The Son-in-Law They Regretted Losing

Chapter 9: Ten Thousand More

The host, Alexia Brown, stepped back up to the podium and adjusted her microphone with a smile. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us begin with our first lot of the evening. We have a limited-edition luxury watch. The starting bid is ten thousand dollars, with minimum increments of one thousand dollars.”

A businessman in the second row immediately raised his paddle and bid eleven thousand dollars. Moments later, a real estate tycoon pushed it to thirteen thousand dollars. 

Sloane's eyes sparkled as she watched the bidding. She had always loved luxury items like this, and her gaze remained fixed on the display stage as the price climbed to fifteen thousand dollars.

Lysander Croft smiled smugly and raised his paddle without hesitation.

"Twenty thousand dollars."

His bid immediately silenced the other bidders. Without missing a beat, he turned toward me with a mocking smile.

"Some people can't even afford their own mother's surgery, yet they still show up at an auction just to window-shop. Pathetic.”

I simply raised an eyebrow. I had one billion, five hundred million dollars sitting idle in my regular checking account, not to mention the ten-billion-dollar limit black card I had just received. I simply had absolutely no interest in competing for such a trivial item.

After several bidding, Lysander won the watch quickly at twenty thousand dollars. Sloane praised him lavishly, then turned around to mock me.

Sloane praised him lavishly, clapping her hands and leaning against his shoulder. 

Then, she turned her gaze toward the front row to loudly mock me. "Did you see that, Riven? That is what a real man looks like. He can actually buy the things I want."

Several more minor lots passed under the hammer over the next twenty minutes. Then, the assistants brought out a beautiful pink diamond ring. 

The host cleared his throat. 

"Next, we have a flawless pink diamond ring. It is a certified replica created by a world-renowned jeweler, but it is still highly valued at one hundred thousand dollars. The starting bid will be fifty thousand dollars."

Every wealthy woman in the grand room was instantly drawn to the glittering stone, and Sloane was included. 

She gasped, her hands gripping the edge of her seat.

Lysander raised his paddle again, eager to show off his wealth. 

And once again, he took the opportunity to mock me across the rows of seats. 

"Hey, delivery boy! Are you taking notes? Or are the numbers too big for you to count?"

Sloane praised him heavily for his bravery and continued to ridicule my silence to the guests sitting near her. 

Lysander eventually won the diamond ring as well at one hundred thousand dollars, puffing out his chest like a king.

Dozens of different items went under the hammer as the night went on. I did not lift my hand even once. 

Finally, the house lights dimmed slightly, and a deep red spotlight focused on a velvet cushion in the center of the stage.

The host's voice turned incredibly serious. 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment everyone in this room has been waiting for. "

"We have the exclusive lot of the evening, the ancient ring from the fallen noble family, Sterling family. The legends say this ring is not only connected to the history of Sterling family, but it also holds the sacred secrets of royal bloodlines."

"The rumors claim it contains clues to a hidden treasure vast enough to rival the wealth of an entire nation. The starting bid is one million dollars, with minimum increments of one hundred thousand dollars."

Sitting in the back, Lysander’s face turned completely determined. 

He was determined to win this. He had prepared ten million dollars, a year's worth of his allowance. For the major families, this ring might mean little, but for someone on the fringes of power like him, it was everything. He had to have it.

He raised his paddle and bid three million dollars outright, tripling the starting price. The room gasped loudly.

After all, it was just a ring with a story, holding no modern brand cachet, just an old legend. Winning it could mean losing everything for a smaller household. 

And besides, Lysander had a fearsome reputation in the city, connected to both the underworld and the authorities. It was said the Croft family had risen from the shadows.

No one else raised their paddle against him. Alexia Brown grew anxious, trying to stir interest under the lights. "Is there truly no one else who wishes to uncover the secret behind this ring? This treasure has even caught the attention of overseas collectors!"

The crowd went silent.

Lysander urged her to announce the result, shouting toward the stage, "Just call the bid, Director Brown! No one else here has the guts or the capital!"

Sloane turned around, her voice carrying across the aisle as she taunted me from her seat. "You came to an auction and haven't bid on a single thing, Riven. And you still claim you're not here looking for work? What a joke."

I shot a cold look back at her, then stared at the ring on stage. Something about it felt vacuously familiar. The Sterling family was the exact same family my mother had once belonged to before she was disowned. 

Perhaps the secret had something to do with my own lineage as well. And a few million dollars meant nothing to me now.

Alexia Brown was about to announce the winner, raising her mallet. "Then let us congrat—"

I raised my paddle firmly. "Six million dollars."

I doubled the price outright. Sloane’s face turned bright red with anger as she stood up half-way, pointing at me. "Are you insane, Riven? Shut your mouth! You don't have that kind of money, you can't afford that amount!”

Lysander also turned around, his face twisting in sudden rage as he questioned my bid. "Who the hell allowed you to shout numbers in here? You're playing a dangerous game, delivery boy!"

I looked directly at both of them, my voice sounding flat and icy. "I am a registered guest participating in the auction. If you want the ring, keep bidding. If you don't have the stomach or the wallet for it, shut your mouths."

Lysander slammed his fist onto his armrest. "You arrogant trash!" He raised his paddle again, his knuckles turning white. "Six point five million dollars!”

He had a total of ten million dollars and could only increment gradually, firmly believing that I could not possibly have that much money. He looked down on me, glaring across the rows as he challenged whether I could really afford it. "Let's see you match that! You're just bluffing to save face!"

Sloane praised him instantly, her voice dripping with venom as she continued mocking me. "Keep going, Lysander! He's just a beggar trying to act tough. He'll crawl back to his hole the second you press him!"

I did not pause for a fraction of a second. I raised my paddle calmly. "Ten million dollars.”

I directly bid ten million dollars. I was not going to slowly raise the price with him; it was too slow. The entire audience was stunned, a heavy murmur breaking out across the floor. Lysander demanded to know where I got the money, his voice cracking with panic. 

"Ten million? Where does a street rat get ten million dollars? You're committing fraud!"

Sloane joined in the mockery, her face pale but her tone sharp. "Director Brown, check his credentials! He's lying! He probably doesn't even know how many zeros are in ten million!"

Alexia Brown ignored the outburst, looking over the crowd with a strict expression. "The bid stands at ten million dollars. Are there any higher bids?"

Lysander's forehead was covered in sweat. He quickly turned to Sloane, his voice dropping to a frantic whisper. "Sloane, I need a loan. Right now. Just give me whatever cash you have on hand." Sloane did not hesitate, opening her account app and transferring the funds. "I've got you. Here is one million."

With the extra capital, Lysander raised his paddle with trembling fingers, bidding ten point one million dollars. He only had one million dollars left to bid with, so he could only increase it by a hundred thousand at a time.

I let out a low, quiet scoff. "Pathetic." I raised my paddle immediately. "Twelve million dollars."

The whole venue erupted in noise, guests turning to one another in utter disbelief. Twelve million dollars was no small sum for a ring. Sloane and Lysander both stood up completely, their faces filled with rage as they questioned whether I actually had the money. "Where is it, Riven? Prove it! Show us the account or sit down!"

I looked back at them, entirely relaxed. "I have the funds. You do not need to worry about my pockets. Worry about your own."

Lysander was furious, his chest heaving as he pointed a shaking finger at me. "You think you can look down on me? My family is the prestigious Croft family! We have deep connections on both sides of the law, and we are extremely wealthy! You are nothing compared to us!"

He pulled out his phone to call his father to ask for an emergency corporate transfer. The first call did not go through, the ringing cutting off abruptly, and I chuckled softly from my seat. Lysander's face turned purple as he tried again. 

His father was currently in a critical board meeting and hung up upon seeing his son's call, having little regard for his worthless youngest son.

Lysander frantically redialed over and over. Only after the fifth attempt did Lysander finally get through. His father's voice was sharp even from the receiver. "What is so urgent that you are disrupting my meeting?"

Lysander swallowed hard, making up an excuse on the spot. "Father, I need fifty million dollars immediately. It's for a major business investment that will secure our new tech supply lines. Please!"

His father let out an angry sigh through the line. "Fifty million for a sudden project? Absolutely not. I will grant you five million, and not a single cent more. Do not call me again today." 

The father reluctantly agreed to give him five million dollars, and before Lysander could say another word to beg for the rest, the call disconnected.

After receiving the immediate bank notification for the transfer, Lysander raised his paddle, his voice shaking as he bid twelve point one million dollars.

The audience instantly burst into a wave of loud laughter, ridiculing him openly across the room. "He spent five minutes on the phone screaming at his family just to raise the bid by a mere hundred thousand? How embarrassing!"

Ignoring the widespread mockery, Lysander clenched his teeth and continued taunting me, trying to salvage his pride. "A hundred thousand is still more than you'll see in a lifetime! Can you still afford to bid higher, Riven? Or are you finally dry?"

Sloane mocked me right beside him, nodding firmly. "Exactly! You couldn't even afford your own mother's surgery fees this afternoon, Riven, and you still came to a high-class auction pretending to be wealthy? Who do you think you are fooling? Lysander is the one with real family money behind him, unlike you, who are so entirely destitute that you have to steal entry into these events!"

I said absolutely nothing to either of them. I did not waste my breath on another argument. Instead, I simply raised my hand toward the stage and made a specific, old-fashioned hand gesture.

Alexia Brown paused mid-sentence on the podium. She hadn't seen that specific gesture in years. She raised her microphone, her voice echoing clearly over the noise of the crowd as she announced to the room: "Silence, please! The gentleman's gesture means an unlimited bid. No matter what anyone else bids in this hall, he will automatically raise the stakes. There is no upper limit."

An absolute, heavy silence fell over the room. No one had expected me to possess such supreme financial power, especially dressed so shabbily. 

Sloane refused to believe it, her face turning completely white as she questioned the host. "That's impossible! Director Brown, you're making a mistake! He's a fraud!"

Lysander was frozen in absolute shock, his paddle slipping slightly in his hand.

"The unlimited bid stands," Alexia Brown called out, looking directly at the Croft family seating. "The current automated stake is fifteen million dollars. Mr. Croft, do you wish to continue?"

Lysander gritted his teeth, his vision turning red as he threw down his absolute final reserve. "Sixteen million dollars!" That was all the money he had left in the world.

I did not even look back. "Thirty million dollars."

After hesitating for a long moment, his hands shaking violently, Lysander chose to give up. 

The ancient ring was far from worth thirty million dollars, and if his father ever discovered he had spent that much just for a legendary treasure, he would be cut off permanently, moving even further from the position of family heir. 

Besides, he simply did not have that much money anyway, so he could only concede, dropping heavily back into his seat.

Alexia Brown lifted her mallet, smiling widely. "Thirty million dollars going once, going twice, Congratulations to—”

But she was cut off again as Sloane stood up completely, shouting at the top of her lungs. "I demand an immediate verification of his funds! This man was delivering food on a bicycle this morning, begging for every penny to cover a million-dollar surgery for his mother! 

How could he suddenly be wealthy enough to afford this? I highly suspect he used someone else's identity to gain entry and has no money at all!"

Lysander stood up right beside her, shouting toward the stage. "I agree! Look at him! He hasn't bid on a single regular item all night long! If he could actually afford one hundred million, why wouldn't he bid on items worth a fraction of that earlier? 

He's clearly a fraud, just shouting big numbers to amuse himself, with nothing in his pockets!"

At those words, every single guest in the room turned to watch the spectacle unfold. Alexia Brown was the only one who was genuinely alarmed, having no intention of going through a massive transaction only to discover not a single cent could be collected. 

She turned her face toward me, her tone strict. "Sir, can you prove to the house that you actually have the funds to cover this bid?"

I nodded calmly and reached my hand toward my jacket for my black card.

But just then, the backstage doors opened, and Linnea appeared, walking down the steps with absolute authority. "I can vouch for him. He has the means.”