Chapter 91

Damein POV

The ride to the auction was quiet… too quiet.

Nina sat beside me in the backseat, scrolling through her phone with that absent smile she always wore.

We passed by the city, lights reflecting off the tinted windows, but my mind wasn't on that.

It was on just one thing, the talisman.

“Are you ever going to talk?” she asked after a while, breaking the silence.

“I’m talking now,” I muttered, my eyes still fixed on the road ahead.

“Don’t play that card, Damien. You’ve been in your head all night since I came by. At least pretend you’re excited. This is your big night, isn’t it?”

“I’m not here for excitement,” I said flatly. “I’m here to win.”

She sighed, leaning back into her seat. “You sound like you’re about to go to war, not an auction.”

She wasn’t wrong, but that's how it with auction.

In auction, there wasn’t much of a difference between a war and a bidding.

The driver’s voice came through the intercom. “Sir, we’ll be at the Grand Hall in five minutes.”

“Good,” I said. I loosened my tie, then straightened it again out of habit.

Nina adjusted her red gown, checking her reflection in the window.

Her perfume filled the car, tingling my nostrils since the drive.

When we pulled up to the curb, the sound of cameras and shouting reporters hit first.

“Smile,” Nina whispered as she looped her arm through mine. “Don't forget that...”

I forced a smile that never reached my eyes and stepped out into the chaos.

Cameras flashed in our eyes, voices shouting the background.

I lifted a hand in a polite wave at them, still tugging my fake smile.

Inside, the Grand Hall was a sea of elegance… marble floors polished to a mirror shine, chandeliers dripping gold, waiters gliding past with trays of whiskey and champagne. I took two glasses of whiskey from one and handed one to Nina.

“To a good night,” she said, raising her glass.

I just nodded. My eyes were already scanning the crowd, cataloging faces, potential bidders and rivals.

The faces here I recognized, but there wasn't no woman here that was unfamiliar, so who was Lyra Elton?

Then I heard it.. a voice I hadn’t expected to ever hear again.

“Damien?”

I froze, somewhat made my blodd boil. When I turned, Leo was standing a few feet away, looking more nervous than I’d ever seen him.

The sight of him sent something sharp through me. Anger, betrayal… all tangled together.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped, my tone low but lethal.

He lifted his hands like a man trying to calm a wild dog. “Listen, I’m not here to fight with you.”

“Then you’d better leave. Now.”

“I will, I will,” he said quickly. “I just heard you’d be here, and I thought maybe we could talk.”

Nina’s hand tightened on my arm. “Damien…” she whispered, trying to steady me.

I clenched my jaw. “You have one minute.”

Leo exhaled shakily. “I’m sorry. About how everything ended. I swear, I didn’t know Elena tried to kill you. If I did, I would have stopped her. You have to believe that.

Come on, you were like an older brother to me, Damien. I’d never—”

I took a step closer, letting my voice drop to that calm, deadly tone that always made people step back. “Your minute’s up. Leave. Or things get messy.”

He froze, then nodded. “Take care of yourself, brother.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He turned and walked away, disappearing into the moving crowd.

Nina’s eyes followed him, brows drawn tight. “What was that about?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, downing the rest of my whiskey in one long swallow.

Before she could press further, the intercom rang out.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please proceed to the main chamber. The auction will begin shortly.”

Nina beside me exhaled slowly. “Finally.”

I placed my empty glass on a passing tray and followed her through the corridor into the auction chamber.

The inner room was smaller, dimly lit and a stage surrounded by rows of bidders’ seats, our names placed on them.

The room was prestine and elegant, fit for an occasion like that.

I sat with Nina at the front, my paddle resting against my knee.

The announcer’s voice carried smoothly through the speakers. “Welcome, esteemed guests. Tonight’s collection includes pieces of great rarity and unmatched history. But first… something extraordinary.”

Two attendants rolled in a glass case, unveiling the object inside.

The Lythion Talisman. My target.

Even under the stage light, the relic seemed to glow with power.

My pulse kicked. I’d spent six months tracing that piece.

And now it was right there.

“Starting bid,” the announcer declared, “at twenty-five million.”

“Twenty-five,” I said instantly, my paddle up before anyone else moved.

“Thirty,” came another voice from across the room.

I didn’t look. “Forty.”

“Fifty.”

The numbers climbed fast. “Sixty.” “Eighty.” “One hundred.”

Each time, I countered, before the announcer could go the third time, someone countered me.

“One hundred and twenty million,” he called out. “Do I hear one-fifty?”

The room quieted slightly, this was it. I raised my paddle again.

“One hundred and fifty.”

Nina smiled softly, whispering, “No one’s beating that.”

She was right. The crowd had fallen quiet, most bidders whispering among themselves, unwilling to push further.

The announcer looked ready to bring the hammer down. “Going once…”

A small smirk tugged at the corner of my lips.

“Going twice…”

Then .. a voice.

A feminine voice.

“Five hundred million.”

The room gasped. My smirk vanished.

For a moment, I thought I’d misheard. But then the announcer’s head snapped toward the back of the chamber, his eyes wide. “Five hundred million confirmed!”

The crowd broke into murmurs.

I turned slowly in my seat, scanning the back rows.

Who the hell would drop half a billion just to outbid me?

The auctioneer stammered, trying to maintain his composure. “Uh…five hundred million! Going once!”

My grip on the paddle tightened. I could feel Nina’s hand brush my arm, but I didn’t move.

“Going twice!”

My mind raced. The only people who’d want that talisman that badly…

“Sold!” the announcer shouted, his gavel striking wood. “Sold to the lady at the back… Miss Lyra Elton!”

The room erupted in polite applause.

My body went still.

Lyra Elton?

The mystery lady..

The name echoed in my head, over and over. Lyra Elton.

Who the hell is she?