Chapter 4

The late autumn night in Blackwood City was cold and desolate.

I was held down in front of the Thorne mansion gates, and in front of the entire city's elite and the flashing cameras of the media, my clothes were stripped off piece by piece.

With each garment removed, shrill whistles and mocking laughter erupted.

Before long, I was bare except for my underwear and a sheer silk slip. Even my stockings and shoes were gone.

The biting wind whipped my hair, sticking it to my tear-streaked face. I felt utterly humiliated.

Anyone with half a brain could see there was nowhere left on my body to hide any jewelry.

I hugged myself, tears streaming down my face, and looked at Damian.

“It’s come to this, can you stop now, Damian?”

“All this time we were together, I never asked you for anything.”

“Just this once, please, I’m begging you, leave me some shred of dignity. Can you?”

The bodyguards hesitated, their gazes turning to Damian for instruction.

Damian sat regally at the center of the courtyard banquet, his handsome face was cast in stark relief by the lights, half in shadow, half illuminated. His expression was unreadable.

“Since that’s the case, then…”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Scarlett giggled, cutting him off.

“Since she’s already stripped this far, why not strip completely? That way, Ms. Reed’s innocence can be fully proven, don’t you agree, everyone?”

If this were before, everyone in Blackwood City knew how utterly obsessed Damian was with me, and no one would have dared disrespect me.

But now, they all knew I was just a discarded woman, and Scarlett Hayes was the apple of Damian’s eye. They all nodded in agreement with her.

“Exactly! I bet that slip of hers could hide plenty more!”