"Thank you all for coming today for this great cause.  Would the last eligible lady for this evening please come on the stage?"  The crowd applauded the speaker. 

Annie calmly and swiftly appeared on stage, the glare of the bright spot light momentarily blinding her.  Walking toward the auctioneer, the light silky flow of her light peach dress flowed around her legs while softly trailing the floor.  It was a little nerve wracking appearing in front of a stage of familiar faces and strangers.  But as always Annie executed herself in high class and strong determination, never showing her true emotions. 

"This beautiful young lady is Angelica, she is twenty-five, single, chief operating officer of T-Enterprises, a liscensed nurse practitioner, has a degree in both biology and business and speaks five languages....Now who would like to spend an evening in the company of this smart, and highly talented, lovely young woman?"

The auctioneer peers out to the audience.  "Starting bid is $20,000.  Do I have a bid for $20,000?"

The audience started to get rowdy as bids were shouted out, bidding paddles up in the air and quickly increasing. 

"Anybody for $500,000?  I have $500,000!"  The auctioneer shouted in the mic, pointing to a gentleman.  The man was wearing a grey suit, with dark brown hair, broad shoulders, and cold-hard eyes.

"$1 million!"  A voice called from the crowd. 

Annie's eyes widened in surprise.  Squinting against the bright spotlight she tried determining the bidders location but there were too many cluttered men seated.  In addition, the lights were dimmed in the audience, making it even harder to make out the many faces. 

"Well gentlemen, we have some high rollers in the house it seems! 1 million dollars, Going once-"

"2 million!"  The man in the grey suit said in a deep manly voice, while holding up his bidding paddle.  His features were harsh and uninviting.  He made Annie want to look away from him, as goosebumps involuntarily rose on her arms, making her feel colder then she already felt.

"3 million!"  The mystery man said speaking up.  Annie still couldn't see his features, only hearing his voice. 

"I have 3 million dollars going for an evening with this beautiful woman.  Going once, going twice-"

"3.5 Million dollars."  The grey suited man said aloud. 

The crowd went silent as they watched in awe while the two men fought to win the bid. 

"5. million. dollars."  The mystery man said confidently, lowering his bidding paddle.  Hushed whispers rippled through the crowd breaking the silence. 

Many couldn't believe what they heard and neither could Annie as she turned her head to the auctioneer who was stunned silent, not believing his own ears but quickly collected himself.  The gentleman in the grey suit looked angry but backed down in defeat.

"5 million dollars, going once, going twice! Sold!  5 million dollars was raised today in one auction.  Once again the proceeds will be donated to charity for one date with this fine woman.  Will the winning bidder please step forward?"  The auctioneer boomed loudly into the mic. 

The mystery mans silhouette quickly formed as he came closer and closer to the stage.  He was wearing a light blue suit, white pristine shirt, his eyes were a sky blue with dirty blonde hair.  He was handsome as he smiled slightly at her while holding his cellular phone up to his ear. 

"I am the bidders messenger, Lucas.  The true bidder is on the phone.  The gentleman would like to remain anonymous. A check will be electronically sent to the charity fund if you could please give me the routing information."   Lucas explained in all seriousness to the auctioneer. 

Annie was baffled.  Who was the mystery bidder? He wanted to remain anonymous?  It internally gave Annie the chills, forcing her to suppress a shudder.  Who was it?  It was too unsettling, the discomfort started creeping up her stiff spine. 

Avoiding all mankind was her mission in life nowadays.  The only reason she ever participated was because it benefited a great cause for children with cancer.

She didn't want to see anyone, missing the security of her bedroom. Annie stayed hidden and out of sight for the entire night, awaiting patiently as her turn came to be bid on. She did it on purpose, again, avoiding anyone in the crowd, most especially Julien.

A speaker for the event randomly announced the large sums donated and its contributors; the St. James' were one of the major donators. Victor, Duncan, Julien and Caitlin were amongst the many attendenyees for the charity event that evening. They like the rest of the audience probably witnessed the outrageous bidding war that just occurred.

Lately, Julien and Caitlin were even more  inseparable than before, and watching them together was becoming harder and harder. He took her everywhere he went—business trips, family get togethers...The happiness showed on their faces, their laughter was heard in the hallways, their bond was becoming stronger as the days passed by.

Annie's wounds never had a chance to heal as they reopened everyday.

She resented Julien, recently feeling the hate growing inside of her. She hated him. Hated him for doing this to her. Hated him for leaving her to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. Hated him for making her suffer by watching him be happy.

The man she truly loved died that fatal day—as if he never existed.

The old Julien would not have stopped until she was his. This new and changed Julien was just a mirror image, he was not the man she fell in love with. The old Julien was her warmth, and now she was left cold and broken—iced over, suspended in the past.  Annie was certain she would never be warm again, never feel anything again.

She would forever be dead inside. 

Self-reproach grew in her chest. The person she hated even more than him was herself. She'd never forgive herself for the decisions she made on her own. It was all her fault. She decided to stay away from him. She was scared of getting turned down. She was weak enough to think he would push her without even trying. Why? She asked herself. Why was she like this? Why was she so complicated? What was she so afraid of? What was wrong with her?

Releasing a long suffering sigh and brushing the burdening thoughts of regret to the side, Annie searched the crowd and quickly spotted Brett, her father, Cici and Anthony hovering close to the stage as the messenger, Lucas, was relaying the information to his boss on the phone.

Annie became restless standing there on display; exiting the stage she approached her family. Cici brightened up when she saw her,  clutching her cold hands. "What the hell was that Angie?" Cici exclaimed, leading them to a table. Annie shrugged numbly, not caring. Her eyes were downcast as she fiddled with the silk folds of her gown. "What's wrong, baby?" She asked in a concerend tone.

"I wish I never came." Annie said in a monotone voice looking up at Cici's face. Cici closed her eyes briefly, while squeezing her hands reassuringly.

"Don't say that, please. You did good here tonight. You helped a great cause. 5 million dollars! I don't think anyone has ever bid that much in the history of this auction on a date."  She said, sounding cheerful and enthusiastic, trying to lift Annie's spirits but without any success. Her mouth was set in a grim line. Her face was pale and lifeless. Her spirit drained. "The only thing I find odd and creepy about this whole thing is the mystery bidder.  Who the hell is he?"  She asked. 

Annie wondered the same thing. 

A throat cleared behind them making them both turn.  It was the messenger. 

"I'm sorry to interrupt. The bidder who won the auction asked to me pass a message to you Miss. Angelica." Lucas said, directly to her.

Annie raised both eyebrows in feigned interest and remained silent.

He took her silence as a means to continue. "He requests your presence tomorrow evening for dinner on the terrace at the hotel Beverly Wilshire to complete the obligation for the winning bid. At 7:00 p.m."

The bidder requests my presence..?

Annie knew that the winning bidder received a date in return for his or her donation. But it was supposed to be mutually agreed upon, the time and the day. Now it seemed like a firm demand. 

Annie wanted to refuse, not having the strength to sit with some stranger and make small talk. But reminded herself this was a fun, innocent, charity event for every participants agreement when entering the auction.

"That's fine." She said to him absentmindedly, again not caring for anything in this world. Everything to her was tasteless and lacked luster.

Lucas smiled politely, but his expression looked doubtful. Annie held an expression of indifference as she watched his scrutinizing gaze. "Was there anything else you were ordered to say?" She asked irritably.

"No, that will be all, good evening." He said abruptly, and turned, walking away.

"Geez Annie, what a way to kill-the-messenger!" Cici laughed out loud.

"I don't give a damn." She said rubbing her temples. "You think we can leave now?" Looking past the cluster of men and women, toward the entrance.

Cici shook her head sadly at Annie's miserable expression. She was depressed. She alienated herself, was angry all the time, barely ate, never smiled, no thanks to Julien and Caitlin flaunting their relationship for the world to see. Cici understood the difficulty of the situation. If they weren't business neighbors Annie wouldn't have to endure seeing them together. It was easier to cope had her situation been, out of sight, out of mind. But unfortunately that was not the case.

"I'll go get the guys and let them know you want to leave, be right back."  Cici stood and walked away briskly leaving Annie alone at the table. 

Staring straight ahead, Annie's vision caught the man in the grey suit that bid earlier and stopped at 3.5 million.  He was standing with another gentleman having a conversation while a drink was held nimbly in his hands.  As if sensing her stare, he turned his head cocking it to the side sending her a small smile and a small salute with his drink.  Annie looked away quickly, blinking rapidly in embarrassment as he caught her starring. 

After a moment, she sighed tiredly, more eager than ever to leave.  Rising from her seat, Annie decided to search for her sister, but before taking a step the man in the grey suit stood before her. 

"I don't think we have ever met, my name is Nathan Diam.  I am the one that lost the last bid..."  Annie's eyes made contact with his silk tie, than slowly trailed upward to his wide jaw, nose and lastly ending on his cold calculating eyes.  She managed the urge not to cringe, struggling to mask the disgusted look off her face.

The man was not handsome, not in the slightest, his features harsh and uninviting. His body language was cocky, dangerous, lethal even. However, he did not smile, his cold green eyes bore into hers in challenge and anger as if she were the reason he lost the bid.  Annie reigned in her frustration.  She did not want anymore attention nor anyone's pathetic flattery.

"Can I help you?"  She asked, mirroring the same cold look.   Annie realized she was being impolite but she was not in the mood to talk. 

The anger she felt was always just above the surface, above the weaker emotions hidden inside of her. The anger eventually turned into bitterness.  She snapped easily, glared meanly, was rude and irritable.  She realized she was lashing out at the world and no one deserved her cruelty but it was easier to feel angry than vulnerable. 

Nathan's eyebrows rose in astonishment at the unhinged challenge she threw back in his face. Anger overtook his harsh features as he narrowed his eyes on the young confident beauty.  No woman has ever challenged him as she did, standing before him eye to eye.  It was obvious she did not know who she was dealing with.  

"You have quite the nerve to speak to me like that, little one."  He threatens in a dangerously low voice. "Pity I didn't win the bid, I would have loved to break you."

Annie glares, with her chin held up high, feeling her own features harden.  She had all this pent up frustration inside of her waiting to be unleashed and wanted nothing more than to spit in his face.  Annie held back the urge to scoff out load. A small part of her felt a pang of triumph she irked his ego and far from impressed by his intimidation. She yearned to slap that hard plained, hideous face of his. 

"Look at me.  Does it look like I give a damn?"  She retorts back.  "Do I look like I'm intimated by weak men who hide behind a petty threat?"

Who the hell did he think he was?

Determined to leave and never look back, Nathan pulls her roughly by the elbow forcing her to halt her steps while invading her personal space. 

Annie bunched her gown with her fist in anger. 

They were standing side by side, his large hand still clasping her arm tightly.  Annie looked straight, clenching her teeth together holding back from making a scene in the lively ballroom.   Her eyes clashed with the last person she thought she would look in the eye ever again.

Julien.

His sharp, silver gleaming eyes locked on the deep blue ink colored ones from afar. The anger within their depths was hard not to miss. The plains of her narrow face were tight and strained, as she fought for control. Annie did not look to be in pain where Nathan gripped her arm, she looked livid with anger.

Nathan was known to be vicious and dangerous. A businessman like Julien, and one of his rivals, Nathan notoriously known to lack a good standing reputation. He used his money as his power and his threats as leverage, instead of his skill and name.

Many feared the man, he was known to have no mercy. He stole, plumaged, and blackmailed in order to take over countless companies with his less respectable methods.

Julien wanted to intervene and ripe Nathan to shreds with his bare hands when Nathan touched her, feeling his own anger rise.  A rush of possessiveness coursed through him, warning. Nothing more than to protect and shield her from the monster who believed himself to be a man.

It was difficult to ignore her.  The smell of her light perfume lingered in the elevators, the hallways, the sound of her voice made his heart squeeze in his chest.  Everyday that passed by he hoped to see her, even just a glimpse from afar just to appease his eyes. 

The slight sway of her hips when she walked, the way her hair framed her delicate face, falling in waves down her back.  Everything about her attracted him, he couldn't but notice her whenever they crossed paths.  And each time they passed she ignored him like he did not exist.

It disappointed Julien knowing the fact she avoided his gaze and stayed as far away as possible, like he held a disease. 

Although she behaved so, it pulled him deeper in his desperation.  He was obsessed and he knew it.  When he saw her enter the stage during the auction, it felt like the world opened up in his face.  She was his ray of sunshine, a sight to behold like a beacon of light.  Seeing her made hope blossom inside of him. 

Annie was very rare, and unique in her own way.  It was what pulled him in the first place.  They shared a pull, an attraction, that he could not explain.  And he needed to find out the answers soon.   Secretly he was more then attracted to her, using Caitlin as a barrier between Annie and himself. 

If only I met her before.  Things would have been different.  He thought with a heavy sigh. 

The kiss she witnessed two weeks ago left a heavy burden of guilt he could not shake off. It killed him when she looked away with disgust. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to feel her in his arms. The impeccable timing on Caitlin's part stopped that short intimate moment before he savored it.

The bigger mystery was why she always seemed gloomy, lifeless, and hurting even underneath the mask she set in place.   She was never happy or in good spirits, even worser than when he first met her.

It's like he knew the reason, the answer, but he couldn't put his finger on it.  Each time he tried to figure it out, the further it felt he was from the truth.  He struggled to remember, but anytime he tried he encountered a wall that sent his head pulsing in pain.

Many times he wanted to ask his family members, but always stubbornly held back. He did not want to rise any suspicions of his interest. Annie was his little secret.

She glared at him with a scowl from across the room before she broke eye contact.  Julien could not make out her words as she spoke to Nathan, watching her tug her arm from his grasp again, but with no luck.  Julien took a step in her direction needing to interfere, his body moving without realizing it until he was a few yards away.  Annie continued struggling, working desperately to subdue her action as much as possible.

"Let me go NOW!"  She demanded, venom lacing her words. 

"Not yet, little one.  You need a lesson on how to treat others."  Nathan spoke calmly.  "To think I was going to spend millions just to be in your company. It's 3.5 million well saved.  You're not worth it. Perhaps another time..." 

Nathan's grip was starting to numb her arm.  But hearing him utter his last words, Annie stopped struggling and stiffened.  A knot formed in her throat.  His cruel words reminded her of the internal struggle she fought daily.  This man, this stranger that knew nothing about her, might as well just slapped her across the face with the truth. 

Turning her body to his side, she looked up at his stoic, non-readable features.  "You're right, I'm not worth it."  She replied, whispering defeatedly, her facade slipping.  Her shoulders sagged, the anger dissipating, the burden of her misery stacking itself heavily on her shoulders.  The fight in her swiftly dwindled to nothing in a matter of seconds making her feel pathetic and unwanted.

Nathan turned with bewildered eyes at her confession.  It seems he hit a weak spot already.  The fight in her eyes extinguished as she turned deathly pale—almost like she suddenly became sick.   Releasing her arm in surprise, Annie took the opportunity and stepped away, his long fingers visibly imprinted on her peachy skin.  

For someone so small and lithe she was strong. It took intense strength holding her by his side. But he expected her to keep fighting him, taunting him.  Nathan was looking forward to the challenge she provoked.

The slow dissection of her arrogance barely began before it even started. Breaking her further would have given him great pleasure. He shook his head making a tsk, tsk sound, watching her walk away quickly with her head bent down.

"What a shame...you would have been lots of fun to break, little one...perhaps another time." Nathan murmured with a evil smirk, holding his drink up in salute to her retreating figure.
****
Julien stood rooted in his position.  Shocked at her transformation.  She went from being headstrong and angry to defeated right before his eyes.  Fury sweeps across his face, the rage building inside him was barely contained as it ran hotly in his veins. The urge to punch and disfigure Nathan's face with his fist was becoming increasingly hard to suppress.  He was going to make him choke on his hurtful words.

How could someone be so heartless?  

Her thick dark lashes swept down to shadow her eyes as she kept her head bowed.  Julien caught a whiff of the signature jasmine scented perfume she always wore as she passed by him.  It hit him with a force that nearly made him lightheaded with its euphoria.

The overpowering urge to run after her took over him, but he stopped his intent knowing without a doubt his comfort would have been unwelcome. 

Julien's eyes shifted to Nathan as he caught him murmuring to himself, "What a shame...you would have been lots of fun to play with little one...perhaps another time."

Julien felt the rush of anger resurface as his vision clouded with a burning fury he could not further control. The fists at his sides clenched tightly while the muscles in his arms tightened, ready to pounce. 

He's a dead man.
****
Annie had the urge to cry as she stepped out of the auction room, finding her phone in her clutch that was hanging from her wrist.  Her hands shook while she texted Cici telling her she would catch a cab and not to worry. 

Annie's usual cold, expressionless face was now of embarrassment. Nathan's words hadn't hurt her because they were disrespectful—but because they were true.

She did not deserve happiness, love or someone to care for her.  Fate showed her what she really deserved and that was to suffer alone.  Looking up at the stars in the dark night, Annie felt torn, "Why did all this have to happen to me...why?"  She asked the sky miserably as a lone tear made its way down her cheek. 

He was right, she wasn't worth it.
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Present and future voters...you have my sincerest gratitude—thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for making me feel like I'm doing something right.  Thank you for keeping me going). I'm always watching the notifications so I know who you are :)

Any thoughts who the mystery bidder is?  I'd love to hear them!

Please vote, comment, share...

Thanks for reading, Shaz

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