The Devil's Bid: Teaser

Power doesn’t announce itself. It sits quietly at the end of the table while everyone else talks too much. I lean back in the leather chair, listening to the men around me argue over numbers, contracts, and the upcoming Velvet Circle auction like it’s nothing more than another investment opportunity. To them, it is. 

The room smells faintly of whiskey and expensive cigars. Crystal glasses gleam beneath the low lighting of the private boardroom overlooking Manhattan. Twenty floors below us, the city hums with life. Up here, decisions are made that shape it.

I rarely attend these meetings, and I never attend the auctions. Men like Viktor Kade enjoy that sort of thing.

 The spectacle.

The bidding.

The illusion of ownership over something living and breathing. To me it’s inefficient. If I want something, I buy the company. The man across from me slides a folder across the table.

“Profiles for this year’s auction,” he says.