As soon as Celeste spoke, not only Lillan, but Lennox, Jorge and Miles were all visibly stunned.
Lennox’s reaction was expected.
+25 BONUS
As for Jorge, he had previously looked into Celeste a little and knew her family background was relatively ordinary.
While the Rodriguez family’s business had recently picked up, it still wasn’t at the level where they could casually fork out several hundred million to buy à diamond, right?
Miles, for his part, believed he knew Celeste’s situation insile out. 3
Given the Rodriguez family’s current strength, even producing 100 million in spare cash would be difficult–let alone 500 million.
Although Trevor had once paid Celeste two billion in advance as a thank–you gift, the money had been used to help the Rodriguez family with capital turnover. 2
But even if the Rodriguez family business was doing better now, and even if she still had a large chunk of that two billion left, wasn’t it a bit “too much” to casually spend this much money on a single diamond? 2
Thinking of this, he immediately whipped out his phone, excitedly messaging Trevor. 2
“When I saw your wife just now at the auction, I was still wondering what she was doing here. Now I get it…
“You know about the diamond being auctioned, right? The starting bid was 400 million, and she immediately raised it to 500 million. Is she seriously trying to buy that diamond? My god, she’s gone cra―”
Before Miles could finish typing his message, someone bid 550 million.
Then Celeste spoke again. She directly said, “700 million.”
Miles was speechless. (2)
Even though he hadn’t finished what he wanted to say, he still hit send and fired off the message to Trevor.
Tonight, everyone attending the auction more or less guessed that this rare diamond would end up going for no less than a billion.
But Celeste, every time she spoke, it was in leaps of 100 million or 150 million. In just three rounds, the bidding had already reached 700 million. 1
With that kind of boldness, it wasn’t just Lilian, Lennox, and Miles who were staring at her–everyone at the venue turned their heads to look at her.
Most of the people seated in the auction hall were either the wives or daughters of the top elites in high society.
Even if they didn’t know each other personally, they had at least heard of one another.
Now, seeing Celeste acting like money meant nothing, and looking so unfamiliar to everyone, many of them leaned over to whisper to the people around them, asking who she was.
The bidding continued.
Almost every time someone made a new offer, Celeste followed closely, and when she spoke again, the price instantly jumped to one billion.
Seeing how decisive she was with each bid, Lilian suddenly understood–Celeste really intended to win this diamond.
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Chapter 469
Her red lips immediately pressed into a thin line.
Miles noticed it too. To be honest, he was a little dazed.
+25 BONUS
Trevor hadn’t replied to his earlier message. But Miles couldn’t hold it in anymore and quickly messaged him again.
“Your wife pushed the bidding to a billion. Damn, I think s actually wants to win that diamond. Does she like diamonds that much?”
This time, Trevor replied not long after. But it was just a single period character. A
Miles wondered what the hell was that period supposed to thean. a
At the start of the auction, quite a few people had been interested in participating. But from both an emotional and investment standpoint, once the price started climbing too high, many people chose to back off–they weren’t going to chase it blindly.
Some were truly obsessed with diamonds. Many of them were even far wealthier than Celeste.
However, the wealth people saw in them wasn’t necessarily theirs to control. Or even if it was, they didn’t have the same freedom as Celeste when it came to how they used it. 43)
So, even if they wanted to compete, due to various considerations, by the time the bidding price reached 1.6 billion, almost no one else remained in the game. 10
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