I Accidentally Got Auctioned for a Date… My Best Friend Bid $5,000 to Win Me
Chapter 6
Lucas knew he was losing.
Mia wasn’t answering his calls.
Noah and Mia were together.
And the acquisition was moving forward.
He needed leverage.
He found it in a secret from Noah’s family.
Years earlier, Noah’s father had made a controversial business decision that nearly destroyed a smaller company.
The decision had been legal.
But the public reaction had been brutal.
Lucas obtained documents suggesting that Noah knew about the controversy.
He planned to leak them.
But there was one problem.
Noah had never been involved.
Lucas didn’t care.
He wanted the Carter family damaged enough to stop the acquisition.
He contacted a journalist.
The story was published the next morning.
By lunchtime, Carter Holdings was facing a public-relations crisis.
Mia saw the headline.
She immediately called Noah.
“I’m coming over.”
“No.”
“Noah.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.”
He sounded exhausted.
When Mia arrived, reporters were outside his house.
Noah met her at the side entrance.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“This.”
He gestured toward the cameras.
“You didn’t cause this.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“You should leave.”
Mia shook her head.
“No.”
“Mia.”
“I’m not leaving because your family is having a bad day.”
He smiled faintly.
“You’re stubborn.”
“You knew that.”
She took his hand.
“Let’s find out who leaked it.”
They began investigating.
The documents had been edited.
Some dates had been changed.
One signature was forged.
And the original files were stored in an archive.
Mia knew where to look.
She had worked in legal administration for years.
She recognized the formatting.
“This wasn’t leaked by someone inside your company.”
“How do you know?”
“Because whoever made this didn’t understand the filing system.”
Noah looked at her.
“You found something.”
“Yes.”
She pointed to the metadata.
A name appeared.
Lucas Reed.
Noah’s expression hardened.
They confronted him.
Lucas denied everything.
Then Mia placed the evidence on the table.
“You wanted me to believe Noah was hiding something.”
Lucas stared at her.
“You chose him.”
Mia answered calmly.
“No. I chose myself.”
Lucas looked defeated.
But before they could leave, his lawyer arrived.
“The acquisition is off.”
Noah frowned.
“Why?”
“The board voted.”
Lucas smiled.
For the first time, Mia realized Lucas had been planning far beyond Noah.
