at her throat, and my smile went cold. “Sloane, you’re wearing my dead mother’s

necklace to my auction. Don’t you dare lecture me about class.”

Every eye in the room dropped to her neck. Somebody whispered, “Oh, that’s dark.” Sloane’s hand flew to the pendant.

I turned my back on both of them and faced the stage.

“Mr. Auctioneer,” I called. “Lot 13 is present. Let’s continue.”

The auctioneer, sweating through his collar, scrambled to the podium. “Er… yes. Current bid: one million dollars, Mr.

Damien Cross. Do I hear-”

“Two million!” Ryan shouted, lifting his paddle.

“Ten,” said Damien.

He didn’t even raise his voice. He didn’t need to.

Ryan’s face twisted. “Eleven! On the Sterling corporate account!”

A murmur rippled through the board members. Using company money to buy back his own fiancée. Margaret Ellison’s

eyes narrowed.

Damien finally stepped forward, out of my shadow, and lifted his paddle.

“Fifty million dollars,” he said. “Every cent to the children’s hospital. And I’m skipping the scale.”

The auctioneer’s gavel shook in his hand. “F-fifty million going once… going twice…”

Ryan opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

“Sold! To Mr. Damien Cross!”

The ballroom went wild.

I walked across the marble, through four hundred stunned faces, and stopped in front of Damien. Up close, his eyes

were even darker. Hotter.

“The rules say hand-fed dessert, a first dance, and a kiss on the big screen,” I said, lifting my chin. “Still want what you

paid for, Mr. Cross?”

He didn’t answer.

He slid one hand around my waist and pulled me hard against his chest.