Chapter 3

Scarlett Hayes pouted, her brow furrowed in a pitiful display, touching her half-bare earlobe.

“If it were any other jewelry, it wouldn’t matter, but it’s the special gift you gave me for my eighteenth birthday. I’ve always treasured it like my life. If it’s lost, I’ll cry for ages…”

Damian gently rubbed her shoulder, comforting her, then shot me a cold glare.

“Aurora Reed, be smart, hand it over now.”

“Otherwise, if my men find it, things will get messy.”

Through gritted teeth, I spat, “Damian, I’m not as despicable as you think!”

“When I said I was breaking up with you, I didn’t even take a single thing you ever gave me. Why would I take her earring?!”

The onlookers snickered, whispering that I was just a struggling dancer, living off my performances, with no right to act so high and mighty. They claimed I must have hidden away plenty of Thorne family jewels.

Damian scoffed, looking too impatient to deal with me. He casually waved over two bodyguards.

“Go. Search her thoroughly. Don’t hold back.”

In that moment, my heart was pierced by a thousand arrows, I couldn’t breathe from the pain.

After three years together, I refused to believe Damian didn’t know my character.

But just to get back at me for Scarlett, he was willing to let me be branded a thief, all to humiliate me further!

When the bodyguards’ hands reached for me, I slapped them away. “Don’t touch me!”

In front of everyone, I emptied my bag, throwing it on the ground.

“You want to search? Go ahead! If you find anything that isn’t mine, I’ll pay you back a hundredfold!”

My belongings spilled onto the ground: only a few simple makeup items and some ointment and bandages for dance bruises.

Amidst the mocking jeers about my meager possessions, the bodyguards meticulously searched everything, flipping my bag inside and out three or four times. Finally, they shook their heads at Damian.

Damian frowned slightly, then lowered his head, gently coaxing Scarlett.

“It’s okay if we can’t find it. I’ll buy you another set, no, a hundred sets of couture jewelry, how about that?”

Scarlett pouted and shook her head.

“No, Damian, that was your first gift to me, it has so much meaning. No other jewelry can replace it!”

“Besides, Ms. Reed hasn’t been searched completely yet, has she? She’s still wearing so many layers of clothes…”

Looking at her venomous smile, I could hardly believe these words were coming from another woman, let alone a dancer.

“Scarlett Hayes, don’t push it!”

“No matter how low I’ve fallen, Scarlett, you can't use a cheap earring to humiliate me!”

“Since you’re accusing me of stealing, fine! I’ll call the police. Let them figure out who’s right and who’s wrong!”

Just as I reached for my phone, Damian motioned for his bodyguards to snatch it directly from me.

“Aurora Reed, this is the Thorne estate. You play by my rules.”

“Every piece of clothing on your body was given to you by me. Since you insist on a clean break, you’ll return it all.”

“Men, strip her, piece by piece!”