Letitia was fragile. She needed this tiara to secure her place.

The applause lingered long after the final bid. The charity auction was over.

Letitia wore the tiara, the one that carried my mother's bloodline, and strolled through the banquet hall on Alex's arm.

My three childhood friends, the ones who had once sworn they would protect me forever, were busy shielding her from toasts, making sure no one pressed her to drink too much.

Alex cut through the crowd and walked toward me.

He stopped in front of me. “This tiara is Letitia's way of holding her ground in this world. You're already the Henson heiress. You don't need one piece of jewelry.”

“It's just an old trinket. Be generous about it.”

“If this old trinket had ended up in a stranger's hands tonight,” I looked at him, “how would Grandpa see me? The Henson heir who couldn't even hold on to her own mother's keepsake?”

Alex's brows knotted together.

“It's always about leverage with you. Beyond inheritance and shares, is there anything else in that head of yours?”

When I said nothing, his voice dropped lower. “Jocelyn, you're ruthless. You'd survive just fine without the Henson name. But Letitia can't.”

“If I hadn't given her the tiara tonight, the family elders would've written her off for good. She'd be thrown out.”

I stared down at the tips of my shoes.

He had no idea that the fight for the Henson inheritance had already entered its final stage.

My father's hints had been clear enough.

Either I passed tonight's test and proved I had absolute composure.

Or he would marry me off to the notorious second son of the Lee family in exchange for a capital injection from the Hardings.

I had wanted to gamble on three years of feelings.

But this bidding war had shattered every last illusion.

Letitia gathered her skirt and hurried over, pressing herself against Alex's side.

“Alex, I want to go say hello to your parents over there.”

“I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing. Could you teach me, Josie?”

She turned to me, her eyes wide with innocence. “I know you keep lists on every executive at your desk, their favorite brands of cigars, what they drink, what time they smoke. You have it all memorized down to the last detail.”

She paused, pressing her fingers to her lips as if she'd said too much.

“I'm not saying you're scheming……I just think it must be so exhausting for you.”

The expressions on the nearby socialites' faces shifted.

“She tracks every little detail like that? The Henson heiress has quite the calculating mind.”

“Well, what do you expect from someone raised on the outside? You can practically smell the hustle on her.”

The whispers fell on me like snow.

That list was an assignment from Grandpa. He told me to memorize the habits of every elder in Harbor City for the sake of the Henson family's legacy.

Alex had praised me for being thorough back then.

But now he looked at me with nothing but contempt. He didn't say a single word in my defense.

Letitia tugged on Alex's sleeve. “Did I say something wrong again? I'm so clumsy with words, not like Josie, who always knows how to charm people……”

Alex smoothed her hair. “It's fine. Your sister has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. She won't hold something this small against you.”

He led Letitia toward the center of the crowd.

My name drowned beneath the scorn around me.

I stood there, rooted in place, as if I had been pulled back three years.

The winter night I first arrived at the Henson manor.

I was the family's only true blood, yet I had stood outside like a beggar, waiting for those gates to open.

I met Alex on that snowy night.

He draped his coat over my shoulders and said：“Jocelyn, from now on, I've got your back.”

Now he had someone else's back.

I set down my glass and pushed open the heavy wooden doors to the terrace.

Cold air hit my face. I breathed it in, deep.

Grandpa would be back from the Capital in three days.

Tonight's events would reach his ears soon enough, twisted and exaggerated beyond recognition.

……

I stood on the terrace for a long time before making my way back to the hall.

Frederick Fox stepped into my path. “Jocelyn, don't go looking for trouble with Letitia.”

His eyes tracked my direction, full of wariness, as though I were about to lunge for the tiara.

Frederick was the first person to reach out to me after I was brought back to the Henson family.

He'd seen my name once on the orphanage sponsorship list.

Back then, the Fox family had all but frozen him out. I'd secretly wired him the scholarship money I'd saved, enough to get him through the worst year of his life.

Later, after I returned to the Hensons, I pulled every string I had to help him secure control of the Fox family's operations.

I thought we were bound for life.

But now he shielded Letitia like she was something precious and breakable.

I turned sideways to leave.

He grabbed my wrist. “Be smart about this. Alex already made his choice. If you cause a scene now, you'll only humiliate the Henson family.”

“Let go.”

I tried to shake him off, but Letitia glanced our way, and his grip tightened instantly.

The sudden force threw me off balance. My toe caught the edge of the step, and I tumbled down the staircase.

My right kneecap hit the stone tiles with a sharp crack.

Pain shot straight to my skull.

Frederick stood frozen. “Why do you have to play the victim? You've had everything since you came back to the Hensons. Lettie only has Alex.”

Barret Delgado and Winston Gilbert followed close behind.

“What happened?”

Barret glanced at my swollen knee. His expression didn't change.

“What act is this now, Miss Henson? Trying to guilt Alex into staying with an injury?”

Winston kept his hands in his pockets. “Jocelyn, you pulled this same stunt three years ago. Aren't you tired of it?”

“That little notebook of yours probably has the exact angle of the fall calculated, doesn't it?”

Barret pressed two fingers against his brow. “Jocelyn, you've already pushed Lettie into a corner. All she wanted today was one tiara. Did you really have to hurt yourself in public over it?”

“If it's about saving face,” his tone was perfectly flat, “I'll dance with you for the rest of the evening. That enough to check the box?”

I pushed through the pain and stood, shoving past them.

“Move.”

“Jocelyn!”

Barret lost his patience. He seized my arm and wrenched me back. “If we hadn't taken pity on you and helped you find your footing back then, you think you'd be where you are today?”

I fought to break free, thrashing against his grip.

He flung me sideways with full force——

“Crack.”

My left shoulder dislocated.

The bone grinding out of its socket swallowed every sound I could have made.

Barret's hand hung frozen in midair.

He stared at my limp left arm, his voice still rigid. “You had to fight me on this. All so you could chase after a man?”

I clenched my teeth and clamped my right hand over my dislocated left shoulder.

Sweat rolled down my cheeks and dripped onto my gown.

Winston let out a thin, mocking smile. “Drop the act.”

“You're Jocelyn Henson. The true heiress who survived hardship. A little injury like this is nothing to you. Don't expect us to feel sorry for you.”

My face was drenched in cold sweat, but I smiled at him.

“You're right. I grew up tough. It doesn't hurt.”

I released my right hand. My left arm hung at my side at a grotesque angle, like a dead branch.

The smile finally drained from Winston's face. He turned away, unable to look at my shoulder.

Barret's voice shook. “I'll call a private doctor.”

“Don't.” I forced myself steady on both feet. “If word gets out, Henson Group's stock will drop.”

“You're insane!” Barret's eyes burned with anger. “You're always calculating, always playing the long game for your precious Henson family!”

“Back then, Lettie had an allergic reaction so bad her face swelled up, and you were off talking to suppliers the whole time. You locked her in a storage room——just so you wouldn't miss your precious deal!”

He was breathing hard. “You've never cared about anyone. All you've ever cared about is what benefits you!”

He turned and left, the others following.

Winston shook his head with a cold laugh. “Jocelyn, you're just betting that Alex will feel sorry for you, aren't you? You could cripple yourself and he still wouldn't look back.”

I ignored him and limped toward the end of the corridor.

Wind poured in through the windows.

I leaned against the cold wall, pain rolling through my left shoulder in waves.

But I didn't let go.

It was time to let go of everything else, too.

……

At one in the morning, I made it back to the Henson estate.

My father, Jerome Henson, sat in his pitch-dark study. The ember of his cigarette flared and dimmed.

“I know everything that happened tonight.” He crushed the cigarette out. “Alex can't protect your position.”

I stood in the darkness and said nothing.

“Your grandfather will see the briefing tomorrow. Your marriage can't wait three days.”

“I already broke things off with Alex, just like you wanted.” My voice was raw. “What more do you want from me?”

He lifted his head. His eyes were vicious. “I want to see you married to a ‘suitable’ man.”

“Three days. Before your grandfather gets back, I want a signed marriage contract.”

That word, “suitable,” meant exile.

He wanted me married off to someone who posed no threat to the Henson line of succession.

Either one of Alex's rivals, or some disgraced aristocrat living abroad.

The moment I was married off, Grandpa would have no legitimate reason to hand Henson Group to me, even if he wanted to.

Alex's influence in Harbor City was immense. Without his approval, no one would dare take on my marriage contract.

……

Six in the morning. The emergency room at the Henson family's private hospital.

I had just walked out after having my dislocated shoulder reset when I ran into the whole group in the corridor.

Alex was helping Letitia out of the car, a strip of gauze taped around her ankle.

She walked unsteadily, brow furrowed tight.

Frederick, Barret, and Winston trailed behind them, arms full of tonics and supplements.

“Josie?” Letitia spotted me, and her eyes instantly rimmed red.

She stared at the sling strapped across my chest. “What happened to you? Is this because I took the Jeweled Tiara last night? Are you upset about that?”

Alex looked up. The moment his gaze hit my sling, his pupils contracted.

Barret stood beside Letitia, his face ashen.

Winston leaned against the nurses' station, looking like he was settling in to watch a show.

“Getting a wound treated.” I turned to leave.

“Josie.” Letitia called after me in that soft, syrupy voice of hers. “I heard Daddy already picked out a groom for you? In three days?”

The air in the corridor went still.

Alex's expression darkened instantly. “Three days?”

He strode up to me. “Jocelyn, are you done with this? When did I ever say anything about a wedding in three days?”

I stared at the tile beneath my feet and said nothing.

Less than five hours had passed since that conversation in the study.

Letitia had not only gotten the information, she had delivered it right in front of Alex with surgical precision.

“Alex, I……”

Tears slid down Letitia's cheeks. “If you really are going to marry Josie, I'll give you my blessing. I just thought it was so sudden……”

Something wild flickered through Alex's eyes.

He turned to Frederick. “Take her inside for the checkup. Make sure the wound doesn't reopen.”

Frederick nodded and guided Letitia into the examination room.

Winston passed by me, letting out a scoff.

“Miss Henson really knows how to play the game. Last night she's faking a dislocated shoulder, and today she drops a marriage announcement. Bold move.”