July

"Argh." Nova whines, turning her phone off.

"Jerome again?"

"It's the 5th time he tried calling since I got here."

"Wow, he's really trying to get back into your good books."

"More like trying to get back in my panties."

"Well that place is occupied by me." Kaiden stands behind Nova and puts his hand in her pants, pressing against her heat while kissing her neck.

"How are things at work between the two of you?" Nova turns, placing a kiss on Kaiden's lips.

"Not bad, but something feels off - he's not his usual self. Actually he asked me to speak to you on his behalf, he figured since I invested in your modelling agency that we have some sort of working relationship."

"And what did you say?"

"That I'd try to."

"Liar." Nova giggles.

"I'm a sinner when it comes to you Miss Stratford."

Just as the pair sat down to have a drink, there was a knock on Kaiden's door.

"Kaiden, hey brother open up." Jerome announced himself sending the two into a panic.

"Go hide in my bedroom, now." Kaiden whispered and watched as Nova scurried away.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Am I interrupting something?" Jerome nods in the direction of the coffee table were two glasses sat.

See Jerome played the part of the fool, he knew Nova had just been in the room - he could still smell her perfume that lingered in the atmosphere.

"Just some girl waiting in my bed, come in."

"I need an invite to tomorrow night's charity gala and since you're one of their biggest donors I thought you could get me in."

"Yeah sure but these social events were never your kind of thing, what's changed?"

"Didn't you hear? Nova volunteered to be one of the 'win a date with' girls."

"So you're going to bid on her?"

"No, but if I can at least get her to talk to me - things should work out, I really care about her and regret messing things up." Jerome knew what he was playing at - the guilt card.

"And hey you can bring a date too and we can all go out for dinner afterwards."

"Sounds delightful."

"Great, I'll see you then."

"Hey Kaiden." Jerome stops at the front door, just before he was about to leave.

"Thanks for always having my back."

Kaiden politely smiled and watched the door close before turning around and seeing Nova emerge from the bedroom.

"You didn't tell me you're going to be at tomorrow's gala, yet alone being an incentive."

"Must have slipped my mind." She teased.

"I'm serious Nova, I don't like the idea of other men biding for your attention."

"Well then Mr. Romano, you better make sure that you have the highest offer." Nova smirked at Kaiden before laying down on his couch.

"Fuck, you don't make things easy."

"You should know by now I like things hard." She winks whilst calling him to join her.

The following night

"You look beautiful tonight." Jerome stood beside Nova at the bar.

"You look rather dashing." She responded.

"Why must your British accent be so sexy?"

"It's a part of my charm, see you later?"

"Save me a dance."

Nova smiled and walked off, after over hearing Jerome's conversation with Kaiden yesterday - she swore to try and be nicer towards him, which played right into his hands.

The auction part of the night was about to begin and Kaiden was nowhere to be seen. Nova worried - was he going to make some grand entrance with a woman on his arm or was he simply still mad at her for partaking in the auction?

80 000 Euros, the highest bid so far made by a winery tycoon of the eastern region of Italy. Now it was Nova's turn, she was called upon the stage and walked with elegance and grace. Her long legs were emphasised by the heels she had worn and the silt on the side of her black and white dress.

As with her predecessors, the bidding started at 10 000 Euro's - numerous wealthy men and women made a play for her until one shut them all up...

"200 000 Euro's and she's worth every penny of them." Nova's head snapped in the direction of her mystery bidder's voice as the crowd gasped at the amount of money he was willing to spend, secretly she had hoped it was Kaiden but was ultimately disappointed.

Johnny stood up and looked directly at Nova, like a hunter would its prey. Confident no one would have the guts to outbid him, he began to walk towards the stage.

"500 000 Euro's, I can't let you have all the fun now can I Johnny?" Kaiden entered the room, throwing metaphorical jabs at his competitor.

"700 000." The two men went back and forth while everybody else whispered in envy and confusion.

"1 Million Euro's." Kaiden voiced, almost bringing Nova to her knees.

"Going once, twice, well congratulations Mr. Romano it looks like you're the winner." The auctioneer announced, advising Kaiden to come on stage and collect his date as the crowd cheered and clapped.

"I can't believe you just spent a million euro's for a date, with me nonetheless." Nova whispered in his ear.

"Well you did say I should make sure to win."

The auction continued as the pair walked out into the dining area where they were stopped by a familiar face.

"To the victor goes the spoils." Johnny stated, facedly elated.

"I couldn't miss the opportunity to have Miss Stratford grace me with her presence."

Kaiden responded, standing in front of Nova providing a barrier between her and Johnny. You see ever since the boys found out about her addiction, she has been trying to overcome with Kaiden's help - which meant she had been avoiding Johnny like a plague.

"Well that was interesting to watch." Jerome chirped in, clearly in a foul mood.

"If you two would excuse us, I'd like to buy my date a drink."

Kaiden placed his hand on the small of Nova's back and guided her towards the bar, leaving Johnny and Jerome standing in silence.

"What the fuck was that? The plan was for you to win the date with Nova but instead you let Kaiden make a mockery out of you." Jerome spat in anger at Johnny.

"Who do you think you're talking to boy? We may be allies for the time being but I will not hesitate to put you in the ground if you disrespect me like that again."

"Alright easy, it's just that when I came to you with the information about Nova and Kaiden - I thought you might have done something to them by now."

"Patience boy, Rome wasn't built in a day and revenge takes time."

At the bar

"Thanks." Kaiden hands Nova her drink before picking up his own.

"I wonder what those two are talking about." Kaiden faces towards Jerome and Johnny, bringing Nova's attention to them as well.

"That's strange, I thought Jerome despised Johnny and anything to do with him."

Realising that they were being watched, Johnny and Jerome quickly parted ways trying to avoid any more suspicion.

"Strange indeed." Kaiden thought to himself, taking a sip of his whiskey - clearly he was right about something being off with Jerome and wanted to get to the bottom of it.