I swallow, risking a glance at my dad. He watches me, wrinkles creasing his entire forehead. His eyes look sad, and I hate the disappointment that’s written all over his features.
“I can’t,” I mutter to my dad. “We don’t have it.”
My eyes sting with unshed tears. I hate this. I hate the feeling of knowing I tried everything I could do to not only keep Wake and Bake but the businesses next door, and it still wasn’t enough.
“Two million,” a voice calls from behind me. I look three rows back to where Dean Livingston sits with a raised paddle. His dad sits on the other side of him, looking at his son with wide eyes.
“Two million and one,” Jason counters, angrily looking back at Dean.
“Two million and two,” Dean continues, glaring daggers at Jason.
Rosemary grabs my shoulder, leaning forward in her chair. “Do we have anything else?”
I shake my head. “I can’t compete with that,” I answer sadly. “It’s in Dean’s hands now.”
“Two and a half.” Jason seethes.
“Three,” Dean immediately counters.
I watch Dean hopefully, my heart thumping in my chest. It isn’t up to me anymore; it’s up to Dean. And I’m petrified even Dean will have a number he won’t go to for five simple properties that shouldn’t cost this much.
Dean and Jason go back and forth a few times, and the numbers are so high it makes me want to throw up. The world around me starts to get fuzzy and black at the catastrophic realization our plan is falling through. Everything I’ve worked for is slipping through my fingers, and there’s nothing I can do.
I look at the row behind me, where Ms. Lori sits with her husband. They’d put in all of their savings to try and buy back her flower shop, and it still wasn’t enough. Or Ty who owns BlueBird Bookstore, who sits on her other side and volunteered his retirement money to help us have funds to try today. Everyone on the block has offered up everything they have. And even those who have nothing to gain and don’t own businesses gave more than we could’ve ever expected.
And it’s all going up in flames right now. Everything we’ve worked for is disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
“Ten million,” a voice thunders from the very back of the room.
My entire body breaks out in shivers. I’d know the voice anywhere. At any place, in any crowd, I’d recognize it.
58
CAMDEN
My hand not holding the bidding paddle stays firmly in my pocket. I’m scared if I pull it out, people might see it shaking with nerves. It’s not about the money or the attention; it’s the fact that I’m here to lay my heart out on the line, with no idea if Pippa will even speak to me.
It’s terrifying. Nothing has ever scared me more than seeing her again with the fear of wondering if she’ll allow me to love her the way I dream about.
I wish I could look into her mind or that she’d wear her emotions on her sleeve so I could know what she was thinking. Is she angry I’m here? Happy? Relieved? I can’t figure it out from the look in her eyes.
The only hope I have is the fact she doesn’t look away from me. Her chest rises in heavy breaths as her eyes travel my face.
“Hi,” I mouth, well aware that there are too many eyes on us for me to be comfortable. I block all of them out, only focusing on the woman who owns my heart.
“Okay,” the auctioneer says from behind Pippa. He clears his throat awkwardly. “I’ve got ten million…”
“We can’t go from three to ten,” Jason sputters. The anger in his voice takes me by surprise, my gaze ripping away from Pippa to find Jason angrily pushing out of his chair. His face is beet red as he looks between Clyde and me.
“Do you have a counterbid?” Clyde asks. It isn’t exactly protocol, but I don’t say anything. I know Jason won’t meet my bid.
“I’m out,” Dean announces, sticking to our plan. We’d give Jason hope for a moment before I showed up with a number he’d never be able to beat.
It seems to work because his eyes almost bulge out of his head as he yells at the auctioneer. “That price for five properties is ridiculous!”
“Ten million going once…”
Jason’s beady eyes focus on me. He kicks his chair, almost hitting one of his associates as he barrels over to me. “You’ll regret this, Hunter,” he hisses, jabbing his finger into my chest.
I don’t react. It isn’t in my nature to show any kind of reaction. He doesn’t deserve another second of my time.
“Going twice…”
“This isn’t the end of this,” Jason snaps. I don’t bother to hide my laugh. He’s already told everyone in Manhattan the sale had gone through. He’d promised his friends to rent out the spaces to their businesses. He’ll return to Manhattan embarrassed, having to admit that he didn’t have the funds to close the deal.
“Sold!” the auctioneer yells.
Jason doesn’t move. I let out a long, annoyed sigh. Men like him will just never understand when to cut their losses. They’ll forever embarrass themselves further instead of walking out with at least a little composure intact.
I take a step closer to him, letting my shoulder bump against his. I angle my head down due to the sheer height difference between us. “I’m going to say this once, so listen fucking closely.” My voice is lethal. I don’t bother to hide the disdain I feel toward this pathetic excuse of a man. “You will leave this town on the first flight back, and you will never return. You lost. It’s embarrassing. If I hear you even mutter the word Sutten, I’ll have no problem telling every single person I know how shallow your pockets actually are.”
The entire room breaks out into cheers.
Jason’s eyes go wide. Last night, I had my people deep dive into his finances. It all made sense why he was trying to buy these properties for cheap. He’s about to go bankrupt, and this was his last hope to try and get some cash flow. He attempts to walk away, but I grab him by the bicep, keeping him in place.
“I wasn’t finished,” I grit out.
He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to. I keep going, wanting to make my point vastly clear. “Say one bad thing about Pippa or anyone else in this town again and I’ll buy your companies right out from underneath you just because I can. Don’t talk about my girl, and don’t talk about this town. Understood?”
My fingers loosen around his arm. He doesn’t linger for another second. He rushes out of the doors, his two associates following closely after him.
There’s no way Jason will return to Sutten Mountain. But if he does try, I’m fully prepared to take him down for everything he’s done. I won’t be generous twice. I don’t want to deal with him now because my biggest goal is making Pippa happy. But if he reappears, I’ll end him.
My eyes find Pippa again, but she’s too busy hugging her dad, her face tucked into his chest, to find me watching her. If she’d just look at me again, maybe she’d give some sort of indication of how she felt about me being here. Will she be mad I purchased the properties? I only did it so she’d never have to fear someone taking it from her again.
I did it because I’m madly in love with her, and I’d do anything she ever asked of me.
A hand claps my shoulder. Dean steps in front of me, a cocky smile on his lips. “Ten million? I thought we decided on five.”
“I wanted to end it. There was no way he’d ever be able to compete with that number.”
Dean whistles, shaking his head with humor. “You’re something else. I was worried for a moment there that I’d be the one shelling out the money for the properties.”
“You know I wouldn’t have let you. Pippa won’t be paying anyone for her space. It’s hers.”
“And everyone else?”
“It’s theirs.”
He stares at me, silently assessing what I said. He must know at this point I’m a man of my word. After a few seconds, he reaches his hand out. I shake it, grabbing his forearm.
“I look forward to seeing you around, Hunter.”
“Thanks for helping.” He nods, walking away to join a group of locals chatting in a circle.