Lily tightened her grip on her piggy bank so hard the glass dug into her hands. Rachel gently rested a hand on her shoulder, but Lily edged away.
Scanning the crowd, Lily saw most were just curious onlookers — maybe they remembered her mother, or maybe they just liked auctions. But two men stood out.
One wore a crisp white shirt and had a too-confident smile: Vince Harding, the security firm owner whose billboards always read Safety You Can Trust. The other, rougher-looking, wore a stained denim shirt and had a sun-scarred face: Gerald “Jerry” Bennett, a rancher from the other end of the valley.
They watched Max with a hunger that made Lily’s stomach churn. Vince’s cold eyes kept drifting toward her, calculating. Bennett barely acknowledged her but ground his jaw like something was stuck in his teeth.
The auctioneer raised his gavel. “We’ll start at $500. Do I hear five hundred?”
