Chapter 3

Sienna looked at me, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Well, Elena, a night of romance is worth a thousand bucks. We won't disturb you and your... friend anymore!"

The moment the door slammed shut, the room fell into a heavy silence.

I looked down at the unconscious man still snoring on the bed.

A wave of nausea hit my stomach.

I had woken up much earlier than them. I could have escaped before they "caught" me.

But I was just so sick of this cat-and-mouse game.

I wanted it to end.

I threw on my coat and walked out without looking back.

The next evening, I went back to the Vance mansion to pack my things.

When I pushed open the master bedroom door, I realized all my clothes and personal belongings were gone.

The maid stood there, fidgeting nervously, not daring to meet my eyes.

"Ma'am... your things have been moved to the backyard storage room. Miss Montgomery said... she said the master bedroom will have a new mistress soon, so we had to clear it out immediately."

I smiled faintly.

Four years of marriage, and I wasn't even allowed a decent departure.

I turned and walked toward the storage shed in the backyard.

Pushing the door open, I saw boxes stacked upon boxes, trash bags piled high.

I knelt down and began rummaging through them one by one.

Nothing else mattered, but I had to find my mother’s antique sapphire bracelet.

It was passed down from my grandmother to my mother, and then to me...

It was the only thing in this godforsaken house that truly belonged to me.

Finally, I found it at the very bottom of a dusty box.

Clutching the velvet pouch tightly in my palm, I let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

Just as I was about to grab a few changes of clothes, a childish voice came from the doorway.

"What are you doing?"

I turned around. Leo was standing at the door.

He looked exactly like Austin, but his arrogant, condescending posture was a carbon copy of Sienna's.

"Getting my things," I said quietly, turning back to my packing.

Usually, even if he pushed me away, I would rush to hug and kiss him.

But this time, I was completely numb.

"Those are not your things."

Seeing me ignore him, he stormed inside.

He stomped his dirty shoe right onto my scattered clothes. "Auntie Sienna said everything in this house belongs to Daddy. You are not allowed to take a single thing."

I paused. "These are my personal belongings."

"You bought them with Daddy’s money," he said, putting his hands behind his back. "Daddy’s money belongs to the Vance family. Strangers have no right to it."

A stranger?

I looked up at him.

My four-year-old son was standing over me, looking at me as if I were a thief.

The coldness in his eyes was even worse than Austin's.

"I'm only taking one thing," I said, clutching the sapphire bracelet. "The rest can stay."

"No!" He stepped forward, blocking the doorway with his arms spread wide. "You can't steal from the Vances!"

"Leo, move."

"No!" he shouted. "You're a beggar! A thief! Auntie Sienna said once you leave, you can never come back. If you do, you're just here to steal!"

My temples throbbed painfully. "I'm telling you one last time, move."

"No! Give it to me!"

He lunged forward, grabbing the velvet pouch in my hand.

I instinctively pulled back, and the pouch ripped open.

The antique sapphire bracelet slipped out, hitting the concrete floor. The delicate gold chain snapped, and the small diamonds framing the sapphire shattered into pieces.

I froze, staring at the ruins.

I remembered the day my mother put this bracelet on my wrist.

She had said, "Elena, this has been in our family for six generations. Pass it down to your daughter, or your daughter-in-law..."

I had no daughter. And I would never have a daughter-in-law.

I only had this bracelet.

It survived six generations, only to be shattered by my own son.