Chapter 311 - Unexpected Situation
As soon as the emcee said the starting bid, everyone in the room got into an uproar.
The starting bid of the last beauty was undoubtedly much higher than all the previous ones put up for auction!
With a starting bid of 1.5 million dollars, they could all imagine that the final price for Beauty No. 1 had to be above five million dollars!
Many of the guests began to change their minds about bidding for Beauty No. 1. It was not because they couldn"t afford it but because spending millions on a woman was quite foolish and absurd, even if she was extraordinarily gorgeous.
Of course, there were some who were eager to try bidding for her.
After all, Beauty No. 1 was an absolutely stunning rare beauty and one of a kind. If they could reap an enormous profit from using her as a social escort, they would definitely be able to recoup the amount they spent at the auction and perhaps obtain even more profit!
Thus, their gazes became more and more lewd and obscene as they ogled Grace, who was locked in the gla.s.s display case.
With an icy cold gaze in his eyes, Lucas suddenly stood up and exclaimed loudly, "Three million dollars!"
Everyone turned around to look at Lucas in astonishment.
During the biddings of the previous girls, Lucas had only placed his bid when they were coming to an end. But this time, he was the first to bid. Moreover, it was double the starting price!
How are we supposed to contend with that? the other guests thought.
Besides, it was just an auction where everyone would remain seated and merely raise the sign marked with their name when they wanted to place a bid. Yet Lucas suddenly stood up. The guests wondered if he was trying to show his determination to win the auction.
In fact, they had really made the wrong guess.
The reason Lucas suddenly stood up was that he wanted to let Grace, who was locked in the gla.s.s display case, see him so that she could feel slightly more relieved.
Because the gla.s.s display case was fully soundproof, the girls inside wouldn"t be able to hear anything and could only see the lewd and repulsive gazes of the men gawking at them like they were scrutinizing a sale product. Despite feeling ashamed and humiliated, they had no means to escape and could only remain fearful, uneasy, and worried about their fate in the near future.
Grace felt the same. Even though she usually put on a strong front, she was still just a young woman in her twenties. She was suddenly abducted on the streets and subsequently held captive in this gla.s.s display case, where she was being put up for auction like she was merely an object subject to the scrutiny of others. The most terrifying thing was that she was clueless about how things would turn out for her in the end, and it was possible that she might end up in a situation countless times more agonizing and torturous than death.
So when Grace saw Lucas suddenly stand up, joy immediately appeared all over her face, replacing the panicked expression she had. She burst into tears of joy and lunged forward to lean against the gla.s.s and stare at Lucas like he was her savior.
Lucas looked at Grace gently and tried to tell her with his eyes that he would definitely rescue her.
Drops of tears rolled down Grace"s cheek continuously, and she nodded while sobbing to express her acknowledgment.
At this moment, Grace felt as if she had been rescued from h.e.l.l and that Lucas was her pillar of support that gave her an immense sense of relief.
After Lucas called out his bid of a ma.s.sive three millions dollars and caused a brief commotion, the entire auction hall was once again filled with a bizarre silence and calmness as many people began contemplating if they should bid.
"3.2… million!" At this moment, someone stood up indignantly and bid. Of course, he wasn"t as bold as Lucas and only raised the bid by 200,000 dollars.
In fact, it was a common sight and practice during auctions to raise the bid little by little. Placing such high bids to discourage compet.i.tors like what Lucas had done was relatively rare.
"Six million dollars!" Lucas immediately bid again resolutely.
Everyone in the auction hall immediately gasped and inhaled sharply.
He doubled his bid again!
The guests were flabbergasted.
The man who bid 3.2 million dollars immediately sulked. His budget for buying Beauty No. 1 was actually six million dollars. But now that Lucas suddenly raised the price to six million dollars, how could he continue bidding?
He looked at Lucas gloomily and had no choice but to give up and return to his seat indignantly.
"Okay! The bidding price for Beauty No. 1 has reached six million dollars! Is anyone going to offer a higher bid?"
The emcee spoke up again excitedly, and she said coercively, "As long as your bid is higher than six million dollars, this rare beauty will be yours!"
Unfortunately, after the emcee asked twice, no one in the entire auction hall bid anymore.
The price had already risen to six million dollars. Since the girls were being sold at such a sordid auction, they couldn"t groom Grace and make her a celebrity to earn money for them even if they won the auction. They could only use her as a social escort and make money off her through some secret deals, so it would take them a long time to recoup their capital.
Despite looking disappointed, the emcee could only continue with the standard process of the auction.
"Six million dollars, going once!
"Six million dollars, going twice!
"Six million dollars, going thrice…"
"Eight million dollars!"
Just a second before the emcee was about to drop the gavel, a majestic voice interrupted her.
Surprised, everyone looked at the person to whom the majestic voice belonged to see who it was that intervened at the critical moment and placed such a high bid of eight million dollars.
Lucas frowned slightly and looked diagonally at the back, only to meet a pair of familiar-looking eyes that contained a provocative gaze.
"Wow, it"s Mr. Liam Wallace!"
"Mr. Liam Wallace is partaking in the auction too? I heard that Club Splendor belongs to the Wallaces!"
"Well, that may be the case, but the organizers of the auction this time are the Kingstons. The Wallaces are merely cooperating with them by providing a venue. Strictly speaking, the Wallaces are also qualified to partic.i.p.ate in the auction."
Everyone whispered and discussed among themselves.
The moment Lucas saw Liam, a fleeting trace of killing intent appeared in his eyes. He failed in pestering Grace, so he simply kidnapped her and put her up for auction at a high price like she"s an object. He"s worse than a beast!
Beside Liam, a man and a woman were both glaring at Lucas hostilely.
Lucas sneered. He recognized them to be the ones he had just had a conflict with at the entrance.
The woman was Gisele Taylor, a member of one of the four top families of Orange County. She had tried to use Lucas as her s.h.i.+eld earlier, but Lucas had rejected her. Furious and embarra.s.sed, she subsequently went on to slander Lucas and accuse him of outrage of modesty.
And the man was Kyle Kingston, who originally didn"t know Lucas but was instigated by Gisele to beat Lucas up to make Lucas kneel and apologize. But he ended up getting kicked away by Jordan.
The three of them are in this together. It seems they have malicious intentions!