Marjorie's entire body went rigid. Then every ounce of rage she'd been holding found its center, surging straight to the top of her skull until her scalp prickled and her vision blurred.
She didn't even stop to change out of her slippers. She tore out the front door, flagged down the first car she saw, and told the driver to take her to Christian's villa.
But when she arrived, the housekeeper told her Christian had already left with Bridget for an auction.
There was no time to catch her breath. She turned around and headed for the auction house.
On the way, Bridget's texts kept coming, one after another, each one more vicious than the last.
You love auctions, don't you? You were willing to auction yourself off just to win Christian back. So how about I put your mother's things on the block too?
Marjorie's fingers tightened around her phone until the case creaked. She stared at the words on the screen as if she could burn a hole straight through it.
She urged the driver to go faster. A second later, a truck barreled in from the right and slammed into the car, sending it skidding over forty feet.
The airbag deployed. The back of Marjorie's head cracked against the window, and the world tilted sideways, spinning.
Something warm slid down her face. Blood dripped onto her white dress, one drop at a time, blooming like dark, lurid flowers.
None of it mattered. She unbuckled her seatbelt, shoved the door open, and stumbled out, staggering toward the auction house.
The sight of her drew stares. Someone recognized her as the woman from the leaked affair video, and the whispers started, carried to her ears on the summer breeze.
"Isn't that the former Mrs. Sanchez? The one who cheated? She looks like she's lost it after getting dumped."
"She's probably gone crazy. How embarrassing..."
The gossip cut into her like a blade, slow and deliberate.
The auction house was only a few hundred yards away, but it felt like the longest distance she had ever walked in her life.
She made it through the doors just as the auctioneer was presenting her mother's bracelet. The bidding had already reached a hundred million dollars.
"Two hundred million!"
She screamed it with everything she had. Every head in the room turned toward her.
The auctioneer faltered, clearly not expecting a bracelet that looked so ordinary to command this kind of price. Even his voice wavered.
"Two hundred million, going once."
"Two hundred million, going twice."
"Two hundred million, going three times..."
The gavel was about to fall when a paddle shot up from the audience.
"Five hundred million!"
Marjorie's head snapped toward the voice.
Bridget sat there with one eyebrow raised, a thin smile on her lips. "I changed my mind. I want to buy it back. That's allowed, isn't it?"
Bridget was a college sophomore who couldn't even pay her own tuition without conning someone. There was no way she had that kind of money.
Marjorie's gaze shifted to the man beside her.
Christian had already seen her. He let go of Bridget's waist, rose from his seat, and walked toward Marjorie.
"Marge."
"Today's Bridget's birthday. I promised her I'd support whatever she wanted to do. So just let her have this one, okay?"
In that instant, Marjorie was certain that if rage could take physical form, the fire in her eyes would have burned straight through him.
"That bracelet is MINE! What gives you the right to take what's mine and use it to impress another woman?"
She shoved him away from her with every ounce of strength she had left, then grabbed a paddle from a nearby seat and screamed, "Six hundred million!"
Christian hadn't expected the push. He stumbled backward and barely caught himself on a chair.
The softness in his eyes when he'd first approached was gone. Only irritation remained.
"Marge, and here I was praising you this afternoon for being gracious. Turns out it was all an act. It's just a bracelet. It's Bridget's birthday. I'm not going to let her be unhappy."
He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times. A second later, Bridget squealed behind him.
"Christian! You just transferred ten billion dollars to me? I love you so much!"
