Chapter 3

In the evening, she rushed to the department store before closing time and found the second-hand luxury consignment shop on the first floor.

The wedding gift Cleo had given her years ago was a ten-carat sapphire ring custom-designed by Cartier's chief designer, named "Heart of the Ocean."

When Aiden started his business, he wanted her to sell it to raise startup capital, but she couldn't bear to part with it.

Looking back now, thank goodness she didn't agree.

Victoria sat at the counter, watching the appraiser examine the sapphire carefully with a magnifying glass, her heart pounding.

This was the only thing Cleo had left her.

But now, for Yara's sake, forget a gemstone - she'd sell her own life if she could!

"This sapphire is of excellent quality..." The appraiser had just started speaking when a sweet, chirpy female voice cut in.

"Wow, what a beautiful sapphire!"

The voice was sickeningly familiar.

She'd heard it not long ago.

Victoria's spine stiffened. She turned to see Bianca walking in, carrying a Hermès bag and wearing high heels. She was dressed in the latest haute couture suit of the season, making Victoria in her white t-shirt look like a clown by comparison.

What terrible luck.

Bianca acted as if she'd just noticed Victoria, dramatically covering her mouth, "Victoria? What are you doing here?"

Victoria ignored her, turning back to the appraiser, "Please hurry, I'm in a rush."

"What's the hurry?" Bianca stepped forward and grabbed the sapphire ring, holding it up to the light. "What's going on, Victoria, suddenly selling off her assets? Are you broke?"

Victoria didn't argue, reaching to snatch it back, "Give it back!"

Because her left hand wasn't working well, she missed and nearly fell.

Bianca dodged easily, "Victoria, look at yourself now. You can't even stand steady. How can you compete with me?"

The double meaning in those words was clear to Victoria. Bianca was reminding her that whether it was this gemstone, the design drafts, or men - she couldn't compete.

She clenched her teeth, "Bianca, this is a public place. Watch what you say!"

"Watch it?" Bianca laughed as if she'd heard the funniest joke, her whole body shaking with laughter. "A woman kicked out by her own husband thinks she can tell me to be polite? Victoria, get it straight - you're the one desperate to sell things for cash!"

She toyed with the Heart of the Ocean, "This ring - boss, whatever she's asking, I'll pay double."

The appraiser spoke up directly, "This lady's asking price is one million dollars..."

"I'll pay two million dollars."

Bianca casually threw out the number, then looked at Victoria challengingly, "But I have a condition."

Victoria felt cold all over, instinctively knowing nothing good was coming.

Sure enough, the next second, Bianca pulled out her phone, turned on video mode, and pointed the camera right at Victoria's face. "Just kneel down right now and say three times to the camera 'I'm a plagiarist, I'm sorry to Bianca,' and these two million dollars are yours."

Two million dollars.

That money would be enough to find a matching kidney for Yara, complete the surgery, and even get through the rejection period!

But plagiarism?

Years ago, it was clearly Bianca who stole her design sketches for the competition!

And now she wanted her to admit she was the plagiarist?

Victoria closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Kneel? Or not kneel?

If she knelt, her career would be completely over. Her name would be forever tied to the word plagiarism.

But if she didn't kneel, what about Yara?

"Not kneeling?" Seeing her motionless, Bianca's smile faded a bit. "Victoria, do I need to remind you? I heard kidney transplants cost a lot of money. If you don't have money, what are you going to do?"

Kidney transplant? She knew about Yara's congenital kidney development disorder?!

Victoria's head snapped up, her eyes bloodshot, "You've been having me followed?"

"Very smart." Bianca sneered, "So, are you kneeling or not? I'll count to three."

"One."

Victoria's knees were shaking.

"Two."

Bianca held up her phone, her face full of anticipation, waiting to see her humiliation.

Victoria closed her eyes, tears sliding down.

Yara, mommy is sorry, but mommy really can't admit to this.

"Looks like you really don't want this money."

Seeing her still not moving, Bianca lost interest and put away her phone. "After all this fuss, I suddenly don't want to spend my own money on it."

The next second, right in front of Victoria, she made a phone call.

And deliberately put it on speaker.

"Hello, Aiden." Bianca's voice instantly turned sweet and syrupy, completely different from before. "I saw a sapphire at the mall, but Victoria's here too, and she doesn't want me to buy it."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Aiden's extremely cold voice came through.

"She wants it? What's she going to buy it with? She doesn't have a thousand dollars to her name!"

Every word made her heart hurt more and more.

Aiden, this was the man she'd loved for seven years.

In front of others, he trampled on her dignity without mercy, using her downfall as gossip!

Bianca looked at Victoria smugly and continued acting cute, "But I really like it, and it's Mrs. Spencer's heirloom. Victoria came to sell it, but she doesn't want to sell it to me."

"If you like it, buy it."

Aiden interrupted her, his tone full of indulgence, "As long as you're happy, I'll buy the whole store for you. Whatever it costs, I'll pay."

Buy it, I'll pay for you.

Victoria's whole body trembled uncontrollably, her heart aching like it was about to split open.

As far as she could remember, Aiden had never given her anything valuable. The only diamond ring was one she'd begged for days to get.

How ridiculous.

To please Bianca, Aiden actually said such things right in front of her.

How could she have been so blind as to fall in love with such a heartless bastard!

Bianca hung up the phone, satisfied, waving the black credit card in her hand, "Did you hear that? Aiden said as long as I like it, anything goes. Victoria, what do you have to compete with me? I'll gladly take this ring."

She tossed the card to the appraiser, "Swipe it, wrap it up."

Victoria stood there and suddenly laughed, her lips full of bitterness.

Bianca knew she needed money desperately, so she was certain she'd sell, and on top of that, she humiliated her like this.

When the Spencer family fell on hard times, she'd been humiliated and looked down on by many people, but none of that compared to this.

This feeling of powerlessness made her completely give up hope.

She wanted to escape, she didn't want to stay here anymore.

Just then, a tall figure appeared at the shop entrance.

This was a mall under the Windsor family. Edward had just finished a meeting and was passing by, with no intention of stopping, but he saw something on the counter.

For no other reason than the blue color was too hard to ignore.

Was that the Heart of the Ocean?

As the head of the Windsor family, he had deep knowledge of jewelry appraisal. This gemstone was the dowry of the Spencer family's daughter during the Spencer family's heyday, and had been in the news several times.

How did it end up in a second-hand consignment shop?

Edward stopped, his gaze falling inside the shop.

He saw a woman in a white t-shirt standing with her back to him, looking thin and frail.

Facing her, a woman covered in designer brands was holding the ring, looking at her with challenging eyes.

"Someone from the Spencer family?" Edward's eyes darkened slightly.

He knew about the Spencer family's eldest daughter, Victoria Spencer. He'd heard that four years ago she married a man with no background, and after that there was no more news of her. Could it be this woman in front of him?

Could it be her?

That former top socialite had fallen to the point of having to sell her belongings?

Interesting.

Edward didn't leave immediately. He wanted to see how much of her former pride this woman still had.

But what he didn't expect was that when the woman turned around, her eyes were terribly red.

That look of extreme fragility yet pretending to be strong struck his heart instantly.

A few minutes later.

"I'll take this." Edward strode in, bringing a chill with him.

He'd watched from the doorway long enough.

A black card was held between two slender fingers, then casually tossed onto the glass counter.

His tone clearly wasn't a discussion, it was an order.

As his low, cold voice fell, the shop instantly went silent.

The arrogance on Bianca's face hadn't had time to fade when she saw it was Edward, and she froze completely.

She knew this was Windsor family property, but how could Edward possibly be here?

The next second, she immediately changed her expression, smiling brightly, "Mr. Windsor? I've heard so much about you."

This was Edward! The top figure in the entire circle! Who wouldn't want connections with him!

But Edward didn't even glance at her. He raised his hand slightly, and his assistant, Chase Jones, instantly understood.

The next second, Chase stepped forward, expressionless, making a gesture, "Ms. Johnson, please. We're clearing the shop."

Bianca's face went from red to white, biting her lip hard. Finally, she glared viciously at Victoria before clicking away in her heels.

That look seemed to say: You just wait!

The shop fell quiet again.

Victoria looked at this man with his powerful presence and felt only irony.

Aiden and Bianca had joined forces to humiliate her, and in the end, the one who came to her rescue was a stranger.

How ridiculous.

Victoria adjusted her emotions and spoke, "Thank you, Mr. Windsor."

She'd seen Edward's photos in the news, so naturally she knew who he was.

Edward looked at her reddened eyes, feeling inexplicably irritated.

He'd had business dealings with the Spencer family before, so he knew very well that once upon a time, the Spencer family's eldest daughter was full of pride.

Now she'd been bullied to this extent?

Edward stared at her, his eyes deep and dark, "Is this all Ms. Spencer is capable of now?"

'Is this all you're capable of?'

Those words cut to the heart.

Victoria's face went deathly pale, and suddenly she laughed.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she laughed with despair and desolation, "What does Mr. Windsor think I should be capable of? I'm a useless person now, a joke! To save my daughter's life, forget being humiliated - if you told me to die, I wouldn't hesitate!"

As long as it could save Yara, what did dignity matter?

Could it be exchanged for money? Could it save Yara's life?

Edward's brow twitched hard.

Seeing Victoria in this hysterical state, he actually found it somewhat painful to watch.

He said nothing more, just signaled the clerk to swipe the card.

"Five million dollars."

Edward stated a figure, "This Heart of the Ocean, I'm buying it."