People clapped happily to Hugo. On the other hand, X looked very stoic as he quickly went backstage. Seeing this, Hugo quickened his pace to meet X. The man had given X a huge amount of money. Surely, he would make sure X satisfied his desire.
However, X was nowhere to be seen. Hugo was incensed. Immediately, he glared at Jeffrey who looked as pale as a ghost.
"Where is X?" Hugo angrily asked Jeffrey.
A taller escort with a red Y tattoo on his neck said, "He went to the toilet."
Hugo gritted his teeth in anger before he spoke again, "You'd better tell the truth. You know how I can destroy this fucking place in just a night, don't you? I'll wait here."
***
Samuel bit his lips until they bled in the restroom cubicle. It was already bad when he met his bully earlier, but to win the auction for him? It felt like high school again for Samuel.
All those humiliating moments came into Samuel's memory. Alongside them was his tormentor, Hugo. For years, Samuel thought that he could run away from him. This time, it was different. Could Samuel run away again after Hugo had bought him?
If he did run away, Hugo would chase him no matter what. That arrogant blonde man had all the money in the world to do things and went away with that easily. Samuel had first-hand experience with it. The escort knew very well that he couldn't run away from it.
'Do it for Michael. He's sick. You know that,' Samuel told himself as he slowly opened the cubicle's door.
All of these years, Samuel had endured lots of things for his little brother. Would he give up easily just because of Hugo? While that asshole had broken him in many ways, Samuel never gave up for Michael's sake. Instead, he kept going for his little brother.
"Are you Samuel Richardson?"
A gravelly voice came to Samuel's ears from the sink, startling the escort who realized he had taken his mask off. Immediately, the young man put on his mask. But the other man's gravelly voice made Samuel realize that the man was Number 12. Since his hand was fractured by Hugo, Not only that, Number 12 knew his real name. Samuel just stared at the voice owner who called him by his real name.
Number 12 turned out to be a middle-aged blonde man with a full-figure body. That man then smiled at Samuel. His smile was very kind, but his glance was unnatural as if he pretended to imitate the living beings. It was very unsettling, so inhuman to the point that Samuel felt nervous about it.
"I'm afraid you've mistaken me with someone else, Sir," Samuel politely replied.
"No! You went to the St. Lucien All-Boys High School, did you?" Number 12 asked again.
"Who are you?" Samuel asked as he couldn't hold on any longer.
"Lucius Newell," Number 12 said as he smirked.
The moment Samuel heard it, he felt as if his gut fell to the floor. Tonight was the worst night for the escort. Another Newell? What did he do to deserve this?
"I don't judge, but you seem to attract my nephew's attention. I'm sure you know him very well," Lucius calmly stated as he looked at Samuel familiarly like Hugo, like a predator looked at its prey.
Before Samuel could respond, the middle-aged man talked again, "You were bullied badly by him. Don't you want to avenge yourself, Samuel?"
The escort asked warily, "So, what do you want then?"
Lucius smirked as he extended his hand and said, "I want you to help me kick him out of Newell Co. That company is supposed to be mine, not his. Since we want to make him suffer, why don't we work together? It's a perfect deal, right?"
Samuel didn't expect Hugo's uncle to be very open to something as malicious as this. However, he did realize that what the middle-aged man had offered was too good to be true. It made the escort even more suspicious.
"What do you want me to do?" Samuel asked again.
"Well, our stakeholders are … well, conservatives. I'm sure you know what I mean," Lucius said as he smirked.
Immediately, Samuel got the idea of what Lucius wanted from him.
"I see. You want me to expose his scandalous relationship here," the younger man said.
"Kind of like that. But this auction isn't enough. I need more," Lucius responded as he smirked.
"I'll be clear. My nephew seems to be infatuated with you. Why don't you pretend to be his boy toy? Gain his trust to find out his weakness. It'll be hard, but I'm sure you can manage," the middle-aged man continued to talk.
Somehow, Lucius' words caused something to snap inside Samuel's brain. The young man had no idea how could this happen, yet it happened. He met the older man's eyes as he asked, "How do you know?"
It seemed that Hugo's uncle was surprised by such an unexpected action from him. Nevertheless, the middle-aged man acted fast enough that the escort didn't notice it. Lucius laughed pretty hard at this point, startling the escort again.
"My bad. I have underestimated you to be a weak man. Seems you've grown a spine, huh?" Lucius commented.
To Samuel's shock, the middle-aged man grabbed the former's chin and kissed him voraciously before saying, "I know you won't. You need money for your brother's hospital bills. If you work with me, I'll cover your brother's hospital bills. Hell, I'll even give you money to rent a condo or buy a house."
Lucius' words made Samuel get quiet. What Hugo did to him was unforgivable. There was no way Samuel could forgive that asshole. Not to mention, Lucius offered things that he really wished to have. So what if the devil offered to kick Hugo out, humiliating that arrogant blonde man the way he used to feel?
"What I must do to kick him out for you?" Samuel asked after a long silence.
"Report everything to me for now. We'll make plans from there. Only then, we can get that arrogant little boy out of our sight. So, deal?"
Samuel shook Lucius' hand and showed his rare genuine smile as the former said, "It's a deal, then."