Chapter 4

"He's... he's traveling for business. He must be on the plane! Once he lands, he'll call me back!"

No matter how busy Lucas had ever been, he had never once missed my call.

Right now, that excuse was the only thread of sanity I had left to cling to.

To them, it was just pathetic stalling.

An irritated scowl crossed Jessica’s face. "Enough, Audrey. I thought you might show some remorse. Clearly, I was too kind."

She nodded, and the men grabbed my arms again, wrenching them backward.

Suddenly, Chloe’s sharp eyes caught something glinting on my wrists.

"Jessica! Isn't that the rare Imperial Jade your husband bought for you at the auction last month?! How the hell is it on her wrists?!"

Jessica’s eyes narrowed into slits. She stepped forward.

Brad grabbed my wrists, brutally wrenching the jade bangles off my skin.

The sharp friction tore at my flesh, and I cried out in pain. "Let go! My husband gave those to me!"

"If you break them, your entire pathetic bloodline couldn't afford to pay me back!"

I watched helplessly as Brad presented the bangles to Jessica like an obedient lapdog.

"Look at that color—flawless Imperial Jade, worth over a hundred million dollars!" Brad gushed. "Jessica, how could you be so careless and let a thief steal something this valuable?"

Veins bulged along Jessica’s neck. She lunged forward and grabbed me by the hair, violently yanking my head back.

"You really have guts, don't you? You bribed my housekeeper to steal my wedding gift?!"

"Only a trashy peasant like you would hoard these like a treasure!"

With a vicious grin, she hurled the bangles down onto the stone paving.

*CRASH!*

The hundred-million-dollar jade shattered into jagged, worthless shards.

"NO!" I screamed, tears of sheer fury burning in my eyes.

The sound of my heartbreak only fueled her sadistic excitement.

"Do you have any idea who my husband is? He can buy me a hundred more pairs whenever I snap my fingers!"

"You're about to regret your greed, Audrey."

"If you only coveted my jewelry, I might have tossed you a bone out of pity. But you dared to covet my husband. Today, I'm going to cure you of your home-wrecking addiction once and for all!"

Brad eagerly raised his phone, launching an Ins live stream. "Today, we're going to discipline this trash on behalf of her deadbeat parents in front of the entire internet!"

Jessica knelt down and picked up a razor-sharp shard of shattered jade.

"You think you can steal men just because you have a pretty face?"

She slowly brought the jagged edge toward my cheek.

"Let’s see if any man ever looks at you again once you're a mutilated freak!"

Panic seized my chest. "No... Jessica, don't! Stop!"

I clamped my eyes shut, but the searing, blinding agony ripped across my face anyway.

Warm blood poured down my cheeks.

I thrashed against the hands pinning me, but I was completely powerless.

I burned every single twisted, laughing face into my memory.

"I will make every single one of you pay for this!" I choked out.

Another brutal slap silenced me.

Chloe chuckled darkly, grabbing my wrist.

"Jessica, taking her face isn't enough. We have to destroy her hands."

"Back in college, she stole the art piece Jessica worked three whole months on."

"Then she slept with the judges to steal the grand prize for herself!"

Jessica’s lips curved into a cold, terrifying smirk. "You're right. I'll shatter these hands today. Let’s see you ever steal someone else’s work again!"

With a single glance from her, Brad and two other men slammed me face-first onto the gravel.

My arms were pinned above my head, my hands spread out flat right beneath Jessica’s designer heels.

Chloe handed her a heavy decorative stone from the garden. Jessica crouched down slowly.

These hands were my life. They were made for holding paintbrushes.

Terrified beyond pride, the screams tore from my throat:

"Don't touch my hands! Fine! I admit whatever you want!"

"The villa is yours! I stole your art! I won't fight you for anything, just please don't ruin my hands!"

The crowd merely burst into raucous laughter, their phone cameras flashing in my face. "Admitting it now? Too late, bitch!"

Jessica raised the stone, her eyes wild with malice, ready to smash it down onto my fingers.

I squeezed my eyes shut, weeping in absolute despair.

At that exact second, someone yelled:

"Look! Mr. Adams’s car is here!"