I had barely used any force, but Serena cried out and collapsed onto the cashmere rug.

The brooch clattered onto the marble floor.

She looked up at Vincent, her expression wounded.

"Vincent, I was just trying to help you with an accessory. Isn't Chloe being a little unreasonable?"

"Besides, I bought this myself. I already gave up on the diamond cross. Is she really going to fight me over a brooch now?"

Vincent's face was grim. "Chloe, apologize to her!"

"I let you have your way at the church today. Now you will apologize to Serena. Immediately."

I stood straight, tilting my head back to look at him.

"Why should I? That was a gift from my grandmother. It's a family heirloom she wanted me to wear when I married you!"

Vincent was stunned for a second, then scoffed.

"If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. Your grandmother was just a poor old woman from the slums. If she had an antique of this quality, would she have needed to steal from the family?"

"Apologize!"

I couldn't be bothered to argue. I bent down and grabbed for Serena's wrist.

But Serena, like a cornered animal, bit down hard on the back of my hand.

I cried out in pain and let go. The brooch clattered to the marble floor.

Before I could bend down to pick it up, Serena lifted her high heel and brought it down with a vicious stomp.

There was a sharp, cracking sound.

A piece of my heart shattered with it.

My legs gave out, and I nearly collapsed, my outstretched fingers trembling uncontrollably.

"Serena… that was the last thing my grandmother left me in this world…"

"Still lying with the evidence right in front of you, Chloe? Like grandmother, like granddaughter. She had sticky fingers and stole the family's cross, and now you're trying to snatch some cheap brooch from me."

She clutched her uninjured ankle, crying that she was going to have the bodyguards throw me out.

I couldn't hear anything. My ears were ringing. My only thought was to lunge forward and rip that hypocritical mask from her face.

But as I moved to stand, Vincent slapped me across the face.

The force of the blow snapped my head to the side. His eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Chloe, I always thought you were different."

"I can't believe that after all this time with me, you've become so greedy and materialistic, so shallow that you'd fight Serena over some trinket she bought…"

"Listen to me. I'm giving you one last chance. You have one week. Get this brooch repaired by a master craftsman, and then you and your grandmother will come and bow your heads in apology to Serena."

"If I don't see your sincerity, not only will I call off the wedding, I will have you completely cast out of the family!"

With that, he bent down, scooped Serena up in his arms, and walked away without looking back.

I knelt amidst the wreckage, gathering the fragments of the brooch into my palm.

In the empty room, I wept silently.

That night, I tore the engagement ring from my left ring finger and packed up everything I could take, shipping it all away.

Then, with a one-way ticket south, I boarded a plane.

Meanwhile, in a high-end private hospital.

Vincent waited until the last day of the week, but I never showed up to apologize.

Serena leaned back lazily against her pillows, opening her mouth to accept a grape he fed her.

"Vincent, do you think Chloe got scared of the family's punishment and ran away? For the wedding tomorrow, how about you let me be your bride instead?"

A cold dread gripped Vincent's heart.

He glanced down at the phone that hadn't lit up once all week, forcibly suppressing the unease churning in his chest.

"She wouldn't. She knows better than to miss her own wedding."

He thought for a moment, typing, deleting, and retyping a message before finally sending it.

[You don't have to kneel. Just give the repaired brooch to Serena. I will still be the groom at tomorrow's wedding.]

The signal icon spun for a long time before the message sent.

A second later, it turned into a glaring red exclamation point.