Page 101 of Bid For Me

She obeys and I turn my back on her, my stomach sinking. I run my hands through my hair.

I shouldn’t have kissed her, shouldn’t have touched her and made her come apart on my fingers when I had no intention of staying. But I couldn’t help myself, couldn’t resist. Not when she’s everything I’ve ever wanted.

I thought today was going to be a dream come true, and instead, it’s been my worst nightmare. I’ll forever be haunted by Elle’s betrayal. Driven to madness by her scent and taste that I won’t let myself indulge in again.

As I reach for the polished front door, the weight of her presence presses on my back, heavy and suffocating. I pull it open, the chill of the London night rushing in, biting against my heated skin.

Behind me, the silence stretches, thick and oppressive, until it breaks with a sound I’ll carry with me long after I’ve walked away – a sob, small and broken, escaping her lips.

It spears through me like a blade, sharp and relentless.

But I don’t turn back.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Elle

I flinch,my body stiffening in the aftermath of his departure. The space between us has never felt wider, more empty. The silence in the room feels suffocating, like it’s pressing down on me from all sides.

I stand there for a moment, frozen, trying to make sense of what’s just happened. I thought we were supposed to be partners – supposed to be a team – but this? This coldness from him? It’s like a wall has gone up between us, and I’m on the other side, unable to reach him.

I stare at the door he just stormed through, my breath shallow. My mind replays everything – how Seb’s eyes had met mine across the ballroom, how he’d looked at me with something that could have been suspicion, anger, or maybe both. I don’t know anymore.

I feel sick.

This isn’t what I wanted. None of this was supposed to happen. I thought the wedding would be the start of something real, something solid. But now? I can’t even tell where we standanymore. And the worst part? I don’t know how much of it is my fault.

I try to focus, to steady my breathing, but the memory of Alexander’s gleeful smile cuts through me like a knife. He was so...pleased today. Watching us like we were part of some sick show. The way he’d looked at me while Seb and he exchanged words had made my skin crawl. I knew what he was doing – feeding off our tension, using it like a weapon.

And Seb...Seb has been cold. So cold. I can’t get over the way he’d looked at me, like I was some puzzle he couldn’t solve, a problem he wasn’t sure he wanted to fix. He’d said nothing when I tried to speak, barely reacting when I moved closer to him. It was like I was invisible – except when he was angry with me.

I shudder, the weight of everything pressing down on me again. The car ride after the wedding was so quiet, but not the comfortable kind of silence. No, it was filled with tension, the air thick with words left unsaid. Seb’s eyes were fixed out of the window, his jaw clenched, his body stiff. He hadn’t even looked at me when I’d tried to start a conversation. His coldness was like a physical thing, something I could touch, something that kept me at arm’s length.

And then, just when I thought maybe it was just a mood, maybe he’d snap out of it, he’d spoken. His words had been like ice, each one freezing me in place.

“You don’t have a choice,” he’d said, as if it were that simple, as if it were all just a business deal to him. As if what I want, as ifconsent,was irrelevant to him.

My knees buckle, my legs too weak to hold me up any longer. I collapse on the stairs as a sob bursts out of me, ragged and sharp, tearing through the silence of the house. I press my hands over my face, trying to contain it, but it’s no use. The tears come hard and fast, hot trails streaking down my cheeks as I gasp for breath.

Why? Why would he do this?

My heart sinks lower, my stomach churning. That’s all I am to him now, right? A contract. A piece of paperwork. Something he has to deal with.

The thought of it makes me sick.

But it’s not just his words. It’s the look in his eyes, the utter lack of warmth. His aloofness feels like a slap, a rejection that stings deeper than I want to admit.

My chest aches, the weight of it unbearable. He kissed me. He kissed me like he couldn’t get enough, like I was the only thing he’d ever wanted. His hands had held me so tightly, so possessively. He said I was his. He made me come undone…and then he just…walked away. Slammed the door. Left me here, alone, with no explanation. No answers.

My mind spirals, tumbling through memories and half-formed thoughts, searching desperately for something to make sense of this. He was angry, that much was obvious. But why? What did I do?

The prenup.

The word slams into me, twisting in my gut like a knife.He must know.He must have known all along what his father was planning. Maybe he’d even been part of it. The thought is like ice in my veins, cold and sharp and paralysing.

“No,” I whisper aloud, shaking my head as if I can banish the idea by sheer force of will. “He wouldn’t.”

But the passing thought from before has taken root now, and it grows with every passing second. The anger in his eyes, the coldness in his voice. What if it wasn’t just the prenup? What if he’s been playing me all along?

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