Chapter 149 Auction

Chapter 149 Auction

The head of Everlight Group rarely showed his face in public, so this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a connection.

A few bold guests grabbed their wine glasses and approached with eager smiles, only to be stopped cold by the icy stares of Akin and Flynn, who flanked Sean from behind.

Sean paid no attention to the fawning looks around him.

His eyes were only on Isabelle, his gaze tracing the cool lines of her profile with quiet intensity.

"You never had any patience for this kind of hollow socializing." Sean leaned in slightly, closing the distance between them, his voice dropping to a murmur only the two of them could hear. "Coming all the way out here tonight — you've got something in mind, don't you?"

Isabelle didn't deny it. She held her glass of ice water and looked past the crowd, fixing her cold gaze on Alfie up on the stage.

"Yeah." Isabelle parted her red lips, her tone as flat as if she were commenting on the weather. "I want to destroy this auction."

She was going to tear off Zela's mask and cut off Syndicate's funding pipeline in Washington.

Hearing this, Sean showed not even a flicker of surprise or hesitation. Instead, a low laugh escaped him.

It was a quiet, satisfied sound, his chest vibrating with it.

"Alright." Sean leaned back, his dark eyes full of shameless indulgence. "Need a hand? Crashing parties is something Everlight's people are very good at."

Isabelle glanced at him, a faint light passing through her eyes.

This man and his unconditional loyalty — always so blunt about it.

"Not yet." Isabelle looked away. "I want to play with him a little first."

The opening remarks on stage finally wrapped up, and the auction officially began.

A professional auctioneer took the stage as the large screen lit up with the first item.

From eighteenth-century European oil paintings to medieval royal scepters, rare antiques from around the world were brought up one after another.

"This antique pocket watch from the French Bourbon dynasty opens at one million dollars! Every bid placed tonight, ladies and gentlemen, goes toward building homes for orphans across North America. Please, show us your generosity!" The auctioneer worked the crowd with practiced enthusiasm.

Paddles went up across the room, and the price kept climbing.

Isabelle watched with cool amusement.

Dirty money used to buy questionable antiques, then flipped at inflated prices through a self-run auction — funds shuffled from one hand to the other, laundered clean, and topped off with the reputation of a great philanthropist.

Zela's scheme was sharp. These self-appointed elites were nothing but ATMs and laundering tools he played like puppets.

After several rounds of bidding, the evening's main event arrived.

The lights in the room narrowed to a single point, focusing on a bulletproof glass display case at the center of the stage.

A dazzling blue diamond necklace rested on a black velvet tray.

The pendant had been carved into a lifelike butterfly. The main stone weighed fifteen carats, throwing off a deep, hypnotic blue under the lights.

"The Deep Sea Tear blue diamond butterfly necklace." The auctioneer's voice climbed a full octave. "Crafted by master artisans over three years. Opening bid — five million dollars!"

A wave of low gasps swept through the room. The eyes of every socialite in attendance lit up.

Lila, sitting in the front row, locked onto the necklace with a desperate, burning fixation.

Ever since losing two hundred million dollars at Capital University, the Bonello family's cash flow had taken a serious hit, and her standing in Washington's social circles had collapsed. She'd become a joke everyone whispered about.

Tonight, she had to walk away with this centerpiece. She needed to show everyone that the Bonello family was still flush, that she was still the untouchable Miss Bonello.

"Ten million!" Lila raised her paddle without a second's hesitation, doubling the price in one move, trying to intimidate the room with sheer financial force.

The hall went quiet for a beat. Several guests who had been ready to bid quietly set their paddles down.

Getting on the wrong side of the Bonello family over a necklace wasn't worth it.

A cold smile crept onto Lila's face.

She soaked in the looks of deference around her, already picturing the necklace around her own neck.

Just as the auctioneer raised his gavel, a calm, unhurried voice drifted out from the shadows at the back of the room.

"Twenty million."

It wasn't loud, but it landed like a thunderclap in the silence, sharp and clear.

The room erupted. Every head turned at once, looking toward the source of the voice.

The smile froze on Lila's face. She spun around, and when she recognized the familiar figure in the black tactical jacket standing in the shadows, old grudges and fresh fury detonated all at once inside her.

Isabelle. Again.

This nobody had already humiliated her at school, and now she had the nerve to show up at the Park Hyatt and steal from her right in front of everyone. Lila trembled with rage, every last shred of reason burned away by the fury.

She grabbed her paddle and snarled, her voice slicing through the room. "Thirty million!"

Isabelle stood with one hand in her pocket, her expression completely unmoved.

She didn't even bother to look up. "Forty million," she said, without missing a beat.

"Fifty million!" Lila's eyes had gone bloodshot. She was past thinking.

"Sixty million." Isabelle matched her instantly, as if she were calling out meaningless numbers, not dollars.

The tension in the room spiked.

Every person held their breath, watching the bidding spiral out of control.

A necklace worth fifteen million at most had been driven to a number that made no sense.

Jake stood nearby, jaw hanging open, and swallowed hard.

Ms. Morgan's way of crashing a party was even more blunt than Sean's.

"Eighty million!" Lila screamed the number, her chest heaving. That was the absolute limit of every dollar she could pull together right now. If Isabelle raised again, she'd have no choice but to watch the necklace slip away.

Isabelle didn't raise.

She looked across the crowd at Lila, who was on the edge of a breakdown, and let the faintest trace of mockery touch the corner of her mouth.

Lila stared at Isabelle's effortlessly composed face, and something snapped in her head. It hit her all at once — Isabelle was dressed like she'd wandered in off the street. There was no way she had eighty million dollars in cash. She had to be running up the price on purpose, trying to make a fool out of her in front of everyone.

"Wait!"

Lila shoved her chair back and stormed into the aisle, heels clicking hard against the floor.

She flagged down the event manager, pointed straight at Isabelle in the back row, and her voice came out shrill and cracking. "How is your security even functioning? You're just letting anyone walk in here?"

Lila glared at Isabelle, her accusation ringing out across the room. "The clothes she's wearing aren't worth a thousand dollars. There's no way she can produce eighty million in cash. She's a fraud — she's been deliberately running up the bids to sabotage this event!"