Chapter 58
“Ouch!!” Zoey’s cry of pain was cut short as he lost his balance and toppled backward, crashing to the ground.
Anna stood by, ready to rush over and catch Zoey. But she didn’t dare tot
Under Newman’s terrifying aura, she was so scared that she turned pale and didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.
All Anna could do was watch helplessly as Zoey lay there bleeding from his head, with the other eye swelling up and turning purple.
Zoey flopped on the ground like a frog, letting out an agonizing groan from deep within his
throat.
With a grim face, Newman turned and walked out. He had just arrived at the auction when he heard that Zoey was causing trouble.
Initially, Newman had no intention of intervening, but one of his men whispered in his ear, “Zoey traded Ms. Dempsey to get the female model from Mr. Temple’s hands, and now Ms. Dempsey has gone into a private box with Mr. Temple.”
From behind the glass railing on the second floor, Newman watched as the auctioneer banged the gavel.
“The landscape painting goes to the buyer in room number one!”
The waiter brought the auction ite
to the room door, it opened, and Athena stepped out. Gary stood behind her, took the scroll from the waiter’s hands, and presented it to Athena.
The auction hall was filled with teasing cheers from the guests. Gary raised the bid twenty times, pushing the price of the painting to a historical high, all to win the painting for Athena. A masterwork gifted to a beauty – the epitome of elegance. Meanwhile, Newman’s expression on the second floor had turned icy cold.
“I heard Kevin scored full marks in every subject at kindergarten, so this painting can serve as his desk mat.”
Athena gave him a playful glare, “How could you, who’s always dragging him into fights and brawls, not know how much effort Kevin puts into his studies?”
“Huh?”
Athena wasn’t shy about exposing Kevin’s shortcomings, as she snatched the precious painting from Gary’s hand and whispered to him, “Next time you spar with Kevin, make sure you teach him a good lesson for me!”
Gary chuckled softly, “These days, Kevin can hold his own against me.”
Holding the scroll, Athena made her way to the seat originally arranged for her by the Bishop
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family.
She picked up her dress, sat down, and then handed the scroll to Zora, whispering, “Take this to the Dempsey family villa and say that Gary bought it specially to honor Grandpa Simon.”
Zora’s eyes widened, not fully grasping Athena’s intentions. But Athena knew that once the old man got his hands on the painting, he would cherish it for a long time.
Soon after, Leonard sat down beside Athena, glancing in the direction of room number one.
Over the years, the relationship between Athena and Gary had always piqued Leonard’s curiosity.
Their relationship was delicate, like a younger brother and an older sister head. But Gary was very protective of Athena. In middle and high school, due to Leonard’s closeness with Athena and the rumors that spread, Gary often caused trouble for him and even warned him not to get romantically involved with Athena too early.
“If I had known you liked this painting, I would have taken it directly from Grandma and given it to you,” Leonard said with a gentle voice, wishing he had done so before Gary had the chance to gift Athena the painting.
Athena simply smiled and replied, “It’s meaningful because Gary bought it.”
Leonard didn’t ask why, and instead handed her the auction catalog, “Whatever else catches your eye, just let me know. I’ll have it sent directly to Mystic Ridge.
The Bishop family’s collection, naturally, was not something Athena would have to pay for. Athena smiled and said, “Since Mrs. Belinda Bishop invited me, I still want to show her some respect and spend a bit of money to take some things back.”
Athena browsed the auction catalog. She was well aware of the old lady’s collection over the decades – if the Bishop family had it, the Dempsey family certainly did too. Many items in the catalog didn’t catch Athena’s interest.
Like that painting, it was only good enough to be used as a desk mat for Kevin.
Suddenly, Athena’s gaze fixed on a few rough stones, “Mrs. Belinda Bishop’s been hoarding these rough stones for over a decade, and she’s never had them cut open?”
Leonard, seeing Athena’s interest in these stones, whispered, “These stones were bought by Grandma from a Solara gemstone merchant at a price of one hundred grand per piece. Later, they were appraised by a gemstone institution and deemed likely to be mere rocks, so Grandma has just kept them ever since.”
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If she had them cut open, not only would the old lady take a huge loss, but it would also be embarrassing.
Belinda was the type who cared a lot about face. She’d rather not cut the stones than let her reputation take a hit. /
Leonard thought that after hearing this, Athena would drop the idea of bidding for the stones.
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However, when the stones were displayed on the exhibition table for everyone to see, Athena focused on the high–definition screen, narrowing her eyes.
The auction for stone number one began, with only two or three bidders. When the price reached ten grand, no one else followed.
The fact that Belinda’s stones were unlikely to yield anything valuable was actually well known among the crowd, and they were already giving the old lady face by spending ten grand on a worthless rock.
“Buyer number seven bids eleven grand.”
Number seven was Athena’s bidding number, and she was determined to win this stone. But then, buyer number three raised their paddle, and Athena saw that it was Kent bidding up to twenty grand,
After a few rounds of bidding by Athena, raising the price to half a hundred grand, she thought about it and decided to let the Bradshaw family get their hands on stone number
one.
Then, for stones number two and three, Kent also placed bids. Athena pursed her lips slightly, inadvertently looking up towards the second floor, only to see Newman standing there.
What’s that jerk doing here? Did Newman rush over to avenge his precious nephew after finding out he’d been beaten up?
Athena’s gaze lingered on Newman for a couple of seconds before Leonard, who was sitting next to her following her line of sight, glanced up to the second floor.
Leonard spotted Athena’s driver upstairs, his brows knitting together slightly, a sense of wariness creeping into his mind.
Standing on the second floor, Newman locked eyes with the woman below and let out a disdainful snort.
Then, stone number 4 was up for auction, and Kent, representing Newman, jumped right back into the fray with Athena.
“Bidder number 3 offers thirty grand! Going once at thirty grand, going twice at thirty grand.”
“Fifty grand,” Athena wasn’t about to let this raw gem slip through her fingers to Newman again.
As Kent battled it out with her, the price shot up past a hundred grand, and then kept skyrocketing.
After getting the green light from Newman through his Bluetooth earpiece, Kent blurted out a bid of five hundred grand in one go.
Athena’s face turned cool; still biting at the bit?
Kent raised his paddle again and called out, “One million!”
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The crowd gasped in amazement. The old lady had only spent a little over five hundred
grand on these stones altogether. Now, at the auction, someone was bidding one million – it was like they were just throwing money at her!
Athena was about to raise her paddle again when Leonard held her wrist, “Athena, let them be the suckers.”
Athena muttered under her breath, “They’re not suckers.”
Leonard was taken aback when the auctioneer shouted, “Bidder number one offers two
million!”
Gary, seeing Athena lose out three times to the Bradshaw family, decided to jump into Athena’s fourth showdown with them. But the Bradshaw family was loaded. Kent was throwing out bids without batting an eye.
“Bidder number 3 offers three million!”
Kent, speaking quietly into the earbuds, asked Newman, “Mr. Bradshaw, what’s your max price?”
Newman’s voice came through cold and emotionless, “Doesn’t matter the cost; just get it!”
With Newman’s words, Kent went all out.
“Bidder number 1 offers five million!”
“Fuck!” Gary couldn’t help but curse. He also felt the raw gem wasn’t worth the cash and was only competing with Kent to give Athena some payback.
But more than payback, he wanted to see the Bradshaw family play the fool!
