Anthony froze.
Slowly, he turned, his eyes widening in disbelief—at me, and at the gun pressed to my own temple.
“Melissa… put the gun down.” His voice was hoarse, rasping, laced with a fear he didn’t even seem to recognize.
“Choose.” That was all I said. My finger rested on the trigger.
Downstairs, the crowd had fallen deathly silent, terrified by the sudden turn.
Anthony’s gaze darted from my face to Allison in the glass case. A fine sweat broke out on his forehead, his eyes tortured with indecision.
“Why… why are you forcing me?” he murmured, more to himself than to me.
I laughed. I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
“Forcing *you*? Anthony, you tell me. Who’s forcing whom?”
“It was *you*, whispering sweet nothings to another woman while I lost our child—while I was left unable to ever have another!”
“It was *you*, already healed and living it up with both women, while I thought you were paralyzed—bankrupting myself to find you a cure!”
“It was *you*, rushing to comfort *her* when the woman you loved tore open my ugliest scar and left me in agony!”
“And now you ask why I’m forcing you?”
My voice grew louder, ringing with six years of pent-up grievance, echoing through the hollow auction hall.
Finally, I looked him in the eye and, with every ounce of strength I had left, screamed the cruelest truth of all:
“Anthony, what you owe me… you could never repay it in this lifetime!”
My words froze him in place. His face turned ashen.
Then something even more unexpected happened.
My uncle Dennis stormed into the auction house, followed by a group of family elders and hired thugs.
“Melissa! You shameless lunatic! Put that gun down now!” Dennis pointed at me, performing heartbroken outrage. “You’ve disgraced us all!”
He turned to Anthony, his attitude flipping instantly. “Anthony, don’t be afraid. All us old-timers are here today. We’ll see justice done! Melissa in this state… she’s no longer fit to lead the family.”
So this was their play. They’d been waiting—using tonight’s chaos, using Anthony’s “betrayal,” to stage their coup.
Anthony looked at them, then back at me, his expression tightening.
“Anthony,” Dennis pressed on, “just give the word, and from now on, you’ll be the one calling the shots. As for this… tainted woman…”
“Enough!” Anthony cut him off, his voice like ice.
He turned and looked at me—a long, deep look, filled with a regret and resolve I couldn’t decipher.
Then, step by step, he walked toward the glass case.
He drew a gun from the small of his back.
Everyone thought he was going to save Allison.
Even Allison wore a look of relieved joy.
But Anthony pointed the gun at her.
***Bang!***
A deafening shot.
The bullet pierced the bulletproof glass and lodged in Allison’s thigh.
She screamed, blood staining her white dress.
Anthony didn’t stop.
***Bang! Bang! Bang!***
Shot after shot, he shattered both of Allison’s legs.
Finally, he threw the gun aside, turned, and faced me—and all my family. He spoke slowly, each word crystal clear.
“From today onward, I, Anthony, sever all ties with the Chambers family.”
“What I owe Melissa… I will repay with my life.”
Then he pulled a phone from his jacket and pressed play.
Instantly, a video flashed across the auction house’s large screen.
It showed my younger self, cornered by several men in a dark room… my most unbearable, unspeakable nightmare.
And Anthony had just broadcast it to the world.
I stood there, stunned. The gun clattered from my hand.
He looked at me, his face a mask of cruel calm.
“Melissa. Now everyone knows your past.”
“Are you satisfied?”
No. This couldn’t be real.
This man—the man I’d loved for years, the man I thought was my only salvation—had just shoved me into an abyss with no return.
This wasn’t repayment.
This was revenge. Punishment in the most vicious way possible.
To be forever branded by my shame.
My world crumbled completely.
