Chapter 5

"She's raised her paddle! Ms. Vance has placed a bid!" the auctioneer announced, barely containing his excitement. "Congratulations to Ms. Vance for successfully winning 'Tears of the Ocean!'" At that moment, the tight knot in Aurelia's chest finally began to ease. But when it came time to pay, the organizers informed her that her card had been frozen. "That's impossible," Aurelia said, frowning. "My card has no limit. There's no way it would've been frozen, no matter the amount." She asked them to try again, but it still didn't go through. Just then, Owen approached with smooth, elegant poise. "Didn't I say I'd foot the bill today?" he asked, flashing a smile as he handed over his card. "Use mine." But his card was declined too. "That can't be right," Owen muttered, his brow furrowing as disbelief flickered across his face. The hall erupted in murmurs. Some guests even burst into laughter. "What, is the Vance family bankrupt now? They can't even cough up a few million dollars?" "If you can't afford it, why raise your paddle? How embarrassing." The sneers echoed in Aurelia's ears, each word a slap to her face. Her cheeks flushed crimson with shame. Finally, Damien calmly rose from his seat, clearly satisfied with the spectacle he had just witnessed. He pulled out a sleek black card and handed it to the staff. "Charge it to me," he said. This time, the payment went through without a hitch. The organizers brought out "Tears of the Ocean" and presented it to Damien, who then clasped the necklace around Sloane's neck in front of the crowd. At that moment, Aurelia became the laughingstock of the entire auction hall. Her eyes burned with pain, swollen and red. But she held her ground, refusing to let even a single tear slip down her face. "That bastard," Owen muttered under his breath. "The cards getting declined… This has to be Damien's doing. He's a top-tier hacker. I saw him on his laptop earlier. He must've hacked into our accounts and frozen our cards himself." Aurelia let out a bitter laugh. And at that moment, she couldn't hold it any longer—her tears finally fell. So that was it. Damien had orchestrated everything just to humiliate her. With a breath, he could change the weather. With a flick of his fingers, he could cast her into hell. After fastening "Tears of the Ocean" around Sloane's neck, Damien's sharp, narrow eyes cast a cold glance at Owen. "Know your limits before trying to save the day." Then, his gaze shifted to Aurelia. "You should've gotten in my car," he said flatly. Aurelia gave a soft, sorrowful laugh. "But someone else was already in it." With that, she turned and walked away without sparing him another glance. After the humiliation at the auction, Aurelia locked herself in her room for several days, refusing to go out. Owen had come by a few times, even bringing her favorite desserts. But Aurelia barely acknowledged him, because she now knew he didn't honestly care about her. He had said so himself that night—he'd rather jump off a building just to make her stay away from him. "Aurelia's been hiding in her room for days. We need to figure out a way to coax her out, or things will get messy if Mr. Vance finds out." "Ugh, what a pain. I don't want to go. I'm supposed to be with Sloane." "Do you think I don't want to be with Sloane too? But it's the same rule as always—spend time with Aurelia first, then you're allowed to see Sloane." In the living room, the husbands had gathered, each trying to push the task onto someone else. None of them wanted to go upstairs and coax Aurelia. But what they didn't know was that Aurelia had heard every word. Ever since she had accidentally uncovered their secret, she had quietly installed pinhole cameras and audio bugs in corners all over the house. She refused to keep being the clueless fool. She wanted to hear with her own ears what these seven so-called husbands said about her behind her back. "I'm not going. Period," Owen snapped. "Every time Damien pisses her off, it's us who have to clean up the mess. Why should we? Whoever caused it should be the one to fix it!" Just then, Damien's tall figure appeared on the surveillance feed. "There's no need for any of you to go," he said coldly. "She's my woman. I'll handle her myself. There's no need for you to worry." With that, he turned and headed upstairs with a gift box. Aurelia quickly shut off the monitor, missing the fury that flashed across the faces of the other husbands. "He's getting way too full of himself," Milo muttered through gritted teeth, his fists clenched. "Aurelia hasn't even chosen him yet. What gives him the right to call her his woman?" Hearing this, Owen let out a bitter laugh. "Does it even matter? Aury's going to choose him in the end anyway. We're all just… background players."