Terry and I were dragged bodily to the center of the red carpet.

Diana Pruitt stood beside me, raised a hand for silence, then lifted her chin toward one corner of the room.

In an instant, blinding lights snapped on overhead.

On the huge LED screen behind me appeared the blurry photo from her phone.

"Look closely, everyone! This is the little homewrecker in the picture!"

"Ferdinand was going to marry me this month, until this woman got her claws into him and he actually decided to call it off!"

"So tell me, a shameless slut like this, should I or shouldn't I beat her?!"

The whole room erupted, accusations and curses rolling in one after another.

I ground out through clenched teeth, "I already told you, that's not me in the picture!"

Blown up that large, the photo only got blurrier. You could just make out that the woman's height and qipao were similar to mine, not a hint of her face.

But every one of them lined up behind Diana and her lies anyway.

"Tch, that's clearly the same person! What's there to argue about? The nerve, a mistress this brazen!"

"Does she think we're all blind? Seducing Miss Pruitt's own fiancé."

"Looks so innocent, but what a tramp. That poor fool next to her, probably doesn't even know he's been cheated on."

The venom poured into my ears, wave after wave.

But I suddenly turned to look at Terry beside me.

He couldn't bear bright light, and his heart was fragile. Already his breathing had gone fast and ragged.

His lips had started to turn purple. It didn't look good at all.

"Terry!"

Panic hit me all at once. I clapped both hands over his ears to block out the noise.

"How are you? Terry, breathe deep, you're all right!"

He shook in my arms, his hand gripping my sleeve, and gave a weak little laugh.

"Marjorie, I'm... fine..."

Then his breath caught as if something had lodged in his throat, his whole face going blue-purple, and he clawed at his own throat, his expression twisted with pain.

"Terry!"

I lost my head completely, scrabbling with shaking hands into his pocket for the pouch.

It was the life-saving medicinal pouch Polly had made with her own hands, his only chance right now!

The second I pulled it out, Diana was faster, her heel kicking my hand hard.

The pain shot through me and I flinched back. She snatched up the pouch and turned it over in her fingers, taunting.

"You want this to save him? Fine! Kneel right now and apologize to me!"

"Say you'll never go after my fiancé again, and I'll give it back and save this fool!"

Terry's breathing was choked off now, and through the painful rattle in his throat I could just make out the words.

"Marjorie... don't, don't kneel..."

My head buzzed, tears spilling out, my teeth nearly grinding to dust.

Through the blur, I looked at Diana.

"Diana Pruitt! Do you have any idea? My eldest brother, Dudley Hughes, runs both sides of the line in Bostonbridge! My second brother heads an international auction house!

"His sisters, one's a famous attorney, one's a master of traditional medicine. Touch us, and the Pruitt family is finished!"

Diana froze for a beat, then burst out laughing.

"Both sides of the line? Heads an international auction house?"

"A sickly little wreck and a shameless mistress, daring to claim ties to the Hughes family of Bostonbridge?"

"Please. If you're a Hughes, then I'm a saint reborn!"

The more she said, the more vicious her face became.

"Still lying to threaten me. I'm going to show you exactly who you're dealing with this year!"

And with that, Diana hurled the pouch to the floor and crushed it under her heel, grinding like a madwoman.

White powder scattered across the floor in an instant.

"No! No, please!!"

I lunged forward like I'd gone mad to stop her, that was the medicine that kept Terry alive!

But a bodyguard kicked me to the ground in a heartbeat, and Diana grabbed a fistful of my hair, forcing my face up to hers.

"Now it hurts, does it? Heh, then kneel down nicely and apologize!"

"You just say the word and I'll keep mine, I'll even be merciful enough to forgive you and send this sickly wreck to the best hospital for treatment!"

"Well?"

Diana arched her brows, deliberately goading.

"Marjorie... don't."

Terry caught my hand, trembling, and shook his head with the last of his strength.

Seeing him like that hurt worse than dying. What did I care about dignity now?

Without another thought, my knee bent and I started to go down.

Just as I was about to kneel.

Outside the ballroom's fire door came a sudden, relentless, thunderous pounding!

"Miss Hughes, are you in there?!"

The pounding on the door hadn't stopped, and in an instant the whole room fell silent.

Surprise and curiosity flickered across every face.

But inside me, a thread of hope flared to life.

That voice…

It was my eldest brother Dudley Hughes's right-hand man. He'd come to save us!

"I'm in here! Hurry, get inside! Save Terry, please!"

I screamed until my voice cracked and split.

Diana only curled her lip in irritation.

"Hmph. Bold. Let's see exactly who dares to ruin Diana Pruitt's evening!"

She snatched up a walkie-talkie and barked into it.

"All security, move out! I want every one of them outside taken down. Break their arms and legs!"

"Drop every gate. Not even a fly gets out!"

As her words faded, the heavy steel gates around the ballroom slammed down on all sides.

The sounds of the fight outside cut off in an instant, muffled to nothing.

I threw myself at the door like a madwoman, beating on the cold steel with everything I had.

Bang! Bang, bang, Bang! Blow after blow, my palms torn to raw flesh, and I felt none of it.

"Open the door! We're in here! Terry's dying, come save him!"

But no matter how I pounded, nothing moved on the other side.

Diana seized me by the collar from behind, looked at me with vicious glee, and threw me to the floor.

I hit the ground with a heavy thud.

So this last hope was gone too?

"Go on, scream. Why aren't you screaming anymore? Keep banging on the door. Let's see if your dear brother comes to save you."

She drove her foot into my chest, and I felt no pain, only stared at Terry beside me, his face gone blue.

He lay motionless on the floor, barely breathing.

"Regret it now? Look at the state of him. This is all your doing!"

"If you'd just knelt for me sooner, would he be dying like this?"

My nails nearly dug into my own flesh, tears blurring everything, and there was nothing I could do.

All I could manage was a wretched laugh.

"I, Marjorie Hughes, swear it. Your entire Pruitt family will go into the grave with Terry!"

"Diana Pruitt, you just wait!"

Diana threw back her head and laughed, contempt all over her face.

"Into the grave? You? A little homewrecker like you? Ha, what a joke!"

The words were barely out when a guard hurried over and murmured something to her.

Diana's eyes lit up.

"Ferdinand Gilbert's here!"

She thought it ruined me, but it set hope blazing in my chest again.

Ferdinand had come!

If he'd just back me up, the misunderstanding would be cleared, and Terry could be treated at once.

Ferdinand walked in, polished and refined in his suit.

Diana hurried to him, clinging to his arm, sobbing out a list of my "crimes."

Ferdinand lowered his gaze and gave me one glance.

I dragged my aching body across the floor to him and grabbed at his trousers.

"Mr. Gilbert, please, tell everyone the truth. The woman in that photo isn't me. I don't even know you!"

But Ferdinand only frowned, something sly crossing his face.

He didn't tell the truth. Instead he put on a tone of pity.

"Miss Hughes, I told you before to stop chasing after me. Why have you made a scene all the way here?"

"You—"

My mind went blank with a roar, and ice ran through me, as if I'd been thrown into a freezer.

"You're lying! I don't know you at all!"

Ferdinand shrugged, wrapping an arm around Diana, the picture of righteousness.

"Diana, she's the one who's been chasing me. I have no interest in her whatsoever!"

"You animal!"

Rage shook through me as I lunged at him.

Diana's foot slammed into my stomach. The pain doubled me over on the floor, my whole body trembling.

"Hmph. Drag this sickly thing into the storage room out back!"

She pointed at Terry and ordered the guards.

My head whipped around toward the storage room. It was barely a hundred square feet, dark year-round, no lights.

Terry was claustrophobic. That place would kill him.

"No, don't! That'll finish him off! Please, let him go!"

I shrieked, but no one paid me any mind.

As the guards dragged Terry toward the storage room, I heard the monitor on him let out a shrill alarm.

The instant they neared that cold, black room, his body began convulsing wildly.

"Terry!"

I clawed my way toward him, and Diana cracked me across the face, twice.

My cheek swelled at once, blood at the corner of my mouth.

"You filthy whore!"

"This first slap, for not knowing your place as a wife, throwing yourself at men everywhere!"

"This second slap, to teach you what a lowly thing you really are!"

She snatched a fruit knife from a waiter and swung it at my face.

"You think you can flaunt that pretty face all over town?"

"Tonight I'll cut it to ribbons. Let's see how you whore yourself out after that!"

The fruit knife touched my face, cold as ice, and I flinched without thinking.

Just as the tip was about to split my skin, there came an enormous crash.

Boom!

The brutally solid steel gate of the ballroom was torn open from the outside, ripped into a gaping hole!

A man's voice, carrying every ounce of danger, rang out through the whole room.

"Let's see who dares lay a finger on my sister!"