Chapter 2 DADDY AUCTION
# CHAPTER 2: DADDY AUCTION
Three days after the contract debacle, Shawn Page sat alone in his penthouse office, surrounded by six screens displaying damage control efforts. PageTech's stock had dropped 7% since "The Baby Bottle Incident" as financial media had dubbed it. His cybersecurity team worked around the clock to patch vulnerabilities, while his PR department crafted narratives about "planned system upgrades" and "performance art marketing."
None of it mattered. Shawn couldn't focus on anything except finding Noah—and by extension, Nicole.
His phone buzzed. Another text from his private investigator: "No trace of Nicole Hawkins in any official records for the past five years. It's like she disappeared completely after leaving PageTech."
Shawn hurled the phone across the room. Five years. The same amount of time since he'd last seen her—since she'd walked out of his office after he'd made it clear that their brief affair was nothing more than a distraction, that her pregnancy announcement was an inconvenience he wouldn't tolerate.
His computer chimed with an incoming message from Marcus, his head of security: "Sir, you need to see this immediately."
Attached was a screenshot from a hidden corner of the dark web. Shawn's blood froze as he read the listing:
**[LIMITED EDITION: DADDY EXPERIENCE PACKAGE]**
**One-day access to a genuine billionaire father**
**Current highest bid: $12.7M**
**Bidding ends: 24 hours**
Below the listing was Shawn's corporate headshot, expertly photoshopped onto the body of a man wearing a "#1 Dad" t-shirt and holding a children's storybook.
The listing details were even more disturbing:
**Package includes:**
**• Homework help (guaranteed A+ results)**
**• Hair braiding lessons (with YouTube tutorial access)**
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**• Video gaming sessions (Dad programmed to lose dramatically)**
**• One genuine piggyback ride**
**• Ice cream dinner (vegetables not included)**
**Seller: LittleBigBrain5**
**Authenticity: 100% verified**
**Returns: Not accepted (all daddies are final sale)**
"What the hell is this?" Shawn hissed into his phone, calling Marcus.
"It appears to be an auction, sir. On a highly encrypted dark web marketplace typically used for... less conventional sales."
"Take it down! Now!"
"We can't, sir. It's on a decentralized platform. But there's more—the current highest bidder is Cole Aguilar."
Shawn's jaw clenched. Cole Aguilar, CEO of Aguilar Industries and Shawn's most bitter rival. The man who'd been trying to undermine PageTech for years.
"He's bidding on me? For what purpose?"
"Unknown, sir. But the bid history shows he's quite determined. He's increased his offer seven times in the past hour."
Shawn's mind raced through the possibilities—corporate espionage, public humiliation, blackmail material. Whatever Cole planned, Shawn couldn't allow it to happen.
"Fine. I'll outbid him myself."
"Sir, I'm not sure that's—"
"Just set it up, Marcus. Now."
Twenty minutes later, Shawn was logged into the dark web auction through a series of proxies. Cole's bid had risen to $28.5 million. With gritted teeth, Shawn entered $100 million—nearly four times the current bid.
The system processed his offer for several seconds. Then a message popped up:
**"Bid rejected: You have been blocked by the seller."**
Below that, in smaller text: **"Message from seller: Nice try, sperm donor. Daddies aren't made of money—they're made of time."**
Shawn slammed his laptop closed. Whoever was behind this—Noah, Nicole, or both—they were playing with him, humiliating him publicly.
His secure line rang. It was Marcus again.
"Sir, the auction page has changed."
Shawn reopened his laptop to find the auction had disappeared, replaced by a video window. The timestamp showed a date from five years ago, and the location tag read "PageTech Medical Bay."
The footage showed Nicole, visibly pregnant, asleep on a medical examination table. A nurse—one Shawn recognized as his mother's personal medical assistant—injected something into Nicole's IV line, then made a phone call.
"It's done," the nurse said in the video. "She'll be unconscious for at least six hours. Plenty of time for the procedure."
The video cut to another clip: Shawn's mother, Eleanor Page, speaking directly to the camera.
"The girl is taken care of," Eleanor said coldly. "The pregnancy will be terminated as discussed. No grandchild of mine will be born to a gold-digging nobody. The family name must be protected."
Shawn felt the room spin around him. He had never authorized this. He'd dismissed Nicole, yes, told her to "handle it" when she announced her pregnancy, but he'd never asked his mother to—
The video changed again, showing Nicole waking up disoriented, realizing something was wrong, and fleeing the building in panic. The final frame showed her looking directly at a security camera, her face a mask of betrayal and determination.
Text appeared over the frozen image: **"She didn't terminate. She ran. And now we're back."**
Shawn's phone buzzed with a notification. It was an appointment being added to his calendar for tomorrow: "Playdate with Noah, Central Park, 2 PM. Come alone or videos go public."
As Shawn stared at the screen in shock, a small notification appeared in the corner of his tablet. He absently tapped it open, finding himself looking at what appeared to be a child's tablet interface. A message bubble popped up showing a conversation between two children:
**LilyPad4:** Did you send Daddy the videos?
**NoahKnows5:** Yup! Mommy's old security badges worked! Sent him the bad grandma medicine video.
**LilyPad4:** Good job big brother! Mommy says I can do step 3 tomorrow.
**NoahKnows5:** Sister Plan Step 3 = COMPLETE! ✓
Shawn's blood ran cold. Sister? There was another child?
Before he could process this information, the tablet screen went black, replaced by a simple message: "See you tomorrow, Daddy. Don't be late. Noah & Lily."
