Chapter 4

At the auction entrance.

A sharply dressed attendant extended a hand. “Invitation and VIP pass, please.”

Kelly replied evenly, “Kelly Shaw. Keith Parsons’s wife.”

The attendant frowned, his gaze sliding from her face down to the hem of her dress. “Mr. and Mrs. Parsons checked in three minutes ago.”

Kelly’s brows knit. “Call Keith.”

A smirk tugged at the attendant’s lips as he looked her over, amusement flickering in his eyes.

“Mr. Parsons is already inside with his wife. I wouldn’t want to cause him any trouble, would I?”

He’d seen enough of this crowd.

Men kept their mistresses for private moments and brought their wives to public ones.

If every mistress made a scene like this, things would fall apart fast.

Kelly had just lifted her phone when a bright, familiar voice cut through the tension.

“Kelly!”

Kelly looked up.

Sure enough, Nadia was hurrying toward her.

She looped an arm through Kelly’s, warm and affectionate. “You’re here! Why aren’t you going in?”

Kelly shot the attendant a glance.

Nadia’s expression darkened.

She turned to him. “You’re the one stopping her?”

The attendant opened his mouth to explain.

Nadia cut him off coldly. “That’s enough. Collect your paycheck for this month. You’re fired.”

The color drained from his face.

He looked to Kelly, desperate. “Ma’am, please…”

Kelly looked away.

Everyone paid for their choices.

She walked inside with Nadia.

Nadia was suddenly called away by an urgent call. “They need me backstage. Go find my brother in VIP Room Three, okay?”

With that, she rushed off.

Kelly watched her disappear around the corner before turning toward the back rows of the auction hall.

“Keith, isn’t that Kelly? I thought you said she wasn’t coming?”

The voice drifted down from above.

Kelly recognized it as Maya’s.

She didn’t respond.

But Maya called out again, “Kelly, we’re up here. Come join us.”

As if by accident, Kelly lifted her gaze.

Maya was leaning over the balcony, watching her with a faint, knowing smile, like she was showing off.

A moment later, Keith stepped into view.

His eyes flicked to Kelly’s ear—bare, without her hearing aid.

He smiled slightly and signed. [Kelly, come up.]

Kelly’s expression didn’t change as she looked away.

Just seeing the two of them made her sick.

The thought of being in the same enclosed space with them felt filthy.

She ignored them and headed straight for a seat toward the back.

Then she took out her hearing aid.

Brushing her hair aside, she slipped it on.

The slim silver frame curved along her ear, a faint hum of static buzzing to life.

Keith’s brow creased.

Maya noticed his distraction and felt a flicker of irritation.

She leaned into his arms, her tone soft and coy. “Keith, this is all my fault.”

Keith refocused, lifting his gaze.

A trace of indulgent warmth settled into his expression. “What is it now?”

Maya bit lightly on her soft lower lip. “It’s because I’m here that she won’t come up. Maybe I should leave. I don’t want to get in the way.”

The moment she finished speaking, Keith reached out and idly brushed his fingers over her earlobe.

“It has nothing to do with you. She’s just being petty. You, on the other hand, are so well-behaved. If you see anything you like later, just bid on it.”

A faint, almost imperceptible smile curved at the corner of Maya’s lips.

Five minutes later.

The auction began.

Paintings, antiques, jewelry…

With each rising bid, and the steady fall of the gavel, every item was given a new value.

At last, just as Kelly had been waiting for, a staff member wheeled out a small cart draped in red velvet.

The cloth was lifted.

It was the emerald necklace.

Kelly straightened, her focus sharpening.

The auctioneer’s voice rang clear and smooth.

“Lot twenty-eight—a vintage emerald necklace, likely early 17th century. There’s visible wear, including minor surface scratches. We’ll open the bidding at four thousand dollars, with increments of at least four hundred.”

Kelly raised her paddle. “Four thousand four hundred.”

Maya had no interest in the worn necklace until she heard Kelly’s voice.

She quickly moved to the window and looked down.

“Six thousand,” someone called.

Maya watched as Kelly raised her paddle again. “Eight thousand.”

Maya’s lips curved.

Leaning against the window, her gaze locked onto Kelly below.

How could she possibly let Kelly have her way?

Just as the auctioneer raised the gavel and called, “Eight thousand once, eight thousand twice, eight thousand…”

Maya’s soft, syrupy voice cut in. “Twenty thousand.”

Kelly turned sharply.

Right on cue, her gaze met Maya’s.

Their eyes collided across the distance, calm on the surface, sparks flaring beneath.

Maya smiled at her, blatant and provocative.

She wanted to take it from Kelly, even if she didn’t care for the worn, unimpressive necklace at all.

Kelly tightened her grip on the paddle and raised it. “Twenty-two thousand.”

Maya didn’t hesitate. “Forty thousand.”

Kelly: “Forty-two.”

Maya: “Sixty thousand.”

Kelly: “Sixty-two.”

After calling her bid, Kelly glanced instinctively toward the VIP box.

Her eyes met Keith’s.

From across the room, he watched her sitting alone in the back row, isolated, almost pitiful.

For a moment, he thought she looked… a little pathetic.

But it was her own doing.

He had called for her.

She was the one who kept pushing him away.

A man’s patience had its limits.

Maya suddenly leaned into him.

Maya pressed close against Keith’s back, her soft body clinging to him.

“I really want that necklace tonight. Why does your wife have to fight me for it? Is she still upset with me?”

Kelly’s cold indifference stood in sharp contrast to Maya’s fragile, coaxing tone.

Keith patted the hands she had clasped over his stomach. “I’ll get it for you.”

Just as Kelly thought Maya gave up, the auctioneer’s voice trembled with excitement. “The gentleman in VIP Room Three has placed an open bid for his companion!”

Kelly laughed.

Keith really had some nerve.

The last crumbling piece of her world finally collapsed.

The impact was deafening.

The ashes felt like countless fine needles, driving straight into her heart.

That emerald necklace was her grandmother’s only dowry.

Back then, to pay for Keith’s treatment when he had pneumonia, her grandmother had no choice but to pawn it.

And now, not only did Keith fail to recognize the very necklace that once saved his life, he was bidding against her for it for another woman.

She had searched for it for years. How could she just let it slip away like this?

Her chest felt heavy and waterlogged, the pressure building until it hurt.

Just when everyone thought the necklace was as good as claimed by VIP Room Three, something unexpected happened.

VIP Room One placed an open bid as well.

For the first time in the city’s auction history, two VIPs had both placed open bids on the same item.

The entire room erupted in shock.

No one could understand why such an ordinary, flawed emerald necklace had suddenly caught the attention of two powerful bidders.

Kelly never encountered anything like this.

She had no idea who the necklace would ultimately go to.

But she would rather see the necklace end up in a stranger’s collection than be taken by Keith and end up in Maya’s hands.

A young man in the seat beside her leaned close to his date and whispered, “I heard if two or more people place open bids on the same item, they check financial standing—whoever has the deeper pockets gets it.”

The faint spark of hope that had just risen in Kelly’s chest went out again.

The Parsons family was powerful and wealthy.

Who could possibly outmatch them?

Unless it was a top-tier family like the Carters, but why would they care about a worn, outdated necklace?

Kelly slumped back in her seat, her body going slack, no longer holding onto any hope.

Staff hurried off to verify assets.

People around her murmured in low voices. “I know the one in VIP Room Three is Mr. Parsons. Does anyone know who’s in VIP Room One?”

Heads shook all around.

The verification finished.

The auctioneer tapped the edge of the gavel and, having received confirmation, announced clearly, “Thank you all for your participation. Lot twenty-eight tonight is awarded to the gentleman in VIP Room One.”

Kelly froze.

For a moment, she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.

She stood up and headed upstairs.

She wanted to try to see if she could persuade him to part with the necklace.

Kelly hadn’t even reached VIP Room One when the door opened.

Two bodyguards in black suits, earpieces in place and dark glasses on, stepped out first, flanking the way.

Then, a pair of black leather shoes came into view.

Kelly lifted her gaze.

The man who followed wore a perfectly tailored black suit. A bodyguard draped a black cashmere overcoat over his shoulders as he stepped out.

His face was cold, expressionless—his jawline sharp as if carved from ice, his lips set in a hard, straight line, the corners of his eyes edged with a chill detachment.

The bright lights caught the bridge of his nose, casting a faint shadow that hid whatever emotion stirred beneath.

He didn’t walk quickly, but there was a quiet pressure about him—an authority that came from long standing at the top, arrogance and restraint woven into his very bones.

And the moment Kelly saw his face, she froze in shock.

It was him.