World's Richest Man: I Leaped Across Time

I shot a quick glance at Arnold.

It didn't make sense. Unless Gabriel asked his father for help.

Maybe he promised his father something in exchange for the favor.

Wait... I think I might have a genius idea.

Emily Heart is Gabriel's wife, and she is a part of this club. What if Arnold promised her that Gabriel would inherit his wealth and become the patriarch of the Johnson family?

And now with Sam doing so well...

Hmm... I might be reading too far into this.

My attention snapped back to the auction.

Leon was about to announce the winner of the bid.

"Three voting points!" Emily Heart's voice rang out loud and clear.

I was even more confused.

If she was going to bid on it, why couldn't they just do it privately?

Seconds passed, but no one outbid her.

Leon slammed down the gavel. "Three voting points. Sold! The favor goes to Emily Heart!"

The next favor was a request to arrange for a particular celebrity to be coerced into having sexual intercourse with the person asking for the favor.

After the human trafficking request, nothing moved me anymore...

Leon cleared his throat. "The next favor is quite interesting. A certain celebrity wishes to orchestrate their own death and acquire a completely new identity, allowing them to spend the rest of their life in peace. The new identity must be within the United States." He paused for effect. "The starting bid is fifteen voting points!"

"Fourteen voting points!" A voice shouted from the far side of the balcony.

Then I saw Warren Bufford, who was sitting next to me, raise his hand. "Thirteen voting points!" He yelled.

But the competition didn't give up. "Twelve points!" came the response.

Warren smirked, "Ten voting points!"

For a few seconds, no one responded and Leon started couting down. "Ten goes once... twice..."

Without thinking, I raised my hand. "Nine voting points!" I blurted out, and immediately I felt Charlotte's hand squeeze my other arm.

All guests' eyes darted to me.

Warren shot me a sideways glance, clearly surprised at my boldness. "Interesting..." he mused.

Leon looked between the two of us from the stage. "Nine points... goes once… twice..." he paused.

'Why did Warren stop bidding?' I thought.

"Sold! Favour goes to an anonymous buyer in a tiger mask!" Leon announced.

...

The auction went on for another twenty minutes.

When the final favor was sold, Operator Leon stepped down from the stage.

Then, the man with the childlike energy bounced back onto the stage happily, with an ear-to-ear grin.

It was almost unsettling.

"Yay! The auction's done!" he squealed, "Now, let's keep the party going, okay?!"

He twirled around, pointing toward the doors at the sides of the balcony. "The backdoors are open! Go do your important secret meetings, grown-up stuff~~ but don't forget to enjoy the party!"

With a dramatic wave of his arms, the models came out again with trays of refreshments.

The man clapped again. "They brought all the yummy things! Treats and drinks and fancy stuff! We've got champagne, ooooh, and wine, and the hard stuff too, for those who like it extra strong!"

He walked over to the edge of the stage. "Everything looks so good! Now go on, eat, drink, HAVE FUN!"

As the man pranced around the stage, giggling and twirling, I couldn't help but feel a wave of discomfort.

He was acting like a 5-year-old, yet he looked like he was in his twenties.

Something about it made me cringe.

As the childlike man finally disappeared from the stage, I turned back around.

I still felt Warren's gaze on me.

I was hoping that Arnold wouldn't reveal my identity to him...

I turned to Arnold. "Mr. Johnson," I said quietly, "shall we go finalize our deal?"

Arnold's gaze flicked from me to Charlotte. "What about your companion?"

"I'm not hiding anything from her."

Charlotte squeezed my arm again.

Arnold studied us for a second longer, then nodded. "Very well."

We stood up together, and as Arnold rose, he almost bumped into one of the models carrying a tray of drinks.

The girl reacted instantly, lowering her head and apologizing profusely. "I'm really sorry, sir, really sorry," she repeated as she kept her eyes downcast.

But Arnold didn't let it go. Instead, he reached out, grabbed her chin, and forced her head up, locking his eyes onto hers. There was fear in her eyes.

"Mr. Johnson..." I intervened.

He held her gaze for another second before finally releasing her. "Go on with what you were doing," he muttered, turning away as though nothing had happened.

The model was visibly shaken and ran off quickly.

We walked to one of the back doors.

We stepped into the room, and my eyes immediately fell on her—Lily. Her long, midnight brown waves of hair fell over her shoulders, and her piercing green eyes met mine for just a second before glancing over to Arnold.

"Good evening, Lily," Arnold said first.

"Mr. Johnson," she replied smoothly, with the faintest smile, before turning her gaze to me. "Mr. Somnus. Miss Rodriguez."

Charlotte leaned in, whispering, "Jack, do you know her?"

"She's the one who gave me the masks."

Lily tilted her head slightly. "You can take them off for now."

I reached up and removed my mask. Charlotte did the same.

As I glanced at Charlotte, she raised an eyebrow, a hint of worry in her eyes. "What? Is my makeup destroyed?"

"No, it's fine," I said with a small smile.

The room was simple and elegant—two couches with a polished table between them and a rich redwood desk overlooking the setup.

Charlotte and I took one couch while Arnold settled himself opposite us.

We all turned to face Lily, who was sitting at the desk. She seemed to assess the situation in silence for a moment before speaking.

"Dear members," Lily started, her tone businesslike but warm, "we don't have much time. Let's get to it. What's the favor?"

I leaned forward. "My favor is to investigate the Russian programmers behind the Bitcoin project and those involved in writing the Bitcoin whitepaper. I need as much information as possible."

"I will fulfill the request for 15 voting points." Arnold said.

Lily looked surprised. Her eyebrows raised slightly as she turned to me. "Mr. Somnus, do you agree with the price?"

I locked eyes with her. "Yes."

She looked at me for a beat longer, but then said, "There must be a reason for this, so I'm not going to press further." Lily reached into her desk and pulled out a golden plaque, writing something on it.

She then passed it to us.

I signed it first, then handed it to Arnold, who signed it and gave it back to Lily.

Lily tucked the plaque away as the deal was sealed. "The voting points will be transferred once the club confirms completion." she said, a satisfied smile crossing her lips. "Thank you, gentlemen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have many other deals to take care of," she pointed to the door.

We put our masks back on but just as we were about to step through the door, I heard Lily call me, "Mr. Somnus!"

I turned back. "Yes?"

She fixed her green eyes on me. "You took a favor request... I will be inviting you back here today."

I nodded. "I look forward to it." and then I exited the room with Charlotte.

As we stepped into the balcony floor again, Charlotte rose up on her toes, leaning closer to my ear. "Can we go to a private room to talk? I need to tell you something."

I nodded, took her hand and we walked down the staircase. The music was playing again and we passed some people on the dancefloor.

I tried to open one of the doors at the bottom of the hall, but it was locked so I tried another door nearby, and it swung open.

The room was big. There was a king-sized bed in the center, a nightstand beside it, and a minibar stocked with drinks. Glasses sparkled on the shelf, and snacks were laid out.

But what caught my eye was a whole assortment of erotic items arranged on a table.

I closed the door behind us, took my mask off and picked up a pink vibrator from the table. "You sure you only want to talk?" I asked Charlotte.

She removed her panda mask and grabbed the vibrator from my hand, putting it back onto the table. "Sit down on the bed," she ordered.

I was surprised—this was the first time Charlotte had ever told me what to do like this. But I decided to listen to her and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Charlotte tossed her heels off her feet, letting them land softly on the carpet.

But she didn't come closer; instead, she stood opposite me, facing me and leaning back slightly on the table behind her, hands pressed against it, her panda mask discarded beside her.

She looked incredibly sexy in her black dress, barefoot, with her copper hair falling loosely around her.

Her blue eyes locked onto mine. I rarely saw such intensity in them.

"Jack... I've been thinking about some things. About what it means to be with someone like you..." she paused for suspense. "You might think that if I find out what you're really involved in, I'd want nothing to do with you..." Her voice trailed off, and a smile crept onto her face, one that sent a thrill down my spine. "But that's not true at all."

With that, she took a few seductive steps closer to me, swaying her hips provocatively.

"Just because you're doing something dark doesn't scare me. If anything..." she leaned over me, her hand gripping my thigh. "...it might make me more excited," she whispered fiercely, her lips brushing against my ear.