Chapter 7: Only Stray Dogs Fight Over Scraps

Claire only registered that Nathan and Diana were in the room when Diana's voice rang out. Nathan never attended events like this if something caught his interest, he'd send an assistant to bid on his behalf.

Tonight, he'd clearly only come to keep Diana company.

"That's Claire's taste," Nathan said evenly. "Pick something else."

"The design on 'Rose Heart' is completely singular; it would genuinely help my work in the jewelry industry. I need this one."

Diana rested a hand lightly on his knee, pleading. "What if we just got Claire something even better?"

Before Nathan could answer, Claire's voice cut through from the back of the room.

"Three million!"

Diana's head dipped, disappointment flickering across her face.

"To Claire, that brooch is just a pretty accessory. To me, it's a piece of art."

"Nathan. You said you'd give me anything I wanted."

Nathan leaned back, expression unmoved. "Go ahead, then. Bid."

He had little interest in jewelry himself, Claire's fondness for it had always struck him as a passing hobby he could satisfy with a bigger stone if it came to that.

Diana, on the other hand, knew gemstones inside and out; she was, after all, planning to break into the industry herself.

"Three point two million!"

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Diana's face as her voice rose to match the bid.

"Three point five!"

Claire lifted her paddle again, calm and unhurried.

Whatever came out of Nathan's account was joint marital property. If Diana had the nerve to bid against her using it, Claire had no reservations about spending every cent of it back.

"Four million!"

"Four point five!"

...

Neither of them backed down. The numbers kept climbing.

After several more rounds, Claire finally called out ten million.

"Nathan, she's determined to take this from me."

Diana set her paddle down, gazing at the brooch with visible reluctance.

"I can't bring myself to waste your money like this. It's not worth ten million. Let her have it."

Nathan considered this for a moment, then raised a hand to summon a staff member and murmured something low.

The auctioneer, catching the signal, didn't rush to close the bid.

"Jewelry is easy to come by. Love is rarer still. Would anyone care to bid higher?"

Claire watched, tense, hoping the silence held, hoping her mother's brooch might finally be hers again.

A staff member leaned in close and whispered, "Mrs. Wade, your husband informed us he never authorized use of his bidding account."

"If you'd like to continue, you'll need to arrange a separate deposit."

Claire froze. The paddle drooped in her lap, her hands clenching so tightly they ached.

Something cold and heavy dropped straight through her chest, gnawing at her ribs.

She glanced instinctively toward the front row. He didn't even turn around.

It felt like being struck across the face in front of a room full of strangers.

Not even Diana and Oliver moving into the house had cut this deep.

"Fine. I'll pay the deposit right now."

Her voice came out strangled, like there was something damp and rotten lodged in her throat.

"The paperwork will take time, though. And if someone else bids ten million in the meantime, I'm afraid"

"I'll handle it immediately."

Claire braced herself against the chair back and stood as the auctioneer's voice carried across the room.

"Due to a procedural delay, if no one outbids the current ten-million offer in the interim, the lot will go to that bidder."

"Ten million!"

Diana's paddle shot up, her voice ringing clear.

Claire stopped mid-step, one hand gripping the chair, her face draining of color.

She wasn't going to get it.

Her entire savings barely reached twenty million. Even with time on her side, Diana had Nathan's fortune behind her. There was no competing with that.

Helplessness and fury tangled together in her chest, choking her, until breathing itself felt impossible.

She stared at the brooch under the lights, her vision starting to blur.

For a moment she was eight years old again, watching pieces of her parents' life disappear one after another, powerless to stop any of it.

"Ten million, going once! Any advance?"

"Ten million, going twice!"

"Ten million"

"Eleven million!"

A man burst into the room and raised his paddle before he'd even taken a seat.

"Whatever anyone else bids, I'll match it and raise, until this is won."

Every head in the room turned. A wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd.

People began wondering if the brooch was some undisclosed antique of real historical value.

Otherwise, why would two bidders already be at ten million and now a third throwing fuel on the fire?

No one was more stunned than Claire. Why on earth was Assistant Reed bidding on 'Rose Heart'?

"Love, it seems, has just been given new life! Is there anyone else willing to fan that flame?"

The auctioneer's gaze settled on Diana, who sat back, unbothered, showing no intention of raising her bid again.

Nathan, calm as ever: "Diana, go ahead if you want it."

She smiled at him instead. "No need. Whatever you feel for me is worth more than any brooch."

She'd never actually cared about the thing. The satisfaction had always been in beating Claire, not in owning it.

Nathan said nothing, avoided her gaze, and turned his head slightly to look behind him.

Claire sat frozen, pale, eyes glistening with tears she refused to let fall.

Something in his chest twisted a sharp, unfamiliar ache he couldn't quite name.

"We're leaving. Buy whatever else you want."

The last time he'd seen Claire cry like this was the day Grandma Wade died.

It's just a brooch, he told himself. Why does she need it so badly?

An assistant came to wheel him out, and Diana rose to follow.

"I've lost interest in the rest of the lots. Let's go home together."

Nathan said nothing. Passing Claire, he paused but couldn't bring himself to look at her directly.

"Look around, see if anything else catches your eye. I'll buy it. Call it compensation."

Compensation. Always compensation.

As if, in Nathan's world, every wound could be closed with a large enough check.

Claire tipped her head back, forced her tears down, and drew a slow breath.

Then she lifted an eyebrow, gave him one long, mocking look, said nothing at all, and walked out.

Nathan had once been the one thing holding her up. Now he was a blade other people used against her.

The loss cut just as deep as losing her mother's brooch a second time.

"Nathan, go on ahead I'll comfort Claire first."

Diana caught up to her at the door. The warmth she'd worn all evening had vanished, replaced by something cold and defiant, eyes bright with something close to contempt.

"Claire. After all these years, you still haven't improved much, have you?"

"You couldn't beat me before. You still can't now."

Claire's mouth curved into something sharp. "That's rich, coming from you. You've always liked taking things that weren't your jewelry, clothes, whatever caught your eye."

Anything Claire had ever wanted, anything Nathan had ever given her, Diana had made a habit of taking for herself.

Back when Diana was still engaged to Nathan's brother-in-name, Claire had let it go without a fight; none of it had ever mattered enough to argue over.

And every time Diana took something, Nathan replaced it with something even more expensive. It had always evened out, in a way.

But this wasn't a trinket. This was different.

If Diana hadn't deliberately jumped in to fight for it, Claire would have won the brooch outright before Reed had even walked through the door.

Claire looked her up and down, distaste plain on her face, and let her mouth curve into something cold.

"But Diana only stray dogs fight this hard over scraps.”