A group of armed men rushed in, and the scene immediately descended into chaos.

"Dammit!"

Damien's face turned ashen as he quickly shielded Bianca.

The intruders were from the rival Gallo family. The surprise attack threw the entire auction into disarray.

Once the gunfire subsided, Bianca pointed at me, crying.

"Elena, it had to be her! She resents me for buying the manuscript, so she leaked your whereabouts to the Gallo family!"

"She just wants to get back at us!"

Hearing this, Damien's head snapped toward me, his eyes filled with endless disappointment and fury.

"Elena, how could you be so stupid?"

"Betraying me over a worthless manuscript? Do you have any idea what this means?"

"Let me tell you, Elena, if you can't handle being the Donna, plenty of others are lining up for the position!"

The coldness in his eyes made me feel even more numb.

Betrayal?

In every argument we had over these eight years, he had never once believed me.

It was as if the moment someone accused me, he would unhesitatingly stand on the other side.

"Fine. Since you think I betrayed you."

"Then let's get a divorce. You can give your Donna's position to whoever you want."

Damien's face was a mask of disbelief. Just as he recovered and was about to say something, Bianca grabbed my hand.

"Elena, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. You can hit me, you can yell at me, just please don't take it out on Damien. He's under so much pressure..."

I looked at her, confused, trying to figure out what she was up to.

But in the next second, Bianca, who had been sobbing, suddenly lifted my hand.

In an instant, she slammed herself into the corner of a nearby table, crumpled to the floor, and let out a horrified scream, clutching her forehead.

"Elena, I was wrong! I'll listen to you and never see Damien again! Please, please don't hit me anymore..."

"You're right, a girl from the gutter like me is no match for you. I should have accepted my place sooner."

At her words, Damien violently shoved me aside and helped Bianca, who was now bleeding from her forehead.

A stark, bloody gash marred her once-smooth skin.

Damien's voice grew even colder.

"What did she do to you?"

Bianca looked at me with a terrified expression, as if struggling to speak.

"Elena... she said if I kept seeing you, she would ruin my reputation..."

Damien turned to me, his eyes filled with an endless, chilling cold.

"Elena, it seems I've given you too much freedom over the years. So much that you've forgotten your place."

Scorn coiled in my gut, hot and bitter.

All explanations were now pointless. Damien wouldn't believe a word I said.

"Project the photos from my phone. Today, I'm hosting a private exhibition for my dear wife."

My blood ran cold, and my body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Sure enough, when I looked up again, my photos were on the large screen.

Intimate photos—stolen moments of vulnerability, suggestive poses—flashed across the screen. A wave of shocked whispers rippled through the crowd.

In the early days when Damien and I were deeply in love, he had coaxed me into taking many photos.

He said he would treasure them forever, but now he had turned that past sweetness into a sharp blade pointed straight at me.

I struggled, grabbing his arm, trying to bring him back to his senses.

"Damien, it wasn't me!"

But Damien shoved me away without a second thought, pulling Bianca protectively behind him.

"Hold her."

I was restrained by his men, forced to watch in despair as my most intimate moments were displayed one by one, too numb to even cry.

The surrounding whispers and laughter nearly drowned me.

Finally, the head of the rival family, Luca Gallo, shouted out.

"For one dollar, I'll buy all of Mrs. Luciano!"