Marriage Trap: My Penniless Groom Is A Tech King?!

"Up next is lot thirty-seven, a natural sapphire necklace. We'll open the bidding at eight hundred thousand," announced the auctioneer from the stage.

Kaylee Marsh's hands tightened into fists, her nails pressing into her palms.

On display was the one thing she had left of her father, a necklace he had made himself before he died.

Lifting her paddle, she spoke with a slight tremor in her voice. "One million."

Before the auctioneer could acknowledge her offer, a light came on in VIP Room 207 upstairs.

"Two million."

The voice belonged to Damien Robinson, the man Kaylee was engaged to.

Relief washed over Kaylee when she recognized that voice, and her shoulders finally relaxed.

Only two weeks ago, she had told Damien about the necklace.

His arms had wrapped around her, and he had kissed the top of her head. "Leave it to me. I'll get it back for you, and when we get married, I'll be the one to put it around your neck."

So he had kept his word. Here he was, just as he had promised.

Other bids quickly followed until a voice from the crowd offered five million.

Without missing a beat, Damien raised the bid to ten million.

When someone countered with twelve million, he said without hesitation, "Twenty million."

No one in the room made a sound after that.

Beside Kaylee, a wealthy socialite moved closer and gave her an envious look. "Ms. Marsh, Mr. Robinson really would do anything for you, wouldn't he? You couldn't find another man like him in all of Olkirae."

Tears stung Kaylee's eyes as a smile spread across her face.

A car crash years ago had killed her father, and her mother had been in a coma ever since. The medical bills kept piling up, but she had never once turned to Damien for money.

Getting that necklace back, though, was worth whatever she had to pay.

Too eager to stay in her seat, she got up and headed for Room 207.

Someone had left the door slightly open.

What Kaylee saw through the gap made her smile stiffen.

Inside the room, Damien was leaning forward, his hands carefully fastening the sapphire necklace around another woman's neck.

The woman's cream cashmere dress fit closely enough to show the swell of her stomach. There was no mistaking her pregnancy, which looked at least about five months along.

Tilting her head to give him better access to the clasp, she smiled sweetly.

Kaylee recognized the woman, Chloe Miller, the model Damien had poured a fortune into making famous.

As Chloe turned, she looked past Damien's shoulder. Her eyes met Kaylee's directly.

Touching the sapphire necklace at her collarbone, she made a point of asking in a sweet voice, "Damien, what do you think? Does it look good on me?"

"Yes, of course," Damien answered in a tender voice.

Cold spread through Kaylee until she felt it in her bones.

Pushing the door fully open, she walked into the room.

Seeing Kaylee, Damien went briefly stiff, then settled back into his usual calm.

Instead of explaining things to her, he let out a sigh and walked over to her.

"Kaylee, you're here."

Kaylee's nails pressed deeper into her palms, almost cutting the skin. She couldn't keep her voice steady when she said, "You knew that necklace was the only thing my father left me."

"I know that," Damien responded, reaching for her shoulder, but she turned away before he could touch her.

For a moment, he left his hand outstretched. When he spoke again, he sounded worn out.

"The pregnancy has been hard on Chloe. Her emotions are all over the place, and she can't sleep at night. She hardly ever gets this excited about anything. Can't you just let her have it, Kaylee?"

"You want me to give it up?" Kaylee looked at him, unable to believe what he had just said. "So your side piece gets to keep the one thing my dad left me? Is that really what you're asking?"

As if she had been waiting for her cue, Chloe began to tear up. A small sob slipped into her shaky voice.

"Please don't blame Damien. I fell in love with the necklace and talked him into buying it for me. I didn't know that your father had left it to you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked him to get it for me-"

"You don't even deserve to touch it!" Kaylee interrupted as she looked coldly at the necklace on Chloe's neck. "You advanced in your career by getting involved with an engaged man. What makes you think you have any right to wear something my father made?"

Chloe's tears spilled over at once.

Clutching her swollen belly, she retreated behind Damien as though she needed him to protect her.

Damien's expression darkened as he moved, blocking Chloe from view.

"Don't you dare speak to her like that, Kaylee. She's carrying my child!" he snapped.

Bitterness slipped into Kaylee's sharp laugh. "She has obviously been pregnant for months. How long were you planning to keep me in the dark? Tell me when this started."

For two painful seconds, Damien didn't say a word.

But that brief silence hurt more than anything he could have told Kaylee.

Whatever hope she still had died right then and there.

"You're making all this fuss over a necklace," Damien said at last, his tone condescending. "I'll buy you something better to make up for it."

Kaylee's gaze dropped to the three-carat diamond ring on her left hand.

Damien had knelt before her and put that ring on her finger in front of a crowd.

Back then, she had cried so hard because she couldn't imagine anyone being happier than she was.

Looking back, she could hardly believe she had been that foolish.

Keeping her expression blank, Kaylee slowly worked the ring off her finger.

Damien's eyes widened in shock. "Why are you taking that off, Kaylee?"

The ring fell to the floor. A sharp clink rang out as it struck the marble and rolled to a stop against Damien's polished leather shoe.

"You make me sick," Kaylee said, forcing each word through clenched teeth.

Refusing to look at either of them again, she turned and strode out of the room.

Damien's voice followed her into the hall, low and furious.

"Get back here, Kaylee!"

But nothing could make Kaylee turn around.

Each click of her heels came faster as she hurried down the tiled hallway.

Outside the auction house, the cold night air hit her, and she shuddered.

Her phone was already in her hand as she called her best friend, Jordyn Davis.

Jordyn soon answered the call, and Kaylee spoke with an unsettling calm.

"I'm not marrying Damien, Jordyn. I need you to find me someone to marry. It has to happen right away. My dad wanted me to get married before I turned thirty, and I promised him I would before he died. I'm keeping that promise."