The grand hall fell into a hush as the auctioneer stepped onto the gilded podium, announcing loudly.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we begin tonight’s event with a priceless piece donated by Hamilton Enterprises.”
The velvet box opened under the spotlight.
Gasps echoed.
An emerald necklace deep, vivid green like wild forest after rain. Raw and captivating.
Alexander’s smile froze, he could recognize that jewelry anywhere afterall he had chosen the emeralds himself saying that they matched my eyes….eyes that once looked at him like he was my whole world.
Now they glinted coldly beneath auction lights.
Stephanie leaned in eagerly. “It’s stunning! Who owned it, Alex? I want it.”
Before he could respond, she raised her paddle, bidding like a woman obsessed.
The gavel dropped.
Sold.
Another box. The second item: a limited–edition diamond wristwatch. I had given it to him on his 30th birthday… the first year he forgot mine and yet I never said a word. Just smiled and wrapped it around his wrist.
Sold.
The third: a vintage brooch inlaid with rare rubies. Passed down from Alexander’s grandmother, gifted to me when I became his wife. It was the only heirloom I had ever received.
Sold.
Each memoryladen piece sold off like it was scrap metal. And I stood beside Alexander, composed like he wanted me to…just as his secretary.
Alexander turned sharply towards me, completely ignoring the eyes, the murmurs and the cameras altogether.
‘Lavina….that…that necklace was your favorite, you bawled your eyes when it was merely scratched then how could you just give it away? Don’t you remember thatit was my gift to you on Our wedding night?”
He watched in horror as the necklace was brought to Stephanie and even though he gifted her more expensive things…this one necklace of mine around his mistress’s neck felt… wrong. ‘All I did…” I said, my voice low “..was enhance your public image. Kept your reputation spotless without costing you a dime. Isn’t that what you always wanted, Alexander?”
Picking up a glass of red wine from a nearby tray I raised it in the air.
‘Cheers to Mr Hamilton!”
The crowd erupted in applause, raising their glasses.
Alexander didn’t move. His eyes locked on mine…his heart feeling unfathomable.
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ADD.
Then he turned away, swallowed by a sea of powerful men and fake laughter.
I downed the wine in one sharp gulp and walked out, the applause echoing behind me Moe cruel laughter.
The hallway was dim but as I turned the corner, I froze.
Stephanie,
I stilled, blood draining from my face when she smiled…that same cruel smile from when we were children.
When she shoved me headfirst into the pond until I nearly drowned,
When she pushed me down the stairs and framed me as a liar infront of the Winslet family.
Then came the shove.
I stumbled backward into the freezing cold storage room. The heavy door slamming shot. “Tonight was mine!” She sneered “But you stole the spotlight my spotlight? So here have your moment..alone, in the dark while I toast champagne with your husband”
“Stephanie, you are insane!” I pounded on the door. “Let me out!”
“No one’s coming, bitch. You thought auctioning off those trinkets would make Alex pity you? Feel guilty?”
“I don’t care about Alexander! You can have him!”
“Oh, I will,” she purred, voice laced with poison. “But really, thank you. While I was moaning under silk sheets in Paris with your husband, you were busy playing housemaid scrubbing Alexander’s mess, building his empire from the dirt.”
“You shameless snake! If anything, you are the other woman. The mistress
“Mistress?” she laughed. “I was his first. His everything. He lost his virginity to me, Lavina. And when you were miscarrying? I told him I had the flu, and he left you in the hospital to hold me through the night in Paris.”
My heart sank as miserable tears threatened to escape my eyes. Stephanie laughed at my stunned silence before she turned and walked away, her heels echoing, her last word hanging in
the air:
“Enjoy the cold, sia.”
The auction ended and Alexander with a stomach full of anger waited for me to show up.
“Alex sister was too angry with me, I messed up big.”
“You messed up? It is her who has been throwing a tantrum just because I sacked her off! Let
her be if this is what she wants!
Let me see how many days can she live without me!” With that Alexander left with Stephanie.
I pulled out my phone, fingers trembling…no signal.
Time blurred as I lost the feeling in my body and my body swayed before collapsing.
But just before everything faded, the door burst open with a loud, violent crash.
“Clear the way! MOVE!”
I couldn’t lift my head, but I caught the deep voices, the urgency in their steps and the sharp
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command that silenced everyone.
Men in a dark suit threw a coat over me while paramedics rescued me. “Ms. Winslet please hold
on!”
Hours later I woke up to my hand attached to an IV drip.
A familiar doctor who was attending to me for the past three years for fertility treatments appeared by my side slong with others.
“Miss Lavina you are lucky.
Master Damien was deathly sick yesterday but when you did not answer your phone, he forced us to stop his treatment and go search for you instead. Even a moment of delay and your life could have been in danger. Or both of you wouldn’t have made it.” I could not speak due to astonishment before a single word registered in my mind.
“Both?” I asked making the fertility specialist smile.
“Yes, you and your baby. Congratulations Madam, you have finally conceived. The IVF treatment that failed four times previously was successful.
Last night we found that you are five months pregnant.”
