Chapter 79
Xanthea thought prices in the discount aiste would be low, but she hadn’t expected them to be this low Imagining the potential fame it could gamer later, it seemed like a hidden gem in the rough.
“Matt I want this one.
“What?”
Matthew paused for a moment, and Miranda was equally stunned. This? A novel by a completely unknown author, and she wanted to bid on it? Had she lost her mind?
“Xan, you don’t need to save money for me
“Raise the paddle”
“Alright.” Although Matthew didn’t understand her reasoning, he lifted the paddle, “50 thousand
“50 thousand from bidder number 0121
Quality varied greatly in the discount section, and items often went unsold. Matthew’s bid, doubling the starting price, clearly surprised the auctioneer, who promptly grabbed his gavel.
Matthew thought 50 thousand would clinch it and started to stand to finalize the deal, but suddenly, a deep, magnetic voice filled the
room
“51 thousand”
When bidder number 001 slowly raised his paddle from the first row of VIP seats, everyone turned their surprised gazes towards the elegant figure.
This was Mr. Lockwood’s first bid of the day, and it was for a deeply discounted novel? Unbelievable!
Xanthea was also taken aback. Why would Orion bid on this novel?
Could it be that he too saw the huge potential and bright future of the work? No wonder he was the youngest head of the Lockwood Group, a once–in–a–century business titan. His keen insight and foresight were truly unmatched
If she hadn’t known about the future success of “Realm of Illusions“, she wouldn’t have bothered either. Luckily, his bid was only slightly higher, so he probably wasn’t too committed.
“Rase”
Xanthea nudged Matthew, whose body had stiffened. Matthew, holding the paddle awkwardly, slowly sat back down.
A mere online novel, and Orion Lockwood himself was bidding on it!
What he wanted probably wasn’t the novel’s rights but to make a point in front of Xan. That look on the plane wasn’t just his imagination after all.
*100 thousand!”
The auctioneer announced, “Now, 100 thousand from bidder 012!”
*101 thousand.”
Again, just like before, Orion added just a hundred more to Matthew’s bid.
Xanthea frowned; this wasn’t going as smoothly as she had hoped. But doubling the bid again should deter him since to everyone else, it seemed like an unworthy investment.
She signaled Matthew, who lifted the paddle again, “200 thousand
Orion bid, “201 thousand.”
After three rounds of bidding, the room was abuzz with chatter and restlessness,
“A 20 grand novel skyrocketing to 2001 it’s simply unbelievable!”
“Mr. Lockwood didn’t react to the top ten tp bids earlier, but now he’s personally bidding on this one. What’s so special about it?”
“If it were anyone else, maybe not, but Mr. Lockwood… could it be we’re missing something?”
“It’s strange that Oli hea Media’s representative is so determined to get this novel, Competing with Mr. Lockwood for it seems like a wild goose chase, doesn’t it?”