After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law

”Five hundred thousand dollars to open,” the auctioneer’s voice echoed through the hall.

Not a single person in the room moved.

The wealthy and investors sat rigidly in their plush velvet chairs, keeping their numbered paddles glued to their laps. No one with an ounce of self-preservation was going to risk their neck to bid against Damien Sinclair for a dead company.

Aria held her breath, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

’Come on, Zoe,’ Aria chanted internally, her eyes glued to the stage to avoid looking directly at her best friend. ’Raise the paddle.’

From the middle rows of the auction hall, a hand shot straight up into the air.

”Five hundred thousand to the young lady in the center!” the auctioneer announced, looking relieved that someone had actually broken the ice.

A condescending ripple of laughter swept through the room.

Businessmen in bespoke suits chuckled, twisting in their seats to get a look at the fool who had just dared to enter the ring. They saw ’Tiffany’—a girl in a pastel-pink Chanel tweed skirt suit and with platinum blonde hair, clutching a hot-pink micro-bag.

”Who on earth is that?” a woman whispered loudly from the row ahead of Aria. ”Is she slow?”

”She must be new to the city,” her husband snorted, shaking his head. ”She clearly has no idea who she is bidding against. Poor girl.”

Damien didn’t even turn his head to look at the challenger. He leaned back into his armchair, resting his elbow on the armrest, and casually raised his paddle.

”Six hundred thousand,” the auctioneer called out immediately, nodding toward the VIP section.

Aria panicked. The sweat was basically pooling at the base of her spine.

”Damien, seriously,” Aria leaned closer to him, desperately trying to keep her voice light and conversational. ”I heard the Vale headquarters is infested with black mold. Toxic black mold. You would have to spend millions just on industrial bleach.”

”I’ll just burn the building to the ground and build a parking lot,” Damien replied smoothly.

In the middle row, Zoe swallowed hard. She shot her paddle up into the air.

”Seven hundred thousand!” the auctioneer confirmed.

Damien raised his paddle again.

”Eight hundred thousand.”

”The PR surrounding that company is a total disaster!” Aria hissed, grabbing his forearm as she racked her brain for another excuse. ”It is social suicide, Damien! If Sinclair Corp absorbs it, their bad press will infect your stock prices!”

”I thrive on bad PR, darling,” Damien smirked, unbothered by her protests. He was actually enjoying the game. He loved watching her get so fired up.

Zoe’s paddle shot up again. She was visibly trembling in her seat now.

”Nine hundred thousand!” the auctioneer announced, the excitement in his voice pitching up as the unexpected bidding war heated up.

Aria’s stomach dropped straight to the floor.

The whispers in the room were multiplying rapidly. The spotlight was lingering entirely too long on ’Tiffany’. Socialites were squinting at her, whispering behind their auction booklets, trying to figure out which wealthy family this bold, fearless heiress belonged to.

’If they look too closely, they’re going to realize she’s wearing a wig,’ Aria panicked.

She only had exactly one million dollars on that blue plastic card. They were backed into a corner.

From the middle row, Zoe threw her paddle up into the air with a frantic, jerky motion.

”Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars!” Zoe yelled out loud, her voice cracking slightly in the quiet hall.

The entire room paused. Businessmen exchanged baffled glances.

”Uh,” the auctioneer stammered, completely thrown off by the incredibly specific, bizarre number. ”We have... nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars to the lady in the pink.”

Damien let out a low, amused chuckle.

He uncrossed his legs, shifting his weight in the armchair. He took a slow, deep inhale, his lips parting to drop a cool, devastating million-dollar counterbid that would crush Aria’s dreams entirely.

Aria had no other choice.

Desperate, she lunged across the armrest.

She threw her hands up, grabbing Damien by both sides of his face. She crashed her mouth onto his, effectively using her lips to shut him up before a single number could leave his tongue.

A collective, echoing gasp ripped through the VIP section and the surrounding rows at the scandalous, inappropriate public display of affection.

But Damien was unsurprised. He anticipated her doing something like this.

The moment her soft lips collided with his, Damien took over the kiss instantly. His large hand slid smoothly down her back, wrapping firmly around her waist to keep her against him as he tilted his head, parting her lips to sweep his tongue inside her mouth.

Aria’s brain flatlined. The heat of his response scrambled her nervous system.

A soft, involuntary moan slipped from the back of her throat, vibrating into his mouth. All the frantic, panic-induced adrenaline melted away, leaving her practically boneless against him as she surrendered to the kiss.

He tasted like expensive champagne.

Over the deafening rush of blood in her own ears, Aria could hear the auctioneer recovering from the shock of the public make-out session happening in the VIP section.

”Going once,” the auctioneer called out into the stunned silence.

Damien’s hand tightened on her waist, his thumb stroking the curve of her hip through the red Prada dress. He was completely distracted, wholly consumed by the taste of her cherry lip gloss and the desperate way her hands were clutching his jaw.

”Going twice...”

Aria sighed in sweet, profound relief against his lips.

She had done it.

”One point five million dollars.”

The voice echoed through the hall. It was a woman’s voice.

Aria froze.

Her eyes snapped open, breaking the kiss instantly. She whipped her head toward the source of the sound, her heart plummeting into her toes.

The auctioneer beamed, pointing his gavel toward the far side of the room.

”One and a half million dollars to the lady in the green suit!”