Ginevra expected tears, but I didn't even look at her.
I walked straight to bed, lay down, and turned my back to her.
She started screaming. "Say something! Cry! Scream like you used to!" But I didn't move.
I just slipped on my headset, closed my eyes, and let her yell into silence. Eventually, the door slammed shut behind her.
And the quiet felt like victory.
That night, the invitation came.
Hand-delivered in a velvet-black envelope sealed with an insignia only a few circles would recognize.
The crest of the Del Rossi Vault. Underground auction house, syndicate-owned, legacy-driven. The kind of event where fortunes were exchanged for blood rights, artifacts, or reputation.
Dominic got one too.
Of course he did.
I knew he'd show. And I knew he'd drag Ginevra in beside him, painted like a porcelain doll, dressed to steal the spotlight.
Good. Let her think it's her night.
Let them both walk in thinking they've won.
I wasn't going to buy.
I came to sell.
The auction hall was carved into the belly of the old Velbrunnia opera ruins. Dark. Grand. Ruthless.
And when I stepped onto the marbled floor, the chatter stopped for a full five seconds.
My dress was black. Simple in cut, but made to strangle the breath out of the room. It hugged my curves like it knew the war I was carrying underneath.
My hair was slicked back. My makeup sharp. My perfume matched the night I lost everything.
On my arm was a man no one recognized.
Not Cristiano. Not anyone from my past.
Just a private broker with obsidian eyes and hands that could probably kill three men before breakfast.
He didn't speak. He didn't need to.
I nodded once, and he stepped forward and opened the black leather case for the crowd.
Inside sat every piece Dominic had ever given me.
The Santoro family heirloom bracelet, passed down for four generations.
The three-hundred-million-dollar emerald choker from our second anniversary, the one he kissed me through when we danced barefoot in Tuscany.
And lastly…
My engagement ring.
The room gasped.
Even the auctioneer faltered.
I heard whispers float up from the front row.
"Is that…?"
"That's the Santoro heirloom…"
"She's auctioning the ring?"
I didn't look at anyone.
Not yet.
Bidding started, and the room turned wild.
Men shouted numbers like war drums. Women raised cards not for diamonds but for power. Some wanted the pieces for history. Others, just to spit in the Santoro name.
I stood still. I let them fight.
And halfway through the chaos… they arrived.
Dominic and Ginevra.
He wore his classic black tux, the one I tailored myself when he wanted to look untouchable. Two soldiers flanked him at three paces, hands clasped in front of them, scanning the room with the unhurried precision of men who'd already identified every exit.
And she… she wore white.
Of course she did.
She looked around like she expected applause. Expected flashbulbs. Expected envy.
But the second her eyes landed on the stage, and on me, her whole face twisted.
Because I wasn't in the audience.
I wasn't grieving in a corner. I was standing center-stage, auctioning off the life she tried to erase.
And the room? The room was eating from my hand.
Dominic froze when he saw me.
He stopped mid-step. Eyes locked. Mouth parted like he forgot how to breathe. Ginevra turned to him, whispered something sharp in his ear, but he didn't even blink.
Didn't move.
Didn't speak.
His father's signet ring was between his thumb and forefinger, turning once, then going completely still.
"All proceeds tonight will go to the Velbrunnia Orphan Recovery Program," I said calmly.
The room went quiet. No one clapped. The soldiers behind Dominic exchanged a glance but held their positions.
He just stared at me like a ghost he never wanted to see again. And then he moved. Pushed past a few guests, walked up to the edge of the stage just as my broker stepped away.
"Seraphina," he called, voice low but urgent. "What the hell are you doing?"
I didn't answer.
The bidding for the engagement ring was just finishing. One point two million to a buyer from the eastern syndicate. And when the gavel hit, Dominic's voice rose again.
"You're selling your engagement ring?" he snapped, stepping closer. "The heirloom bracelet? The emerald choker my brother gave you in Tuscany?"
He shook his head, like he couldn't process what he was seeing.
"I clearly remember you once told me those were the most precious things you owned. That they meant everything to you. And now you're just selling them? Like they're garbage?"
The room went quiet. Even the auctioneer stopped breathing. I finally turned to look at him.
Our eyes met.
For one small, razor-sharp second, I let him see it. I stared at him for a long moment.
And then I smiled. Just a little.
A smile that held no warmth.
Only ruin.
I pulled my wrist free and said quietly:
"Not anymore."
He blinked. I took a slow step back, voice even colder now.
"I'm no longer grieving."
Another step.
"I'm done." And with that, I turned my back to the man who once promised me forever.
And left him standing in a room full of wolves, holding nothing but the ashes of what he destroyed.
The air outside the auction floor was quieter, but not peaceful. I slipped into the corridor behind the main ballroom, heading toward the powder room, needing just a second to breathe.
My heels echoed against marble… And then I heard her.
Click. Click. Click.
Ginevra's heels. Sharp. Fast. A fuse on its last second. I didn't need to turn around to know she was coming.
I kept walking until I hit the intersection of the hall. And that's when she grabbed my arm.
Hard.
She yanked me back and slammed me against the wall like a woman who'd been waiting too long to explode.
Her eyes were wild and her lipstick was cracked from gritting her teeth.
"You really thought you could humiliate me and just fucking walk away?" she hissed, voice shaking.
I didn't answer.
Didn't blink.
She took that silence like gasoline and threw a match on it.
"You sold my spotlight. That was my night! I was supposed to be the face they remembered. Not you, not your little poor orphan girl charity act, not your dead engagement ring!"
And just like that, she shoved me hard toward a side door I hadn't even noticed. It slammed open, and before I could stop her, she pushed me inside.
I stumbled, heels skidding, and hit the freezing tile floor. The old cold-storage room. Stone walls, no windows, and the faint copper smell of something that had been kept down here longer than wine.
By the time I scrambled to my feet and turned around, I heard it. The click of the lock snapping shut.
"Ginevra," I said again, louder this time, slamming my palm against the door. "Open it, you bitch!"
"Oh, baby girl… I'm not done watching you suffer."
Then she laughed. A soft, cold sound that didn't belong to a human woman.
"Let's see how powerful you feel when the air runs out."
And then nothing.
I reached for my phone.
Zero bars.
