Chapter 50
[ 487 words ]
Chapter 50:
A sharp ache spread through my chest, stealing the air from my lungs.
I closed my eyes, trying to crush down the bitterness and jealousy swelling inside me.
But their hushed laughter kept circling in my ears, and Ethan’s quiet laugh only drove the hurt deeper into the cracks I was barely holding together.
In a daze, I snatched up the auction catalog beside me and began turning the pages without thinking.
𝘕𝖾w 𝗐e𝗲𝘬𝗹𝗒 𝘤𝗵𝗮𝗉𝗍𝘦𝗿𝗌 𝗼𝗻 𝘨𝘢l𝗇𝗈𝘷𝘦l𝘀.c𝘰𝗆
One of the pieces caught my eye, and I found myself looking back at it again and again.
It was a sapphire-blue diamond necklace named “Tears of the Deep Sea,” every stone limpid and gleaming.
“Do you like this necklace?” Ethan’s voice came suddenly beside my ear, his warm breath skimming the sensitive skin of my earlobe. “It suits your dress perfectly tonight. Since I couldn’t give you the last one, I’ll win this one for you.”
I knew he was only trying to patch things over after promising me a gift, only to hand it to Ivy instead.
I gave a numb nod, my throat so parched I couldn’t make a sound, and only after a moment did I manage to force out a faint, “Thank you.”
There was a time when even a passing compliment or a fleeting look from him would have filled me with joy.
But now, faced with that necklace worth a fortune, I felt nothing at all.
That delayed kindness, tinged with something almost patronizing, only made the ache in me sink deeper.
Ivy kept Ethan occupied, chatting with him about the pieces that were about to go on auction. She pointed here and there in the catalog, then shook her head with feigned thoughtfulness. “Ethan, it’s far too expensive. I don’t want it… but it would look stunning on Lianne.”
Her eyes kept flicking toward me, measuring me with quiet satisfaction and unmistakable triumph.
And then, in that very moment, I noticed the ruby brooch fastened to her chest.
My breath stopped.
That brooch was identical to the one Ethan had brought back for me from his business trip last month.
So it had never been something chosen just for me.
He had bought two, or perhaps it was meant for Ivy, while mine was nothing more than an afterthought, a convenient gift to dismiss me with.
He hadn’t even cared enough to pick a different design.
I let out a quiet laugh at my own expense.
What exactly had I been expecting?
The blue diamond necklace entered the auction with an opening bid of five million.
Voices and offers rose and dropped across the room, but Ethan stayed perfectly calm, and in the end, he claimed it with a final bid of thirty million.
“Ethan, this necklace is so beautiful…” Ivy said in a soft, coaxing voice as she clung to Ethan’s arm. “I want it too.”
Something tightened hard around my chest, and the suffocating pressure threatened to swallow me whole.
“I need some air,” I said under my breath, without turning to look at Ethan.
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