Chapter 161
Aveline
"Are you insane?" I whispered under my breath, staring at the back of his head. "Ten million dollars for a painting? I don't care how rich you are, that's just stupid!"
But Luna wasn't sharing my indignation. Instead, she was looking increasingly worried, her face pale as she watched the scene unfolding in front of us.
"Aveline," she said quietly, gripping my arm, "I don't think you understand what just happened. He didn't just outbid Sera—he just declared war on her."
A cold knot formed in my stomach. "What do you mean? It's just an auction."
"Look at her father's face," Luna whispered urgently.
"Her father?" I asked.
"That furious man over there," Luna whispered, her voice barely audible. "Charles Ashford."
I followed her gaze to see Charles Ashford slowly rising from his seat—a man whose face bore the lines of decades wielding power and getting his way. His substantial frame commanded attention as he stood, and the fury radiating from him was so intense I could feel it from several rows back.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
"He wouldn't," I breathed, but even as I said it, I could feel my confidence wavering. "He's not that stupid. He wouldn't blow up a business relationship over an art auction... would he?"
But as Charles turned toward Orion with deliberate, threatening slowness, my heart began to sink.
What the hell are you thinking, Orion?
Charles's voice boomed across the auction hall: "What the fuck are you doing, Orion? Are you seriously competing against my daughter?"
That's when the full magnitude of what was happening hit me like a freight train.
He's going to do something stupid. He's going to do something incredibly, catastrophically stupid, and it's going to be because of me.
"We need to leave," I said urgently, grabbing Luna's hand. "We need to leave right now."
"But—"
"Now, Luna!"
I started pulling her toward the aisle, moving as quickly as I could without actually running. But even as we made our way toward the exit, I could hear Orion's voice behind us, calm and steady despite the chaos erupting around him.
"This bid isn't for me," he was saying, and something in his tone made my steps falter. "And it's not some kind of attack on anyone here."
Please don't do what I think you're about to do, I prayed silently. Please just let this be about business or ego or anything except—
"I'm bidding on behalf of someone who means a great deal to me," Orion continued, and I could hear him moving—probably walking toward the stage to address the room properly.
Oh God. Oh God, he's really doing this.
I was almost at the exit doors when I heard him say the words that made my world tilt off its axis.
"Dr. Aveline Reeves."
Every person in that auction house turned to look at me.
You absolute bastard, I thought, frozen in the doorway like a deer in headlights. You've just ruined my entire life.
But even as panic flooded my system, there was something else—something I didn't want to acknowledge. A tiny, traitorous part of me that felt... thrilled? Vindicated? Like I'd just won some kind of competition I hadn't even known I was entered in.
The feeling lasted about three seconds before reality crashed back in.
"Ms. Reeves! Ms. Reeves!" Reporters materialized out of nowhere, cameras flashing, microphones thrust in my face.
"What's your relationship with Mr. Blackwell?"
My brain completely short-circuited. "We're... I... he's my student's father. Ryan. Ryan is my student."
That's not an answer, you idiot. That's not even close to an answer.
"Are you dating?"
"No! I mean... we're friends. Just friends. Good friends who... who sometimes..." I was gesticulating wildly now, completely out of control. "I teach children! Five-year-olds! I don't know anything about business!"
"Did you coordinate this to embarrass the Ashford family?"
"What? No! I don't even know what's happening!" My voice was getting shrill. "I just wanted to buy a painting for Luna! For my friend! She likes art!"
Through the chaos of reporters and flashing cameras, I could barely make out what was happening at the front of the room. The acoustics were terrible from where I stood, so I couldn't hear the specific words being exchanged, but the body language was unmistakable.
Charles Ashford looked like he was about to have a coronary, his face purple with rage as he gestured aggressively toward the stage where Orion presumably still stood. Several other men in expensive suits had risen to stand with him—clearly people of importance, though I had no idea who they were. The visual was stark: a line drawn in the sand, with these powerful-looking men on one side and Orion apparently alone on the other.
Sera was somewhere in the middle of it all, and even from this distance, I could see she was crying.
This is a disaster. This is an absolute disaster, and it's all my fault.
"Ms. Reeves, do you realize Mr. Blackwell just chose you over a billion-dollar merger?"
"I don't know what that means!" I practically shouted. "I teach finger painting and story time! Why does everyone keep asking me about business?"
Luna finally managed to grab my arm and start pulling me toward the exit, but the damage was already done. Whatever had just happened in that auction house, there was no taking it back.
As we stumbled out into the cool night air, I could hear the chaos continuing behind us—raised voices, camera shutters, the sound of what might have been Charles Ashford making very loud, very angry threats.
"Well," Luna said shakily as we stood on the museum steps, "I think it's safe to say that didn't go according to anyone's plan."
I looked back at the building where my carefully constructed private life had just exploded in front of half of New York's elite.
"I'm going to kill him," I said quietly. "I'm going to absolutely murder Orion Blackwell."
But even as I said it, I couldn't shake the memory of how it had felt when he'd said my name in front of all those people—like I was someone worth claiming, someone worth fighting for.
You idiot, I told myself. You absolute idiot. You actually liked it.