Chapter 5

Halfway through the evening, the auction began.

Normally, Hannah would not have been interested in something like this, but one particular item immediately caught her attention.

The auctioneer held up a familiar necklace, which was a crystal chain with a jade pendant.

Hannah froze, her eyes widening in shock.

It was her mother’s necklace, the family heirloom that had been passed down to her before her mother died. It was the only memento that she had left of her.

But that made no sense.

After all, the necklace was supposed to be safe inside her jewelry box.

A wave of panic washed over her. She immediately pushed through the crowd, desperate to reach the stage, but the people around her barely moved. They stubbornly remained in their places, blocking her path.

Hannah had only just been discharged from the hospital, and she did not even have enough strength to shout. All she could manage was a desperate whisper. “No... no, please. That’s mine. Don’t give it away…!”

At that moment, Emma, who had apparently been standing nearby, leaned against William’s side and pointed enthusiastically at the necklace.

“That looks like a beautiful necklace! William, how about buying one for Hannah? I think it’s something she’d love,” she gushed.

William scoffed. “Absolutely not. She isn’t worthy of something that nice. That’s only for someone who deserves it.”

With that, he placed his bid, and a few minutes later, he successfully won the necklace for a total of five hundred thousand dollars.

Hannah could only stare at him, feeling a small flicker of hope in her chest. It was still an unfortunate situation, but she would rather have William take it than let someone else in the room buy it. If another person took it, she would have almost no chance of ever getting it back.

‘But if he’s giving it to Emma…’ Hannah thought with a sinking feeling in her heart. ‘I’m not sure if she’ll ever give it to me…’

And she was right. The moment he got the necklace, William turned to Emma and tried to clasp the necklace around her neck, but then she gently stopped him.

“I don’t need it,” she said softly, taking the necklace from him before walking towards Hannah. She then held it out with a bright smile. “Here you go, Hannah. I know that your birthday is coming up soon, so I want to give this to you in advance.”

Hannah felt her heart skip a beat in anticipation, fully ignoring the confused whispers from the audience. Screw pride and all that, she was desperate to get her necklace back! She’d find out what actually happened to it later.

She reached for it once Emma got closer, her fingers brushing against the jade pendant.

Then Emma let go.

The necklace slipped from her hand and struck the floor, causing a sharp crack to ring out. A small piece of the jade pendant broke off, while the diamonds set into the clasp scattered across the floor.

“No…!” Hannah cried out in disbelief, tears filling her eyes.

“Hannah!” Emma exclaimed loudly, feigning shock and hurt. “How could you do that? William just spent five hundred thousand dollars on this! Even if you don’t like me, you should have at least accepted it out of politeness!”

She then returned to William and lowered her head, making the hurt in her voice sound obvious.

“I’m so sorry, William. To think that you spent so much money on it and it ended up getting destroyed…” She sniffed. “It’s all my fault…”

“You did nothing wrong, Emma,” William assured her, his gaze filled with a cold anger as he glanced over at Hannah. “You’ve been testing my patience lately. What the hell is wrong with you?”

But Hannah wasn’t listening. She wasn’t even looking at them anymore.

Her entire attention was fixed on the broken necklace lying on the floor.

Tears streamed freely down her face. This was the only memento she had left of her mother, and now Emma had destroyed it, just like that.

She did it on purpose, Hannah knew. And that made her blood boil in a way that it never did before.

‘I can’t stand this any longer!’

She lifted her head and then reached towards Emma in a fit of rage. For the first time in years, Hannah wanted to defend herself. She wanted to scream that Emma had done it deliberately. She wanted William and everyone else in the room to finally see Emma’s true nature.

But before Hannah could even touch her, William slapped her hand away.

“Ah!” Hannah cried, clutching her hand to her chest. She knew even without looking that the skin there was red and swelling slightly from the force of the blow. William always did hit pretty hard.

‘Why?’ she wanted to cry out to him.

Why was she always the one being tormented? Why was it that there was no single day of peace and comfort?

Why did these two demons have to involve her mother’s necklace in all of this? William knew how much it meant to her. He had seen it in her jewelry box once.

Emma was always at the house now and would often explore each room, so Hannah had no doubt that she knew where to find anything there.

Now she had nothing left. Her dignity, her innocence, her mother’s necklace, and even her own husband. All gone.

“But I guess I understand why you won’t accept this as my or William’s gift to you,” Emma said, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “Because you already have another man who probably gives you expensive stuff, too!”

The crowd immediately erupted into whispers.

Emma continued, her voice growing louder. “You act all meek and innocent, but even though William was your mate, you still betrayed him by getting involved with his brother. And who knows how many other men you’ve been deceiving?” She shook her head. “I guess William wasn’t good enough for you? Is that why you cheated on him?”

The chatter throughout the hall grew louder.

William’s expression hardened with rage. “You’re disgusting, Hannah.” His voice was cold enough to make the surrounding conversations fall silent. “I don’t even want to know how many men you’ve been involved with. I should never have trusted you or married you in the first place.”

Hannah’s lips trembled.

“If it weren’t for the fact that you’re my mate, I would have thrown you away already for cheating on me,” William added, looking at her with nothing but anger and disappointment. “And now that you’re facing the consequences of your own decisions, you act like an entitled brat. You should wake up and realize exactly what kind of person you are.”

He turned his back on her.

Then, as though he had only just thought of something, he added coldly, “And one more thing. I want an official medical report first thing tomorrow morning. Get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. I don’t even know how many people you’ve been involved with while we were together.”