Chapter Text
Rio Vidal always got what she wanted.
It was in her blood. Her father had always taught her nothing wasn’t impossible for a Vidal, to never accept anything less than the best, and she held that close to her chest.
Hence why she was arguing with someone from her marketing team before when she was set to head out for the evening.
“I said green. That isn’t green.”
“But turquoise tested better,” the marketing director insisted.
“I don’t care. Green is the brand. We’re sticking with that.”
“But…”
“Green. End of discussion.” She hung up the phone and gave Alice an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” Alice teased from where she sat on the edge of the bed. “I love seeing you in boss lady mode.”
Rio rolled her eyes. She had been friends with Alice for years, after meeting at a mutual friend’s yacht party. What the daughter of a rock legend and an hotel heiress had in common, she wasn’t sure, but they had hit it off immediately. Years later, Alice was a rockstar in her own right, while had become the owner of the Vidal Group, but they were just still as close as ever.
Which was why, when she received an invite to a charity benefit, she invited her for some good company.
“Who’s going to be there tonight?” Alice asked. “Anyone we know?”
“Probably.” Rio put her earrings in. “It’s a good tax write-off.”
“Surely some of them care about the kids?”
“I hope so.” Rio checked her reflection in the mirror. “I’m planning on donating a purpose-built playground. I have all the details sorted.”
“I thought it was going to be an auction?”’
“Yes. I plan to give then too.”
“So you’re really going for the charity? Not to network?”
“I don’t need to network,” Rio said dismissively. And she didn’t. No, a Vidal always stood on their own two feet, with nothing but their sharp instinct and a good woman holding them up. She only had the former, but it was enough to keep her upright.
“I always forget you’re stupid rich,” Alice admitted.
Rio didn’t like to think of herself as ‘stupid rich’. Perhaps she had the potential to be if her father hadn’t kept her on track. Most heiresses to billion-dollar hotel and business empires wouldn’t bother with education or concentrate on learning how to run the company rather than partying her adolescence away. She had been raised differently, though, and knew that generations of Vidals had worked hard to get her family to where she was now. Yes, she was lucky and lived comfortably, but she never took that for granted. Not for a second.
No, like her father, she hadn’t paid a single dollar without careful consideration. Her clothes were expensive because they made a good impression. Her cars were shiny and new because efficiency was the key to success. Maybe the yacht was a bit much, but it entertained her friends who offered her endless support. She was the last Vidal, after all. Her family thus became what she made it.
“I like to consider myself sensibly rich,” Rio corrected, making Alice laugh.
“You’re such a dork.”
“Shut up.”
“You are,” Alice insisted. “And I adore you for it, but maybe it’s time someone else did too.”
Rio sighed. “Not this again.”
“I just want to you to be happy,” Alice insisted.
“I am happy.”
“And in love,” Alice specified. “You’re amazing and deserve to find someone equally as awesome. Why don’t you just try going on some dates? You can’t hold out forever, and a little fun never hurt anyone.”
“So you’re happy in your current situationship?”
Alice blushed bright red. “It’s not a situationship. We just keep things casual.”
“Whatever. Look, you know what my father always told me. Every heir of the Vidal fortune has known exactly who they were going to marry the moment they saw them. My parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents, my great-great…”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Alice got to her feet. “I just hope you’re not wasting your life on some family superstition.”
Rio smiled and cupped her friend’s cheeks. “I have a fantastic life, Alice. Even if I never meet her, I am more than satisfied with what I have. A comfortable lifestyle, a thriving enterprise, and friends I’d trade it all for.”
Alice smiled at the last part. “You are a big softie.”
Rio playfully swatted her butt with her clutch purse “Come on, we better go.”
“Let’s go enjoy ourselves,” Alice proclaimed. “And who knows, your future wife might be there tonight.”
Rio scoffed. “I doubt it. No one interesting ever turns up to these things.”
Agatha Harkness hated everyone.
Well, besides her godsons, and her friends, and she guessed her own godmother. Everyone else could go fuck themselves.
And so when she received an invitation to the benefit for the children’s foundation her godmother donated to, she wanted to rip it up immediately. There was nothing worse than putting on a smile, pretending she didn’t hate 98% of the guest list.
She had tried to distance herself from that world. The world she had grown up in. Yet, every so often, she had to step back in. Had to become the oddity of the evening, and pretend she was naive to it.
At least she had been given two tickets. At least she would have an ally…an ally who cried off while Agatha was already on the way there.
“I’m sorry Agatha. Billy and Tommy have sickness bugs, and I think Vision has it now too.”
“You’ll be next then.”
“Wow, thanks for the encouraging words, Agatha,” Wanda huffed. “Can you cover my undergrad class tomorrow if I don’t make it?”
“What are you teaching?”
“Macbeth.”
“Again?”
“Sorry Shakespeare is too modern for you, Miss Greek Tragedy.”
“It’s ONE module. It’s not my fault the students love it so much.”
“You love it and don’t deny it. I know Sappho is your favourite poet.”
“Second favourite,” Agatha corrected. “Emily Dickinson has my heart.”
“Whatever. Please? You can do that why Lady Macbeth was in the right debate. That’ll keep them busy.”
Agatha smirked. Last time she did that, three students almost got suspended. It was totally worth it.
“Try have a good time,” Wanda encouraged. “Who knows? You might meet someone.”
Agatha scoffed. “Unlikely.”
“It will be with that attitude.”
“You don’t get it, Wanda. I hate the lot of them.”
“You don’t know half of them.”
“I hate them by association.”
“Just show your face and leave if you have to. Now, I’ve got to go. I think Tommy just threw up again.”
“Fine.”
“Enjoy the benefit.”
“Enjoy the vomit.”
Agatha put the phone down and scowled out of the window. This was going to be painful.
The benefit was bustling by the time she got there. Agatha grimaced as she walked in. The stench of wealth was overwhelming.
Everyone was dressed to the nines, making her best dress look pitiful in comparison. People stared at her as she entered, some looking her up and down, likely thinking she was someone who worked for the charity rather than an honoured guest. Others, however, stared at her knowingly, whispering amongst their friends as she walked through the room.
Agatha was tempted to get on a chair and announce herself to the room. ‘Yes, tis I! Agatha Harkness. The woman, the myth, the legend. Feel free to take a photo as I’m never coming to one of these fucking things again.’
She didn’t though. Instead, she caught sight of her godmother and made a b-line straight towards her.
“Agatha!” Lilia approached her with open arms. She gave her a hug before kissing both her cheeks. “Oh my dear it’s been too long!”
It had been a few months since they’d seen each other. Lilia spent a lot of time in her Mediterranean homes these days, and Agatha liked to stay in New York. Her work at Westview University kept her busy most of the year, and she spent her breaks either helping Wanda with the kids, seeing plays with Kingo or heading up to Amherst to lend her expertise to the Emily Dickinson Museum. Not that it stopped Lilia from nagging her to come visit.
She knew her godmother wanted her to accept her hospitality. To step back into the world she had been born into. Yet Agatha had made the decision long ago that she needed to build her own world. One of old books and faculty meetings, and of people who respected her, rather than treated her like a scandalous oddity.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” Lilia grinned up at her. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I only just got here, but it looks like you’ve done a good job.”
“Yes, Stark Industries and F4 inc. have sent advance donations, and we have a lot of deep pockets here for the auction. We even have the head of the Vidal Group here. I think we’re going to have a huge total by the end of the night.”
“And you’re going to be known as the hostess of the mostess,” Agatha pointed out. She knew her godmother liked to make a splash.
“That too.” Lilia chuckled, then looked around. “Where’s your friend?”
“Ill,” Agatha answered. “Or about to be.”
“Oh that’s a shame. Well, at least that means you can socialise a little. Come over here with me.”
Lilia led her over to a group of people already in the middle of chattering. Agatha recognised one of them as the Van Dyne’s daughter, and the others as top businesswoman Eleanor Bishop, and Pepper Potts, wife of Tony Stark, who was absent that evening. She could tell because she couldn’t hear his voice; that man was too loud for her liking.
Eleanor looked her up and down. “Agatha. What a surprise. I thought you didn’t come to these things anymore?”
“I invited her,” Lilia said proudly. “You all remember each other, right?”
Eleanor and Pepper nodded stiffly, while little Van Dyne just looked confused.
Oblivious to the awkwardness, Lilia grinned and clapped her hands. “Very well. I’ll let you catch up!”
Agatha watched her leave, cursing that her mother had been so devious to give her a rich godmother (she was sure it had been part of a business deal) that actually fucking cared about her.
“So, Agatha,” Pepper spoke up. “How have you been? What are you up to?”
“Good, and I’m a professor,” Agatha answered. “Literature.”
Little Van Dyne seemed interested, and Pepper managed a smile, while Eleanor just scoffed.
“What university?”
“Westview,” Agatha answered.
Little Van Dyne grinned. “I went to Westview! In the science department, but still!”
Agatha managed to smile back. “Good to see a fellow witch.”
“Yep, go witches!” Little Van Dyne held out her hand. “I’m Hope.”
She shook the girl’s hand and offered a small smile. “Agatha. You’re Hank and Janet’s daughter, aren’t you?”
Hope nodded. “You know them?”
“Through my mother,” Agatha answered, and she spotted Eleanor smirk into her drink.
Eleanor had always been a jackass. A judgemental jackass at that. It seemed some things never changed.
Pepper stepped in to fill the silence one more. “So Agatha, are you…”
“You’re very brave,” Eleanor cut in. “Coming here tonight.”
Agatha folded her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You haven’t been to an event in years,” Eleanor pointed out. “What, do you think enough time has passed that we won’t remember?”
“I have nothing to be ashamed of,” Agatha said with her head held high. “Never have, never will.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly. “I see you’re still keeping up that lie.”
Agatha rolled her eyes. “And I see you’re still suffering from stupidity, Eleanor.”
Hope bit back a laugh, while Eleanor’s face went red.
“Stupidity? How dare you talk to me like that! Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Unfortunately.”
“You’re still the same, Harkness. All bark but no substance.”
“Ladies,” Pepper tried to interject, but Agatha couldn’t not have the last word.
“At least I don’t need Daddy’s money to make myself matter. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to look at the auction pieces.”
She turned to walk away, only to heard Bishop laugh.
“As if she can afford anything more than a bag of peanuts.”
Agatha wanted to turn around and slap that smug smile off that Bishop bitch’s face. But this was Lilia’s night, and she didn’t want to ruin it. So, with all her might, she bit her tongue and stormed off.
She made it halfway across the room before a firm body bumped into hers. Agatha caught herself from stumbling and quickly whirled to face whatever idiot got in her way.
Said idiot was a pretty brunette, wearing a simple black velvet dress and small hooped earrings. Likely a date of some wall street guy, or a company representative. Whoever she was, she stared back at her with big brown eyes wide and startled. In her irritable state, Agatha found it incredibly annoying.
“Watch where you’re going,” she snapped, before charging towards the bar. She needed a drink, probably two…or five.
Rio followed her to the bar, keeping her distance but always keeping her in sight. And what a sight she was. Beautiful brown draping over her one shoulder in loose curls, the small straps of her dress revealing an exquisite expanse of skin, along with the most teasing hint of cleavage. And her legs…it took everything for her not to stare. Yet what she wanted to see most was those piercing blue eyes, and to hear that voice again, rich and sharp. She wanted it all.
Pushing down her nerves, Rio walked confidently to the bar, saddling up beside her. “Hey.”
The woman looked up, her jaw quickly tightening. “If you’re here for an argument, I must warn you my bite is just as bad as my bark.”
Rio had a feeling that last part had nothing to do with her, and rather whatever had made her storm around the room at top speed. “No, I wanted to get you a drink.”
“It’s an open bar,” Agatha snapped.
“Not everything is free.” Rio waved down the bartender. “Two glasses of your finest. You know what.”
The bartender nodded and headed into the back, returning with a champagne bucket and two glasses. “Enjoy ladies.”
“Excellent,” Rio smiled. “Put it on my tab.”
The bartender nodded. Everyone knew she’d make good on it. A Vidal always paid their debts.
“What is that?”
“Bollinger.” Rio examined the bottle and nodded in approval. “Not a bad vintage for a commercial bar.”
She poured them both a glass, before pushing one across the bar to her compelling companion.
The woman stared at the glass, before picking it up and taking an experimental sip. Her eyebrows shot up. “Wow, that’s…that’s good champagne.”
Rio grinned and held out her hand. “I’m Rio.”
The woman looked her up and down with pursed lips before shaking her hand firmly. Rio relished the touch, so warm and soft. She swore she would worship those hands, along with the rest of her.
“Agatha.”
“Agatha,” Rio tasted the name on her tongue, and found it finer than champagne could ever be. “I like it.”
“You do?”
Rio nodded. “Apologies for walking into you. However I must admit, I’m glad I did.”
Agatha raised her eyebrows again. “You are?”
“I am. I hope this doesn’t sound too forward but I…I’ve been waiting to meet you for some time.”
Agatha stared at her for a moment before shooting her a deep glare. “Is this a joke or something?”
“What?” Rio frowned. “No, not at all. Why would you think I’d be joking?”
“Don’t lie,” Agatha sneered. “I know you all find it funny, but I don’t need some second-rate date playing silly games to win brownie points with their asshole friends.”
“What? Agatha I-”
“Just leave me alone.” Agatha went to leave, only to turn back and grab the champagne bottle, stomping off with it grasped at the neck.
Rio watched her go in awe. That wasn’t a woman. That was a certified goddess.
“Rio?” Alice’s voice came from behind her.
“Hey Al.” She sensed her move to stand beside her, but Rio couldn’t take her eyes off the sharp red merging into the crowd.
Alice must have followed her gaze. “Who was that?”
Rio smiled in wonder. “My future wife.”
-
Rio’s father had told her a story long ago. Of how by living generously and kindly, their family had been blessed with three gifts. The first was sharp minds, curious and contemplating. The second: hearts big enough to love and care about not only their inner circle, but anyone in need of their help and hospitality. The third was a more personal gift, a reward her father called it. The gift of knowing your soulmate at a single glance.
‘You’ll know, mi flor,’ he’d told her. ‘The moment you seem them, you’ll know.’
She trusted her father’s words, as she always had, but with age and experience, Rio wasn’t sure what that would feel like. How would she know for sure? Would she just have to take it with blind faith? Had it already happened? Had missed it because she wasn’t sure?
Then she saw her, and suddenly she understood.
“Rio, please just think about this,” Alice begged as she chased after her. “You don’t know her.”
Rio weaved through the crowd, desperate to find her again. That beautiful woman in the red dress.
Agatha.
The most beautiful name to go with the most compelling person she had ever met.
“Rio, stop.” Alice grasped her arm, making her stop. “Just take a minute, please!”
“I can’t, Alice. I’m telling you. She’s her!”
“Alright, but just think about this rationally, okay,” Alice pleaded. “She doesn’t know you. You can’t just bulldoze your way into her life. You need to get to know her first at least.”
Rio knew she was right, even if she hated it. “Fine.”
“Right, so what’s her name?”
“Agatha.”
“Agatha what?”
“No idea.”
“You’re declaring she’s the love of your life and you don’t know her last name?”
Rio nodded.
Alice sighed. “Alright, come with me.”
Rio followed Alice through the crowd to the auction lot table. There, she spotted the unmistakable figure of Jennifer Kale and stopped in her tracks.
“Why are you taking me to see your booty call?”
“She’s not my booty call,” Alice hissed, and Rio snickered.
“No, you’re hers.”
“Look, Jen knows everyone. We can ask her if she knows an Agatha here tonight.”
Suddenly, Rio was ahead of her. “Hey Jen.”
Jen turned to face them, dressed in an elegant evening gown that would have made Princess Diana jealous. “Rio, Alice. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Do you know someone here called Agatha?” Alice asked. “Brown hair, red dress…”
“Gorgeous,” Rio added, earning a look from her friend.
“I don’t know a…Wait, do you mean Agatha Harkness?”
Rio shrugged. “I didn’t catch a last name.”
“Was she snappy and kind of mean?”
“Yeah!” Rio grinned.
Jen sighed. “I know Agatha. She went to the same boarding school as me, but the year above. She was pretty infamous.”
“She was?” Rio wanted to know everything.
“She transferred during freshman year,” Jen explained. “The school went from middle school right up, but it wasn’t strange for people to just come for middle school or high school. I remember when she came though. It was chaos.”
“How so?” Rio pressed.
“Her mom died, and I guess the family estate sent her there to get her out of the way, which she wasn’t too happy about. She’d set fire to bins, throw things in the swimming pool, and who knows how many girls she got caught kissing in the cupboard at the back of the science lab. She almost got expelled three times, but she stayed for about a year before she left.”
“Why did she leave?”
“Her godmother took over custody. You know Lilia Calderu, right?”
Rio nodded. She had met her in passing a number of times.
“Well, she took her to Europe,” Jen explained. “Bounced around all these fancy schools before getting into Oxford.”
“So she’s smart,” Rio noted approvingly.
“Too smart,” Jen added. “She doesn’t have money. As far as I know, she was uninherited in her mom’s will, and Lilia paid for most of her education. Last I heard, she was a lit professor at Westview.”
Rio made mental notes of all of this.
“Is she married?” Alice asked, stealing a cautious glance Jen’s way. “Partner? Kids? Anything like that?”
Dread filled Rio’s stomach. That possibility hadn’t entered her head. Had the love of her life already met someone? Was she now forever cursed with wanting someone she could never have? To live alone forever. An hour ago, the thought of being a bachelor for life didn’t bother her. Now it made her want to cry.
“I don’t know,” Jen admitted. “She doesn’t socialise in our circles anymore. She’s only here because Lilia organised the benefit.”
“Will you speak to her?” Rio asked hopefully. “To find out if she’s…if she’s unattached?”
Jen’s eyes narrowed. “Really? Agatha?”
“Yep.”
Jen folded her warms. “What do I get out of this?”
“What do you want?” Rio was getting ready to give Jen one of her hotels she was that desperate.
“An invite on your yacht, preferably somewhere nice.”
Rio held out her hand. “Deal.”
Jen shook her hand before waving them off. “I’ll be back with the intel soon.”
Rio looked to Alice, catching her biting her lip as she watched Jen go.
“You’ve got it bad.”
“I know,” Alice said with a dramatic sigh. “At least my girl knows I exist though.”
“Hey, mine does too!”
“But does she know who you really are, Miss Vidal?” Alice questioned.
“Not yet,” Rio answered, though she was sure that would soon change.
Agatha had found a lonely table for her and her champagne and was enjoying her second glass when a familiar face came to ruin the ambiance.
“Agatha! It’s been so long!”
“Well, if it isn’t my least favourite vegetable,” Agatha sassed. “What do you want, Kale?”
Jennifer Kale sat down in the seat opposite her and picked up one of the wine glasses from the table. She helped herself to some of the champagne.
“Hey!”
“You didn’t buy it,” Jen argued. “It’s a thousand dollars a bottle.”
Agatha tried to hide her surprise by taking a long sip. “How do you know I didn’t splash out?”
“You’re on an academic’s salary, and the rest of the bar is free.”
Agatha didn’t understand why that Rio woman had wasted all that money on her, though she knew the type. Money was no matter so they just threw it around, while others scrapped for every last dollar. She herself had been lucky not to have gotten to that point, but living on her salary did not grant the luxuries of her childhood. The freedom she found, however, was priceless.
“So what’s new with you?” Jen asked. “Married? Kids?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh come on,” Jen pressed. “There must be someone.”
Agatha shook her head. “I like being on my own.”
“Right…still a lesbian then?”
Agatha folded her arms. “Are you coming on to me, Kale?”
“WHAT? No! I mean you’re very…I just…” Jen sighed. “Sorry. I’ll leave you alone.”
She went to go, but Agatha stopped her. “Wait.”
Jen froze.
“What’s going on? Is it some kind of game? You all buy me expensive drinks and ask me stupid questions to what? Laugh about me behind my back?!”
“No one is making fun of you,” Jen insisted. “You’re being paranoid.”
“Paranoid? Oh I’ll show you-”
“Agatha!”
She looked round to see Lilia rushing towards her. Jen seemed to take the opportunity and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Agatha even more frustrated than before.
“Agatha, thank goodness,” Lilia said when she reached her. “I have a huge favour to ask.”
She sighed. “What?”
“Nothing big! It’s just one of the special guests who agreed to part of the auction had to cancel. Traffic issues, apparently.”
“Okay…”
“I need you to take their place.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “Doing what?”
“Well, you’ll come on stage, and we’d auction off…a meal with you.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Agatha…”
“You’re auctioning me off to go on a date with some rich prick!”
“I’ll win the bid,” Lilia promised. “We just need to fill the docket, okay? Everyone will be bidding on the yacht anyway. Please, dear. For me?”
Agatha tried to stay strong, but eventually she crumbled. “Fine, but I still don’t like it.”
“Thank you, my dear.” Lilia leaned up and kissed her cheek. “Now come with me. The auction is about to start!”
The auction was set to begin and Rio found her and Alice a table to one side. She looked over the auction brochure and made a mental note of where she could give. Most would be after the grand yacht at the end, but Rio was thinking more on the smaller side.
“I like the look of that Gibson,” Alice admitted, pointing to where the guitat was displayed at the side of the stage.”
“I’ll bid for you,” Rio suggested. “I plan on spending tonight.”
It was that moment Jen appeared, taking a seat beside Alice. “You guys got some good seats.”
“It’s strategic,” Rio told her. “Most people go for the middle, but it’s really the wings that offer the best experience.”
“Can you tell she’s a hotelier?” Alice asked Jen, who chuckled.
“Can’t knock her. I stayed in a Vidal Hotel when I went to Sydney. It was very impressive.”
“Oh I love that one!” Alice gasped. “The one with the giant fish tank?”
“That’s it!”
“They’re all rescue fish,” Alice explained. “Rio even built a sea-life rehabilitation unit on site. I told her she should convert some of the lobby into an aquarium, but she won’t listen to me.”
“I don’t need an aquarium,” Rio insisted. “The big tank is enough. Anyway, enough about the fish. Did you speak to Agatha?”
“I did,” Jen confirmed. “She totally thinks I’m trying to get into her pants, but she is indeed single.”
Rio couldn’t help but grin, but Jen held up her hand.
“Not so fast, Romeo. She’s also got it in her head that we’re messing with her.”
“What?” Rio frowned. “Why?”
“Because from what I’ve just heard, she had a bit of back forth with Eleanor Bishop which has set her on edge. Apparently, Bishop said she was too poor to bid on a pack of peanuts.”
Rio took a sip of her drink, clutching the glass so tight she was surprised it didn’t. How she couldn’t wait to wipe the floor with anyone who even looked sourly in Agatha’s direction.
The auction soon started, and as the dockets went on, Rio managed to get Alice the Gibson, and she scored herself some courtside WNBA season tickets. Her intention was to leave it at that, perhaps pick up anything if the bids were low so the charity got a bit more. Yet as things stood, she was more than satisfied with her haul for the evening, though she wasn’t completely happy.
She couldn’t see Agatha in the crowd. Not even the slightest glimpse of red. Rio hoped she hadn’t gone home. She couldn’t just find her only to have her disappear.
“Now,” the auctioneer began again. “Docket Number 12 has had a slight change from the brochure, but I’m sure you’ll all still be interested. A dinner for two at Le Bernardin tomorrow evening, all expenses paid. Only now you will have company of the lovely Agatha Harkness.”
Rio sat up in her seat and watched as Agatha stepped out onto the stage. Her body language was stiff, but she still looked breathtaking. She reached for her paddle, but Alice leaned over to stop her.
“Rio, you can’t buy a date with her.”
“Why not?”
“Because it would be fucking weird.”
Rio brought her hand back but still sat at attention.
“Without further ado,” the auctioneer continued, “I’ll start the bidding at $100.”
A paddle went up. “$200.”
“That’s Lilia,” Jen whispered. “I bet it’s a set up.”
“$200,” another voice called out, this time a man’s. Rio craned her neck to see, only to grimace. It was Ralph Bohner, Wall Street asshole.
“$300,” Lilia called out.
“$1,000,” Ralph countered.
“$1,500,” Lilia added.
Ralph stood from his seat this time, straightening his suit jacket before holding up his paddle. “$100,000.”
Rio looked to Agatha, who was signing something in Lilia’s direction. Eventually, the paddle went up.
“$100,500.”
Ralph laughed and held up his paddle again. “$250,000.”
“He really likes her, huh,” Alice commented.
“He always has,” Jen supplied. “He just doesn’t get the message. Now the poor girl is going to be stuck with that creep all night.”
Rio looked to Agatha, who was gesturing aggressively at Lilia, but no paddle went up.
“$250,000 going once,” the auctioneer called.
Rio looked at her paddle.
“Going twice!”
“Sorry Alice,” she whispered, before grabbing her paddle and jumping to her feet. “$45 million.”
A loud gasp circled the room as chairs shifted and heads turned, all wanting to take a look at the big bidder. Agatha looked to be in equal shock, her mouth hanging open comically. Rio found it adorable.
“Sorry,” the auctioneer spoke up. “Did you say forty-five million?”
“Yes,” Rio confirmed, looking to were Ralph Bohner still stood, shoulders slumped, and face filled with disappointment, “and I will go higher if Mr Bohner wishes to challenge.”
Ralph shot her a glare before dropping down in his seat.
“Forty-five million going once!”
No one challenged.
“Going twice.” The hammer came down. “Sold, to Miss Rio Vidal.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Alice told her, but Rio just winked and headed up to get her prize.
She shook the auctioneer’s hand and collected the documentation for the reservation, before moving to stand beside Agatha for a photograph.
“What was that?” Agatha asked under her breath as they smiled for the camera.
“I wasn’t going to let you go for dinner with that sleaze,” Rio answered. “And I do like the desserts at Le Bernardin.”
“Why did you bid that much though?” Agatha demanded. “The yacht isn’t even worth that.”
The photographer moved on, and Rio gently took Agatha’s hand. “The yacht is all well and good, but you, my love,” she placed a kiss to her knuckles, “are priceless.”
She walked back to her table, clutching the envelope in her hand while the warmth of Agatha’s skin still tingled her lips.
When she reached Alice and Jen, they both looked up at her with arms folded. Jen’s face was lightened with amusement, but Alice looked like she was going to bonk her on the head.
“What?” Rio asked as she dropped back into her seat. “It’s for the kids!”