Chapter 95: Dangerous Enemy

The lion has to submit to Avery as she wildly swings the whips at it. It is surprised and startled by the sudden attack and it doesn't dare go near her. It has already learned that she's a dangerous enemy at the cost of an eye. Instead, it watches and waits for her to show a sign of weakness or a moment of distraction.

Evan aims his gun at the lion and prepares to pull the trigger.

"Sir, bodyguards are on their way to her," Robert says, "You'll hurt Mrs. Howel if you shoot now."

Evan ignores Robert and continues to squint down the barrel of the gun. He wants to run down and help her himself but he's afraid that the lion will go for her at any moment. He has to wait and find the proper angle to shoot it.

As the wires descend, Avery knows she can't let her guard down for even a second. She grabs the whips tightly and peeks at the gun lying on the floor behind her—in seconds she'll be on the ground and she can get the gun. Suddenly the lion sees its chance and goes for Avery. She turns around and swiftly picks up the gun.

Two bullets pierce the lion's skull simultaneously. The beast lets out a stunning roar and collapses to the ground. There is thundering applause from the audience. The show has been even more exciting and soul-stirring than advertised. Only a few audience members guess that this particular show was not the one that was planned.

Avery collapses to the ground with relief and exhaustion. Evan falls to his knees and drops his gun—he's drenched in sweat. Avery is the only woman in the world who can inspire such fear in him.

Suddenly the lights went out on the stage and a single beam focused on Avery. Her diamond-encrusted mask glitters beneath the light. All of the guests are curious to see the face of the brave and smart woman who fought off a lion. The mask is a deliberate tool to excited the crowd and invokes their imaginations.

Another beam illuminates the right side of the stage and a man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses appears. He picks up the microphone and greets the audience, identifying himself as the host. Then he moves on to more important matters.

"I'm sure you all enjoyed a wonderful night," he says, "We all got to see this charming goddess subdue a lion—and I have to say my blood is still pounding. So who among our distinguished guests wants the honor of spending the night with her? There's a bidding device in every private room. Show us how serious you are about getting to know this incredible woman."

Realization dawns on the crowd. The whole purpose of the show was to auction off the woman as a sort of exclusive, high-class prostitute.

"Sir, they say they don't know it's Mrs. Howel," Robert explains to a fuming Evan, "They'd hired someone else for the role."

"Then I want to know what the hell she's doing up there," Evan roars.

"The girl was scheduled to stay in the same dormitory room where Mrs. Howel currently resides," Robert explains, "It would seem they mistook Mrs. Howel for the girl. I'll go talk to them and make it clear she's your wife."

"Wait a moment!" Evan says.

Robert turns around and gives Evan a puzzled look.

"Don't do anything yet," Evan says.

He rests his hands on the handrail, suddenly calm again. He stares at the white figure in the giant cage. He's relieved that the lion has been shot and Avery is safe, and he vows to make the hotel pay for its mistakes later, but a sudden and perverse curiosity has seized him. The host's words replay in his mind, and he wants to find out just how much other men think his wife is worth.

"Ten million!"

An offer is made as soon as the host finishes talking. The number flickers in green LED lights across the window of one of the private rooms. The general audience exchanges curious glances and wonders who offered such a high price. It seems exceedingly high for a common entertainer. The dissipated, wealthy men in the club know that it costs about that much to spend the night with a rising starlet.

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Robert is also surprised. Evan orders him to hold the bidding device but forbids him from bidding. The women in the private room who were watching the show turn quiet, intimidated by Evan's shouting. Lisa has already told them the true identity of the lion tamer, and they can't believe that someone else has dared to make the first bid.

Robert and Evan speak quietly to each other, and the women speculate amongst themselves about Avery and the cage.

"Is it really Avery in the cage?" whispers one, "Why is she there? The lion almost ate her alive!"

"Was it intentional or what?" asks another, "Who would dare to touch Evan's wife? "

Another one chimes in, "You can never tell with rich people. What if they put her there deliberately and hoped she'd be mauled to death. Then they could claim it was a horrible accident."

"That's horrible!" gasps, "How could you think such a thing?"

"Think about it," whispers replies to the woman, "Why didn't Evan really move to stop it and why does he allow the auction to continue now? As you can see, he hasn't made a single bid. She's wearing a mask so he can claim he didn't recognize her. Maybe he's sick of her, maybe the rumors about the divorce are true and she never signed a prenup—a man like Evan Howel could have many motives for killing his wife."

"That's ridiculous!" says another, "I think Lisa is behind this. She's pulled this little stunt to clear her way to marry Evan. I wonder who she knows that helped her pull this off?"

They all whisper as quietly as they can, terrified of disturbing Evan and drawing his wrath.

More green lights flicker in another private room: "50 million."

"Has the price really jumped from 10 million to 50 million?" the audience whispers with disbelief.

Avery still sits on the ground but she changes her position to lean against a wall of the cage. The lion is dead. She fired once, and a mystery person fired again. She has no idea who fired the shot, but she knew it was meant to save her life.

She touches the mask on her face and wonders if Evan recognized her. Something painful rises in her heart and she turns melancholy. She looks up when she hears the host announce the $50 million bid. The room that made the $50 million bid is not Evan's.

She's not sure Evan recognizes her, but she's very interested to see his look after he learns that someone else has bought her for the night. In a daze, Avery hears more noise and she looks up and sees $250 million on the screen outside one of the rooms.

"$250 million for a night?" Avery thinks incredulously.

Avery immediately recognizes the room and she imagines she can see the unconventional figure and arrogant face behind the glass. Evan has bid

Everyone is shocked at the jump from $50 million to $250 million. Talk about throwing money away as if it's dirt. The crowd assumes that the bidding has ended—who would bid more for a night with a woman—but a screen lights up: $400 million.

Avery turns to look at another private room, five rooms away from Evan's. The occupants have just bid $400 million.

"Who is it?" Avery wonders. 

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