Rising from the Ashes (Andrew and Lauren) novel Chapter 2366

Benny chuckled, his face dark with disdain. "Coward!"

From the stage, Elsie frowned slightly and glanced toward Suite No. 3, where Andrew sat. However, the glass was one-way, and she could not see anything.

She could only announce, "Congratulations to Mr. Murphy for winning the Shadow-Flame Art."

Then, she moved on to the next item up for auction. When the bidding reached 30 million, it looked like the gavel was about to fall.

That was when Andrew suddenly chimed in from his suite, "35 million. I'm determined to have this chainmail armor. If you don't have the money to back it up, you should keep your mouth shut. Don't you all agree, folks?"

The entire room suddenly felt a collective pain. Everyone was visibly irritated by his arrogance.

"For crying out loud, this bastard in Suite No. 3 thinks this is funny?" someone muttered.

"What a jerk! He bids and then runs his mouth like he owns the place. Is this kid out of his mind?" another voice grumbled.

"Mr. Murphy, take him down. If I were you, I'd crush this guy in front of everyone," a third person called out.

Benny's face turned cold as ice. "37 million! You've got guts. Let's see if you can actually back them up."

Andrew replied smoothly, "40 million."

Benny sneered, "Oh, now you're getting interested? 45 million."

Andrew simply smiled. "Congratulations, Mr. Murphy. You got the second round."

Something clicked in Benny's mind, and he suddenly felt something was off. That bastard had driven the price up just to drop out at the last second.

Could he be a plant hired by the auction house? But then again, the Reyes family would never stoop that low. After all, it would ruin their reputation. With their status, they did not need such cheap tricks.

Besides, the guy was a VIP guest in Suite No. 3, which meant he had serious connections.

In Suite No. 2, Valerie watched with pure disdain. She muttered, "What a pathetic, money-throwing pervert. This guy's clearly got his eyes on our auctioneer. Well, he's not getting her if I have anything to say about it."

Andrew had no idea that he had just been labeled as a money-throwing pervert by the woman in the adjoining suite. His only intention had been to help out Elsie, someone he actually knew.

They had a history, after all, however brief that was.

Over the next three auctions, Andrew bid on every single item. But without exception, he dropped out halfway through each bidding war. By that point, the entire auction house had written him off as a troublemaker, a common enemy.

"This guy's just here to stir up shit," someone complained.

"Damn it! He's causing problems at a high-class event like this. He's got a death wish," another voice added darkly.

"Don't worry about him. Once the auction's over, we'll have people waiting for him at the exit. If we don't mess him up, I won't be able to sleep tonight."