Ember's POV

People clapped, and with all of the backlash I got earlier, I was surprised that they did at all. I suppose it wasn't everyone who awaited my downfall after all. I did catch a few faces of the men who had said all those nasty things earlier. Safe to say, it was nice to see God put my enemies to shame.


I joyfully went on stage and received the trophy, as well as a certificate that tagged me as the 'highest bidder of the night.' I felt honored. I felt happy. I felt good.

After I had been given my certificate, I wanted nothing more than to go home. It had been a long night after all, but a couple of people wanted to have a word. I suppose they were reporters, and I was happy to oblige them.

"Ms. Macgregor, big win today, how do you feel?" a woman asked, shoving a mic under my nose, but I shrugged.


"I'm happy. I feel blessed." I said simply. But it was true.

"We all know this is one hell of an investing project. Do you have anything in mind as of yet, what you would like to use the income to do?"


I couldn't tell them who I was yet, but I could at least try to stay close to the truth, "this scheme is meant to be a growth opportunity for my company. But I'm also looking to use the income to help the poor and forgotten of society. I've always believed in giving back. I want to do that much with this."

"humanitarian deeds. That sounds nice."

"Yeah." was all I could say and turned to the next report who called to me,

"Ms. Macgregor, safe to say you're a woman of valor and seem to do the things people don't expect. So we would like to know, what drives Ember Macgregor?"

I hadn't seen that one coming, so I had to give it much thought. Until recently, I barely even knew who Ember Macgregor was,

"truth. People. I have a heart for people, justice and truth. I believe with truth in your heart, you are always going to make good choices. Maybe not always the easiest. But good ones nonetheless."

The reporter nodded, and added, "So what is the truth about you and Alpha Paris's break up?"

And to that, I had no reply. I met the woman's ravenous gaze and smiled calmly, "there isn't anything there to say about that, except that he and I have nothing to do with each other anymore." I said calmly, but firmly. Thankfully, she caught on quickly and didn't ask any more personal questions.

The question and answering ended soon, and I was free to go but was blocked by Ashley and a few other friendly faces. Most of the faces belonged to men by the way.

"girlllll!!" she screamed and wrapped me up in a hug before I understood what was going on, but I giggled happily,

"When did you get here?"

"not so long ago." she said and leaned closer, "Axl called."

I chuckled, "Of course he did."

"so, any plan to celebrate the big win? Oh, and congrats by the way!"

"Thank you. And no, I didn't have a plan except to float merrily to my bed and call it a day."

"oh no you don't!" she said and grabbed my hand, "what do you say about taking all this merriment to the southern bar?"

The southern bar wasn't too far from where we were and I liked the idea of celebrating with Ashley, and the new friends she obviously brought for me to mingle with. Ashley was sneaky like that

"You know," I said, linking my hand with hers, "I think I'd really like that."

PARIS'S POV

After the banquet, I decided to hit the bar alone. But sometimes, being known hinders a person from having alone time.

"heading home?" my good friend Leo asked me as I walked to my car. I shook my head before stopping to face him,

"I need to clear my head for a moment," I said and immediately regretted it,

"Good, I know a good spot," Leo said, his eyes shining with a glint. I simply raised a brow.

The good spot happened to be in the south of town. It wasn't exactly packed, but it was cozy and calm and a good place to actually reflect. It would have been a good place for me to reflect… if Leo wasn't there.

"So tell me. Just between the both of us, did you let her win?" Leo asked in a conspirator tone as I brought my glass of beer to my lips.

"Now, why would I do that?" I asked when I placed the glass back on the table,

"You've never lost a game, that's why." a smile tugged at the edge of my lips, but I shrugged,

"I haven't. But I didn't let her win. I suppose Ember is just that good a bidder after all." I said calmly and yawned. I was entirely too tired to be having this sort of conversation. Much less with this bloke.

"So she won fair and square? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

I shrugged, "I guess. She really did put in a lot of effort and that says a lot about her given the fact that some alphas there had a lot of negative things to say about her." I drank from my beer again and met Leo's gaze and he looked shocked. He was probably shocked by my response,

"I'm surprised you aren't one of the Alphas with something negative to say about her."

"no actual point in doing that to be honest."

He was quiet after that, and I basked in it.

"damn!" he said after some time and I had to bite my tongue to keep from uttering a curse,

"what is it?" I spat and he gave a low whistle, "don't look now, but there is a sweet thing heading in this direction." he said with excitement, and at that moment I questioned my wisdom in choosing to sit at the bar.

"She's nearly here. Hell, I think she's actually coming here." I still didn't turn to look. I, for one, happened to be very interested in the shade of the glass that held my beer.

"hello boys." said a chipper and familiar voice, and I quickly lost interest in my glass. I turned to the owner of the voice and my suspicion,

"Ember?" Both Leo and I said in unison.

EMBER's POV

I looked from Paris to the man with him and back to Paris,

"I just came to say hello I guess." I said quietly, "I didn't really see you after the banquet and definitely didn't expect to see you here. My friend Ashley, and some of her friends came here to celebrate."

"in other words, you came here to gloat." said the man with Paris, and I turned narrowed eyes on him,

"Excuse me?"

"you heard me right," he replied and snorted, taking a step back,

"what are you doing?" Paris quietly asked him, but the guy waved him off,

"for a moment there, I really thought it was someone else, " he said to Paris and turned to me again, "but it's just you."

"Would you like to speak in clear terms?" I asked, confused about what he just said,

"Gladly. I think you came here to gloat, quite bold of you, seeing as you had to cheat to win tonight."

I was taken aback for a moment. But it was a momentary thing, and I quickly bounced back,

"Look, I don't know who you are, or who the hell you actually think you are, but I don't have to deal with you. You deluding yourself that I had to cheat to get a win shows just how pathetic you actually are."

"very pathetic," Ashley said from behind me. I didn't even know the moment she had joined me.

"Ember, I can't believe you are tolerating this loser."

"It's fine. I was just leaving." I said and began to turn away.

"If you're that much of anything, how about a little game? Just me and you." the guy said, making me pause,

"Come on, EM. You don't have anything to prove to him." Ashley said, tugging at my sleeve.

"what? Are you chicken? Scared you'll lose? I thought you were excellent, what do you have to be scared of with one gamble?" the man said in a mocking tone and I looked up at Ashley,

"I don't. but I want nothing more than to make him fall on his arse." I quietly said to Ashley and then turned to the man and found him smiling with glee,

"you're hell-bent on making everyone believe that you won the competition fair and square. That's fine. But you don't fool me though. I know better."

"Do you?" I asked, raising a brow. The son of a gun didn't even know the half of it.

"Correct me if I'm wrong."

"I'll correct you," Ashley said angrily and walked toward him, but I grabbed her arm and held her back. For the man's own good to be honest, because if Ashley were to grab hold of him, he was going to bleed.

And by the way, he looked at her wearily, I suppose he was aware of the fact,

"what's it going to be? One game?"

"game on."

"Great." he said, smiling impishly, and got off his chair, "I'm Leo by the way."

I didn't care for introductions, so I didn't bother with it. In any case, he had said my name when I got here. I was already regretting walking up to them, to be honest,

"So what I have in mind is a friendly game of hockey. There's a place not too far off from here. So here's the deal, if I win, and I will, you have to admit to the fact that you didn't win that competition by yourself. You have to admit that you're a fake."

I digested his every word and nodded. Seems like the man was hell-bent on making me look like a failure and a cheat.

"fair enough," I said and took a step forward so that we were mere inches apart. I never picked fights. But I never backed away from one,

"and if I win, you have to declare on national TV how you belittled me tonight. You have to talk about how much you wanted to make me look like a loser. You have to call yourself a pathetic loser. So everyone knows, just what sort of sorry excuse you are for a man."