It was like they just couldn’t keep it in.

Back then, I was bored. My business had been growing but not providing me with the same rush it had when I’d first started. So it wasn’t long until I wanted to expand it into the more devious side of things.

After all, buying, selling, and tearing down companies only did so much for me. Even the most fun, corrupt ones started to lose their flair after a while.

They were all the same. Crooked men sticking their greedy little fingers into the lives of their employees and sucking them dry of their money and happiness. It was just… the norm. I’d seen it all. Lived it all.

But the auction…

The auction was a place where the billionaires came to play. And boy, did they know how to play.

And I could play them.

They had the money to make anything they wanted come true, but once they were pitted against each other for a beautiful woman? They were stripped back down to their barest form.

Self-made billionaires knew what it was like to lose, and they weren’t going down without a fight. And those who’d never had to work for their wealth and never lost got to experience it for the first time.

It made them hungrier. Made them salivate at even the chance to win a beautiful woman—and beat all others in the process.

The rules were simple.

One girl. One month. All yours.

We had a handful of girls who were screened for the opportunity. Hundreds were rejected before they even made it to the second round. And once they passed that, they had one last trial.

The welcoming party.

A place where we invited the richest and most powerful men to come for a preview before the show. They were also screened, and anyone unsavory was declined entrance immediately.

The Black Silk Auction might have been a place for them to explore their stronger urges, but there was no way I’d put the girls in danger.

It was supposed to be exciting for both parties. A way to explore yourself and every desire they wrote down on the blank page of the contract we gave them. It was up to them to spill every single one of their desires or leave it blank.

The exclusivity worked in my favor and had people foaming at the mouth to get in. It provided me with endless satisfaction. I was the one in control of whether they got in or not. And most men would do anything to get in.

The desperate were the most gratifying to reject.

“They look good this month,” Maxwell said as he looked over the girls filtering out of the room one by one. Each of them had an extravagant animal mask on that hid their identity and cost at least three hundred thousand.