Chapter 278
“Patricia, you can relax now,” Anne said, letting out a long breath. “Looks like the other bidder has backed off. The diamond is yours.”
She was so relieved. Honestly, she’d been holding her breath, terrified Patricia was about to blow her entire secret stash just to win.
“One hundred ninety million, going
The whole room was hanging on the auctioneer’s words, waiting for him to bring down the gavel. That’s when, from the VIP section upstairs, the bidding alert chimed again. Not just once-three times in a row.
Everyone knew what that meant. If someone pressed the bidding button three times in succession, they could skip the normal ten-million increments and go straight to a much higher offer.
One hundred ninety million was already a number that made even the richest people in the room feel broke. It was way beyond what anyone had expected, and most assumed no one would dare raise it again. But here it was… a surprise contender jumping in at the last moment. Not just raising by ten million, but clearly going much higher. It was obvious now-the diamond would easily break two hundred million.
Patricia had been seconds away from celebrating. Now, she just stared at the glowing number on the board, stunned. “Bidder number nine? Where did they even come from?”
Anne didn’t say a word. She wished she hadn’t sounded so sure a second ago. The diamond suddenly felt out of reach.
“Bidder number nine, please enter your offer!” The auctioneer, fidgeting with a tissue, wiped sweat from his forehead. His hands shook. Before tonight, the most expensive diamond ever sold went for one hundred forty million. Now ‘Sakura’ was already at one ninety, smashing the world record. A price like this? Who knew if it would ever happen again.
In a private suite, Anthony sat gracefully on the sofa, long legs crossed, an electronic bidding device balanced on his lap. His eyes, dark and thoughtful, landed on Charlotte beside him.
“Lottie, what do you think? How much should I bid?”
Charlotte glanced up and smiled, cool and effortless. “Most of it goes to the children’s charity anyway. You’re loaded. Just pick a lucky number or something.”
A lucky number? From the way she said it, it was like she didn’t care if he spent a fortune.
Anthony smirked, thinking for a second. Then he tapped the keypad with smooth, practiced fingers.
The first number he pressed: 5.
Hans, standing behind, caught a glimpse and his eyes nearly popped out. The bid was already one ninety million Starting with a five? That meant Anthony was about to offer at least five hundred million. It was insane.
Anthony was the type to stay quiet until the very end, then shake up the whole scène. The others had fought for half an hour just to reach a third of what he was aboutto bid Was was five hundred million too much? Even if he’d bumped it up by
much
t another hundred million, the others couldn’t
have kept up.
Hans was still trying to wrap his head around it when Anthony tapped in more digits.
Five, two…
Anthony’s hand blocked the rest, so Hans couldn’t see the full number. But it was clear-five hundred twenty million minimum.
“Bidder number nine has finished
bidding! Everyone, please witness
this together!” The auctioneer was
practically vibrating with excitement, desperate to see the final number
“Let’s see the bid!”
The words had barely left his mouth when the big screen at the front of the room flashed a long, staggering string of numbers. The whole crowd gasped.