Chapter 23

If she had known he liked que paintings, she would have sold it to him. If he'd offered two million dollars, she would have delivered it to his doorstep. She could even have helped him maintain it daily for three years. What a waste.

"Not really," Joe smiled coldly, noticing the shock in her eyes. Since she was interested in the painting, he'd decided to bid on it and give it to her. He didn't want to owe her anything. She had made Gloria very happy during those two days.

"3.2 million dollars," someone else bid.

They must really like the painting.

Joe was about to raise his hand to bid five million dollars, but Skylar stopped him.

She whispered gently, "If you like ancient paintings of this style, three million dollars could buy you two. I'll find you some authentic ones; you just pay my commission."

Joe stared at her, his gaze unreadable.

"3.2 million dollars—once." "3.2 million dollars—twice." "3.2 million dollars—sold!"

After the painting was sold, Skylar watched as it was packed up. She couldn't help thinking Daniel had made a good sale that day. It was a win-win for her and Daniel.

"Maisy, don't you think that painting looked like the one Skylar gave your mother?" Jeffrey was shocked by the painting's high selling price.

Maisy was distracted, looking greedily at Joe. Did he like ancient paintings? Hearing Jeffrey's question, her mouth twitched. "It does look like the one Skylar gave Mom, but she must have bought a counterfeit online."

"A counterfeit? What an embarrassment!" Jeffrey felt disgusted at the thought of Skylar.

There were eight auction items in total that night. The last item was a diamond ring—not just any diamond ring, but "The Darling Goddess Ring," previously owned by a duchess of Westeria. Many people had come to bid, knowing it would be auctioned that day.

The starting bid was 20 million dollars.

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"30 million dollars." "40 million dollars." Joe raised his sign. "100 million dollars."

When Skylar heard Joe's bid, she thought he was being ostentatious. The price had been increasing by 10 million per bid, but he'd jumped to 100 million. How much higher could anyone go?

The 100 million dollar bid deterred further bidding. The ring sold for 100 million dollars.

Maisy wished she owned the ring. She wondered who Joe would give it to—the woman beside him? That couldn't be possible, could it? Maisy hadn't heard that Joe had a girlfriend. The woman was probably just a companion for the auction.

As Joe and Skylar were about to leave, Jeffrey quickly told Maisy, "Let's go talk to Mr. Martin." It was a rare opportunity; if they didn't seize it, he wasn't sure when he'd meet Joe again.

"Alright, Dad," Maisy said, standing and adjusting her dress. She was very confident in her appearance and figure.

They walked toward Joe. As Skylar stood, she felt dizzy and almost lost her balance. Fortunately, Joe caught her.

"I'm sorry. I think I'm sick," Skylar explained weakly, her face cold and pale.

Changes Made:

• Improved sentence structure and flow: Many sentences were restructured for better readability.
• Corrected grammar: Errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and pronoun usage were corrected.
• Punctuation: Commas, hyphens, and apostrophes were added or corrected for clarity.
• Word choice: Some words were replaced for improved precision and style (e.g., "daily" instead of "every day").
• Consistency: "que" was left as is, assuming it's a specific type of painting and intentional. If it's a typo, replace it with the correct word.
• Clarified ambiguities: Phrases were clarified to avoid potential misinterpretations.
• Removed redundancy: Repeated phrases were removed.
• Formatting: Added line breaks for better visual organization.

The revised passage is much clearer and more professional. Remember to replace "que" if it's a typo.