"When a man truly loves a woman she becomes his weakness. When a woman truly loves a man he becomes her strength."
--Anonymous
CHAPTER 18 & EPILOGUE
Aaron! Oh my, it was Aaron! My mind whirled. To say I was stunned would be the understatement of the century. I froze in place for I don't know how long, unable to move, unable to even fathom what was going on, what this meant. When I saw Aaron coming up to the stage, I shook myself free of this mental block and came back to my senses, but only partially. I was finally able to see his face. He was still the same gorgeous man that I knew and remembered, and the shock and anger and hurt of our last encounter came rushing back into me. It was overwhelming.
I turned quickly to look at Miss M, trying to gauge someone else's reaction, anyone else's reaction other than my own. She looked just as surprised I was, maybe even more so. What I didn't know, though, was whether she was shocked to see him, or shocked that he just paid five million dollars for me. Five million dollars! That number was absolutely staggering. It wasn't even anywhere near the closest bid, so why did he offer so much? There had to be more to it than just bidding for me. Maybe he just wanted to donate to this charity. Wait, if he wanted to just donate it to charity, he could have done that easily enough, directly to the charity, on his own. He could have won this auction for a fraction of that amount, too. So why did he pay so much? Was he trying to make a statement about me to others? If so, whatever could that be??
I looked at him as he walked up the stage towards Miss M. I stared at him as he did so, trying to hide my emotions, but probably failing miserably. As he approached, he completely ignored me, no expression on his face whatsoever, going straight toward Miss M. He handed her a sealed envelope with what I was guessing contained either a check or bank wire instructions for payment, or something to that effect. She simply nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. A." With that, she took my leash and walked behind me, untying my hands, then handed the leash to Aaron.
He took the leash in his hand and, still without looking me in the face, turned and pulled it tight, walking slowly away. He didn't jerk the leash or pull me abruptly, showing at least some compassion there. He gave me a chance to gauge what he wanted in order to signal me to follow him. He made no effort to grab the robe or cover me, or even untie my hands as he led me down the stage, right past everyone in the audience.
By this point, there were hushed voices from all over the room, whispers discussing what had just happened. I wondered what they were saying, but try as I might, I couldn't make anything out. I could imagine them asking each other 'why so much?', 'Do you think she is worth it?', 'What was Mr. A doing?', 'Is this real, did he really pay that much?'. I knew that regardless of the outcome tonight, that this would be something that they would be talking about for some time. Maybe his goal was that simple, just to give them something to talk about. Maybe, but even as I thought that, I doubted it. No one would pay five million dollars just to give people something to talk about, something they couldn't reveal in public due to their own vows of silence about the Society. As it was, I had no idea what Aaron could be up to.
I followed him out of the gathering room to an elevator. As he entered it, I followed him inside, my hands still tied behind my back with the belt from the robe, still wearing the harness, still basically nude for him to see. Right then and there, I had a sudden urge to cover myself. I didn't want him to see me like this, not this vulnerable. At the same time, I wanted to explode, to force him to tell me what happened before, to explain why he abandoned me, what I did that hurt him, and why he hurt be so badly. I resisted the urge to demand that from him, though, and remained still, hoping that I was able to hide the emotions from appearing in my face. Then, for the first time tonight, he turned and looked at me.
"My you are a beautiful sight, Elizabeth," he said.
That, too, caught me off guard. I guess I was expecting a much harsher Aaron, like the person he was when we last parted. I didn't know how to respond, as I was completely taken aback at his change in demeanor. Again repressing my desire for an explanation from him, I responded with a simple, "thank you, Mr. A." I said it very politely, but I was defiant in how I addressed him, how I spoke those words.
I couldn't meet his gaze as he stared at me, right into my eyes, so I looked away, my resolve weakening. Neither of us said anything else as the elevator brought us upstairs. I didn't know what else I could say. I couldn't come up with any words, any questions. The silence was deafening. After a few moments, I looked up, as I had gathered my strength, thinking of something simple, like a compliment for him, or a simple question, anything to break the silence and start us talking. I was about to say something, but when I looked at him to do so, he seemed like he was going speak, so I instead remained silent. Just then, the elevator chimed, indicating the door was opening, so neither of us said anything further as we moved off the elevator.
He moved slowly again, waiting for me to turn and follow him, making sure he wasn't pulling me off balance by pulling the leash too abruptly, allowing me to follow at my own pace. He led me down several halls and back to the room I was in the night we parted. I wondered if this was coincidence, or something more significant. I guess I would find out soon enough.