Chapter 4 The Floor of the Auction.

Seraphina's POV 

"Seraphina, make sure you wear that navy dress today," Damien said on Monday morning, adjusting his silver silk tie in the mirror of our bedroom. 

The commercial property auction down at the Seattle Marriott is a huge deal for us. 

A lot of the big-tier players are going to be in the room, and I need everything to look completely perfect. 

When Roth Holdings secures this land, the media is going to have a field day.

"Of course, Damien," I said, giving him a small, bright smile as I picked up my clutch. "I'll be right by your side. Like always."

Like always. God, it sounded so incredibly fake saying it out loud.

The auction room was completely packed by the time we arrived. 

It was a massive, high-ceilinged ballroom filled with rows of velvet chairs, local journalists, and dozens of tech and real estate billionaires cutting deals in whispers.

The property up for grabs was a highly competitive commercial block right in the heart of downtown Seattle. 

It had massive future business potential, so everyone was on edge. 

Damien took his seat in the front row, looking completely relaxed, his arm draped casually over the back of my chair. 

He had this arrogant, puffed-up posture that used to make me feel proud. Now? It just made me want to smash a glass over his head.

"We've got this in the bag, Seraphina," he whispered in my ear, his breath hot and irritating. "Nobody in this room has the capital or the guts to outbid me today."

When the auctioneer stepped up to the podium and started the bidding, Damien immediately took control. 

"Three hundred million," Damien called out, raising his paddle confidently. 

He didn't even start small. He wanted to intimidate everyone right from the jump. 

A few smaller development companies raised their paddles, pushing the price up to three hundred and twenty million, but Damien didn't even blink. 

He raised his paddle again, his voice echoing through the ballroom. "Three hundred and fifty million."

The room went pretty quiet. A lot of people started putting their paddles down. 

Damien turned his head slightly, giving me a smug, arrogant grin.

He fully expected to win without any real resistance. He thought he was the king of Seattle. 

But then, the heavy double doors at the back of the ballroom opened.

The atmosphere in the entire room shifted instantly. It was weird. It was like the temperature literally dropped five degrees in a split second.

I turned my head around along with half the crowd, watching a tall, broad-shouldered man walk down the center aisle.

He was wearing a perfectly tailored, midnight-black charcoal suit. He had dark hair, a sharp, unyielding jawline, and eyes that looked like freezing grey ice. 

He didn't smile or look at the cameras. He carried an aura of absolute power and control.

But what truly caught my attention was the reaction of the crowd.

"Oh my God, that's Cassian Blackthorne," a woman gasped from a nearby table.

"The Cassian Blackthorne?" her friend asked excitedly.

"What is he doing here?" another guest whispered.

A wave of murmurs spread through the ballroom. Several people immediately stood up to greet him, but he ignored them completely.

"He actually came in person," an older businessman said with obvious surprise.

"I haven't seen him attend a public auction in years," another replied.

Nearby, a group of young women looked ready to faint.

"He's even more handsome than the magazines say," one woman whispered dreamily.

"My father has been trying to introduce me to him for months," another admitted.

"Good luck with that," her friend laughed softly. "Half the wealthy daughters in Seattle want to marry him."

"And none of them have succeeded," a third woman added with a sigh.

I blinked. Who exactly was this man?

"He doesn't just own Blackthorne International," an elderly investor explained quietly to the man beside him.

"He's the sole heir of the Blackthorne family."

"The Blackthorne family?" the man asked.

"The most powerful family in the state," the investor answered immediately. "Their influence stretches across real estate, technology, shipping, finance... almost everything."

Another businessman shook his head. "To be honest, comparing Roth Holdings to Blackthorne International isn't even fair," he muttered. "One is a successful company. The other is an empire."

Several people nodded in agreement. I glanced at Damien. His jaw was tight, and the confident smile he had been wearing all morning was gone.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Damien muttered under his breath. 

"Who is that?" I asked, keeping my voice soft and curious, playing the clueless partner.

"Cassian Blackthorne," Damien spat out, his voice practically dripping with raw malice. "CEO of Blackthorne International. He has no business being at this specific auction. He’s just here to make trouble." 

Cassian Blackthorne. 

I had heard the name in business circles, of course, but seeing him in person was completely different. He didn't sit down. 

A staff member at the auction immediately went to him and led him to a reserved table on the second floor overlooking the auction floor, which gave him a perfect view of everything below.

Immediately he sat down, his eyes landed directly on Damien and the tension between them was immediate. Several guests noticed it too.

"Looks like things are about to get interesting," one man murmured.

"Roth is in trouble," another said. "If Blackthorne wants that property, Roth never had a chance,"

"We have a bid for three hundred and fifty million," the auctioneer called out, looking right at Cassian. "Any further advancements?"

Cassian didn't even raise his paddle. He just held up two fingers. "Four hundred million." 

The entire room let out a collective gasp. A fifty-million-dollar jump just like that? It was a total power move.

Damien’s face flushed a deep, angry red. He didn't even focus on the property details anymore; he was entirely focused on Cassian.

"Four hundred and twenty million!" Damien shouted, slamming his paddle up.

"Four hundred and fifty," Cassian countered instantly, his voice calm, level, and completely effortless. 

He surpassed Damien without a moment of hesitation.

"Four hundred and eighty!" Damien’s voice was practically cracking now. He was letting his pride ruin him.

Cassian didn't even blink. He just casually raised his hand, signaling that he's calling a blank check bid and the auctioneer slammed the gavel down. Thud. Thud. Thud. 

In the end, Cassian Blackthorne won the property, leaving Damien frozen in fury." 

I had never seen Damien so rattled before. He looked smaller. Defeated.

And right then? I think I've finally figured out how to make Damien lose completely.

The second the auction wrapped up, Damien stormed out of the ballroom to yell at his managers, leaving me behind. 

I immediately slipped into a quiet corner of the lobby and pulled out my phone, called my private investigator.

"I need everything you have on the relationship between Damien Roth and Cassian Blackthorne," I ordered quietly into the receiver. "Now."

It didn't take long for the investigator to send over the files. 

I sat in a secluded café down the street, reading through the data metrics on my screen, and honestly, it was perfect. 

It turned out that Cassian and Damien were actually best friends back in college. 

They had attended the same university, lived in the same circle. But when the Roth family business was heavily struggling and on the verge of total collapse years ago, Damien begged Cassian for a massive financial bailout. 

Cassian, being a strict strategist, refused to sacrifice his own company's assets to save a sinking ship.

Damien took that rejection completely personally, cut him off forever, and they became bitter corporate rivals ever since. 

I stared at Cassian’s corporate profile on my phone. 

CEO of Blackthorne International. Ruthless. Successful.  A man who hated Damien. 

Damien thought he was so clever, hiding his fake marriage, using my money to fund his empire. But he didn't realize that I was the one behind every single one of his successful business moves for the last six years.

I knew his company's weak points, his secrets, and his strategies. All I needed was a hammer heavy enough to smash his palace to pieces. 

Cassian Blackthorne was that hammer.

I closed the file, a cold smile finally touching my lips as I pulled up the official contact number for Blackthorne International's executive office. 

It was time to set up a private meeting behind Damien’s back. 

"Let's see how much you like playing games now, Damien," I whispered to myself.