Chapter Six

Next morning, Rose sent a dress at 8:30 AM.

Blue. Simple. Not too short, not too tight. The kind of dress Rose would wear when she was young. And a small note on top.

‘Dear, wear this today. Rose.’

Ariana stared at it on her bed. She hated dresses. Jeans were easier. You could run, kick, climb the balcony if needed. Dress? No.

But today was the City Hall charity auction. Henry's order. Ethan's order. Victoria would check.

She picked it up. Soft fabric.

"Fine," she muttered. "One day."

She changed. Hair down. She usually tied ponytail tight, but today she let it down to look... acceptable.

Her butterfly tattoo behind left ear. Small purple. She pulled hair to cover it, like always. Habit.

She took her small bag. Inside: phone, one antidote pill in a small tin, and her mother's old brooch photo. She kept the photo in phone case.

Downstairs, Ethan is already waiting.

Black suit. White shirt. No tie. Cold face. He looked at his watch - not the Patek. That Patek was still under her mattress upstairs. He was wearing a new one. Black.

He looked at her. One second, two seconds.

"Good," he said.

"That's it? Good?" Ariana said.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing. Good is enough from you."

Leo opened the car door. "Mrs. Knight, Sir."

Black Maybach. City Hall was 20 minutes.

In the car, Ethan didn't talk. He looked at laptop. Ariana looked out the window.

The City Hall charity auction was packed. Big banners. Cameras outside. Rich people, old money, new money, all trying to look generous for press.

Inside, round tables, white tablecloths, stage with lights. Auction list on each table.

Front table: Victoria, Rose, Emma.

Victoria saw Ariana in the blue dress and nodded, just once. Like approval.

"Finally," Victoria whispered when Ariana sat. "You look like a Knight wife today."

"Thanks," Ariana said.

Emma wore red, short, too much perfume. She looked at Ariana's dress and whispered to her friend, "Borrowed."

Ariana ignored her. She looked at auction list.

1. Old painting - 1M start

2. Jade necklace - 2M start

3. Antique vase

4....

7. Private donation - Blue diamond brooch, called "Mother's Light" - 1M start

Her heart stopped.

Number 7.

She knew that name. Mother's Light. She made that name herself two years ago. When she was 20. She made that brooch for her mother, with her own hands, in her small workshop behind Cole house. Blue diamond in middle, small stars around. Her mother wore it every day until she died.

After mother died, Linda said, "We threw all your mother's old junk away. No space."

Linda lied.

Ariana's hands went cold under the table.

Rose noticed. "Dear? You okay? Your hands are shaking."

"I'm fine," Ariana said fast. "Just cold."

Ethan looked at her hands. Cold? The Hall was warm.

The auction started.

The host was loud, happy. "Thank you everyone for coming! All money goes to the children 's hospital! Let's start!"

Painting sold. 2.3M. Jade necklace sold. 5.5M.

People clapping, raising paddles, drinking champagne.

Ariana didn't clap. She waited for number 7.

"Next! Item 7! Very special! Donated by an anonymous lady! Blue diamond brooch, 'Mother's Light'! This design is similar to Designer A early style! Starting 1 million!"

The staff brought a tray. Light hit the brooch.

Small. Blue. Star shape.

Exactly hers. The same small scratch on the back where her mother dropped it once in the kitchen. She could see it even from far away.

It was hers. Her mother's brooch.

Heat went up her neck. Anger, not drugs this time.

Linda sold her mother's brooch.

Behind, a loud voice.

"Wow! Designer A style! Mom, I want it!"

Chloe.

Linda and Chloe walked in late, gold and red again, loud. People turned.

Chloe saw Ariana and smiled, sweet but fake.

"Sister! You came? Do you even have money to be here? This auction is for rich people, not..."

She didn't finish. She saw a brooch on stage and her eyes lit up.

"1 million!" Chloe raised the paddle fast.

Ariana didn't move.

"1.2 million!" another man raised.

"1.5 million!" Chloe shouted, looking at Ariana. "Sister, you can't buy, right? You are useless, no job. This is Designer A style! You don't know Designer A!"

Ariana slowly raised the paddle.

"2 million," she said. Voice calm.

Hall quiet a little.

Host: "2 million from Mrs. Knight!"

Victoria turned, eyes wide, whispering harshly, "Ariana! What are you doing? You don't have money!"

Rose held Victoria's arm. "Let her."

Ethan leaned close, voice low, only she heard.

"You don't have 2 million. I know your account. The Cole family froze it."

Ariana didn't look at him. "I have."

Chloe laughed out loud. "You have? Where? You stole? Ethan, did you give her money? She is lying!"

Ethan said nothing. He looked at Ariana.

"2.5 million!" Chloe shouted, angry.

"3 million," Ariana said, in the same calm voice, but her fingers under the table were digging into her palm.

"3.5!" Chloe.

"4 million," Ariana.

People started whispering. Who is this Mrs. Knight? Useless Cole daughter bidding 4 million?

Linda pulled Chloe's arm. "Chloe, stop! We don't have 4 million! Your father will kill us!"

Chloe shook her off. "I need to win! She can't win over me! 4.5 million!"

Ariana closed eyes for one second. Her mother's face came. Mother wearing that brooch, smiling, saying "My Ariana made this for me, so beautiful."

She opened eyes.

"5 million," she said.

Silence.

The host almost shouted, "5 million! 5 million from Mrs. Knight front table! Any more?"

Chloe wanted to shout 6 million, face red, but Linda grabbed her mouth.

"No more money! Stop!" Linda hissed.

Chloe cried, "Mom!"

Host: "5 million once! 5 million twice! Sold! To Mrs. Knight! For the children 's hospital!"

Clap.

Ariana stood. Legs were a little shaky, but she hid it.

"I will go backstage to collect," she said.

"I come with you," Ethan said, standing too.

"No. Stay," she said.

She walked backstage alone, blue dress, small steps but fast.

Backstage, staff gave her black box.

"Payment, Mrs. Knight? Card or transfer?"

Ariana opened the box. Brooch inside. Same scratch on back. Tears came fast, but she blinked them away. No one can see.

She touched the blue diamond. Cold.

"Mom, I got it back," she whispered, so small no one heard.

She closed the box.

"Transfer," she said to the staff. She took out a black card, no name, just a star logo. Starlight Bank. Unlimited.

Staff swiped. Beep. Approved.

Staff eyes wide. That card... only the top 10 people in the country had a Starlight black card.

"Who..."

"Keep quiet," Ariana said, voice low. "It's charity. No need to announce."

The staff nodded fast.

She put the box in her small bag and walked back to the hall.

Ethan was waiting at the backstage door, leaning on the wall.

"You paid?" he asked.

"Yes."

"With what?"

"My money."

"Your money from where? The Cole family says you have zero. You dropped out. No job."

Ariana looked at him. Tired but not showing.

"Mr. Knight, the contract says no interference in private life. Remember? My money, my business."

Ethan stared. He wanted to argue but couldn't. The contract was his idea.

"Fine," he said.

They walked back to the table. Victoria was still angry, Rose was smiling.

"Ariana, 5 million is a lot. Even for the Knight family, we don't spend like that for brooch," Victoria said.

"It's for a children's hospital. Good cause," Rose said, defending her.

Emma whispered to friend, loud enough, "She must have stolen Ethan's card. 5 million? Useless girl?"

Ariana sat, didn't answer. She held the bag tight on lap.

Across the hall, Chloe and Linda stood at the entrance, watching.

Chloe's eyes red with crying and hate.

"Mom, did you see? She had black card! Starlight black card! Where did the useless girl get Starlight card? That card only rich people have!"

Linda frowned. "Black card? Are you sure? Maybe you saw wrong."

"I'm sure! I saw the star logo! And she bought a brooch like it was nothing! 5 million like buying water!"

Linda thought. Ariana's small room in Cole house. Always locked. Always saying she has no money but always had antidote pills, expensive laptop.

"Maybe she is hiding something in that old room," Linda whispered. "She left in a hurry yesterday. One small bag only. She must have left something."

Chloe's eyes lit up. "Yes! Let's go now! Her room is still empty! We search!"

Linda nodded. "After the auction, we go back and search. If she has money hidden, we take it. If she has something illegal, we can use it to kick her out of the Knight family."

They left the hall fast, heels loud.

In the car back to Knight Villa, Ethan and Ariana sat far from each other.

Ethan looked out the window, then at her bag.

"That brooch," he said. "Why did you want it so much? It's not even that expensive. 5 million is too much for it."

Ariana held the bag tighter.

"It looks like my mother's," she said, short.

"Your mother?"

"Yes."

Silence.

Ethan didn't ask more. But he remembered the file: Ariana's mother died when she was 16, left shares. Linda took shares. Mother liked wine and jewelry.

Interesting.

He looked at her hair. The AC moved her hair a little. Behind left ear, something purple flashed, then covered again when she moved hair.

Butterfly tattoo? He thought he saw butterfly.

Ariana quickly covered ear with hair, like she always did.

"What are you looking at?" she said, rude.

"Nothing."

The car stopped at Knight Villa gate.

Ariana got out fast, holding bag, running upstairs to her room, locking the door.

She opened the box again, put the brooch on the table, and stared.

Tears finally came, one, two, silent.

She pressed the brooch to chest.

"Mom, sorry I let them sell you," she whispered.

Downstairs, Ethan stood in the living room, calling Leo.

"Leo, check something for me."

"Yes sir?"

"Check Starlight Bank black cards. Who has them? And check where Ariana Cole got 5 million today. Quietly."

"Sir, you suspect Mrs. Knight?"

"Just check."

He hung up.

Upstairs, one wall away, Ariana was crying quietly with her mother's brooch, not knowing her old room in Cole house was about to be searched by Linda and Chloe tonight.

And her hidden USB with the Starlight logo was still taped under her old desk drawer.