Chapter 7

When Stacy returned, she was shocked to find the auction hall in total uproar, people shrieking and running for their lives.

Pushing against the flow of the crowd, she made her way back to where Joseph was, and spotted him attacking another man, livid with rage. The other man's face was already badly bruised and swollen, yet he continued to bellow some sort of manic tirade.

"That chick you were just talking to on the phone? A couple of years ago, when I was in university, she was a regular in my bed! She's the campus bicycle, everyone's taken her for a ride, and foreigners are her type! Killing me won't change the truth! I've got a bunch of her photos right here on my phone! Hey, you wanna watch a video together?!"

With a shaking hand, the heckler offered up his phone. Joseph's face flushed bright red, veins throbbing in his forehead.

He reached out hesitantly for the truth… but then, Charlotte came running in, screaming his name, "Joseph!"

Joseph turned to her, his eyes brimming with conflicting emotions. Unconcealed shock, disbelieving reluctance, fathomless confusion, excruciating agony…

His opponent caught sight of Charlotte as well, and became greatly agitated.

"That's her! Here, take it! There's an album under her name, the password is her birthday… you'll see I'm not lying! She's a total freak in the sack! Definitely nothing like the pure, innocent angel she pretends to be!"

Charlotte saw who was saying these things about her, and the color drained from her face. She rushed forward and flung herself onto Joseph, talking frantically.

"It's not like that, Joseph! I was forced into doing those things! He was chasing me so desperately, so I took pity and went out on one date with him, but then he slipped something into my drink!"

"I could swear you were the one who was desperately coming on to me! Just look at how much fun you're having here, in this shot… nobody forced you to do any of that!"

That was more than Joseph would allow. He began attacking the man with everything within reach: chairs, wine bottles…

Broken glass cut deep into the man's eye. Blood came spurting out. He rolled around on the floor, clutching his mangled face and howling in pain.

Joseph swept Charlotte into his arms, laying a hand protectively over her eyes.

"It's alright, Charlotte. I'll handle this. Don't worry. I won't let any of this get around."

Saying so, he hurled the man's smartphone onto the ground, crushed it into smithereens, then doused it with whiskey, and lit the whole mess on fire.

The flames licked high into the air. All the memory chips inside that phone would be scorched beyond salvaging.

Standing not far off, Stacy watched the way Joseph pampered and consoled Charlotte, "I promise you, Charlotte, this scoundrel will be put behind bars. Pretend it was all just a bad dream. I swear I'll never let this kind of filth come near you, ever again."

Charlotte clung to him tight, tears streaming down her face. "Joseph, do you really mean all that? You don't think I'm… disgusting?"

Carefully, Joseph wiped her tears away, while holding back his own. "Perish the thought. In my eyes, you'll always be perfect. In my heart, you'll always be my angel."

And with that, he swept her off her feet, and carried her away from this scene of misery.

Soundlessly, Stacy laughed at the comedy that was life. She went over to retrieve her handbag from her seat.

Several event staff were cowering nearby, and they hissed urgently at her now, "Ma'am, Mr. Dorne has yet to collect all the jewelry he bought for you!"

She turned to them, meaning to decline, but then Joseph's former adversary suddenly leapt to his feet, battered and bloody. Snatching up a bottle of champagne, he smashed it against the back of Stacy's head.

"Damn him! He's going to ruin my life, on the word of that witch?!" the man snarled, full of hatred and fury. "Here's another one of your precious pets, eh? Well, say goodbye to her!"

Hot blood flowed down her neck, rapidly staining her white dress crimson. Stacy toppled forwards onto the floor, her mind plunged into the darkness of a stormcloud, coursing with errant flashes of lightning.

Her eyes stared forward at nothing. Her ears echoed with the vague sound of screams all around.

"Help! Someone's been murdered!"

"Mr. Dorne, it's your girlfriend!"

In a fleeting moment of lucidity, Stacy caught sight of Joseph disappearing into the crowd, unheeding as he walked away, Charlotte safe within his arms.

He never looked back, even once.