While Pregnant, My Alpha Husband Auctioned Me Off for One Dollar Chapter 03
“I’m waiting for you to confirm one additional condition.”
I lowered the gavel and stared at Gavin through my mask.
“Sir, if you’re doing this to avenge your first love, is simply selling your wife really enough to satisfy you?”
The audience fell silent.
Even Gavin paused, apparently not expecting the auctioneer to interrupt him.
“What do you mean?”
“A verbal promise doesn’t guarantee the buyer will follow through.”
I forced the tremor out of my voice and made every word sound cold and professional.
“What if the buyer locks her in a basement for seven days but never actually hurts her? How will you know she was truly punished?”
Gavin narrowed his eyes. The suggestion had clearly caught his interest.
“Then what do you recommend, Ms. Nightingale?”
“It’s simple.”
I tightened my grip on the microphone.
“The buyer must submit one video every day. Each video must prove that the item remains under the buyer’s control and show her begging the seller for mercy. If the buyer fails to provide it, the transaction is canceled and the full payment refunded.”
It was a gamble.
I was betting that the buyers involved in these illegal transactions feared an investigation and would never willingly leave behind undeniable video evidence.
The result was exactly what I had expected.
The bald man and the buyer in the wild boar mask, who had been bidding most aggressively, both fell silent.
“It’s just a video. What’s the big deal?” someone protested.
“Idiot,” another man hissed. “If the police find that recording, it becomes direct evidence of kidnapping and extortion. Who would risk criminal charges over one deal?”
The entire room went quiet, and the once-fierce bidding stopped cold.
Gavin’s expression darkened.
He had probably never imagined that a single condition could destroy his plan.
But he did not give up.
Instead, he lifted the voice-changing microphone, his tone turning even more vicious.
“A video is too much trouble. Let’s make it simpler.”
He swept his gaze across the room like a tyrant dispensing favors.
“Whoever buys her must use her phone to call me every night at eight. I want to hear for myself how she cries and begs me while she’s under your control.”
No one spoke.
Shock appeared on the faces of many buyers.
Even the people who regularly took part in Nightfall’s illegal auctions were disturbed by the twisted cruelty of his demand.
Onstage, my nails dug so deeply into my palms that blood began to bead beneath them.
It was not enough for him to destroy my body.
He wanted to humiliate me over the phone and listen to every second of it.
The phone in my pocket vibrated again.
This time, Vera had sent me a private WhatsApp message.
[Erin, are you asleep? Gavin said he prepared a fireworks show for me tonight. I’m so touched.]
[But I’m worried you might feel lonely at home by yourself. If your stomach hurts, make sure you tell Gavin, even though he’s with me right now.]
Every sentence dripped with smugness disguised as concern.
She knew exactly where Gavin was.
She knew exactly what was about to happen to me.
She was hiding somewhere safe, waiting to watch me fall into their hands.
“No more bids?” Gavin asked, his voice thick with displeasure.
“Since no one is willing to pay a high price, I’m changing the opening bid to one dollar.”
He stared coldly at my image on the giant screen.
“One dollar. Whoever takes her will be responsible for keeping her for the next seven days. I only care about the result.”
One dollar.
My husband had reduced me, the woman carrying his pup, to something worth less than a bottle of water.
Restlessness spread through the audience.
Three million dollars might have been too much of a risk, but one dollar was enough to tempt far more buyers.
“One dollar!” The bald man raised his paddle again, almost shaking with excitement. “I’ll call you ten times a day if you want!”
I drew in a deep breath.
My vision began to blur.
Every normal path of escape had been cut off.
I could not run.
Entering or leaving the auction house required strict security checks and identity verification. With all those dangerous buyers watching me, there was no possible way for me to slip out.
Was I really going to be handed over to one of them while I stood there powerless to stop it?
A final ten-second countdown appeared on the giant screen.
10.
9.
8.
The bald man was already on his feet, rubbing his hands together as he waited for the transaction to be completed.
Gavin leaned back in his chair as though he could already see me on my knees, broken and begging him for mercy.
Then the countdown reached three.
At the highest level of the auction house, a blinding red light suddenly flared outside the Black Moon VIP box, a private room that remained sealed year-round and could only be opened with the highest level of authorization.
No one in the hall made a sound.
Then a deep, icy male voice, completely untouched by any voice changer, came through the box’s private line and filled the entire auction house.
“Ten million dollars. I want her freedom. Forever.”