ciate my Sophie, I have
no
reason
to
keep them.”
Rosalind’s face was already red and swollen from the slap. She stumbled toward the men, tears streaming down her face. “Boys. I can’t believe she’d use such tactics to threaten you… Sophie’s private life is a mess! She doesn’t deserve any of you!”
But this time, they shoved her away and scrambled toward me, their faces contorted into fawning, desperate smiles. “Charlotte, you should have told us you were expanding overseas! We would have helped you!”
“Yes, you worked so hard to raise us! We couldn’t bear to see you work so hard alone!”
“And it was Sophie who said she wanted to marry Mr. Warren! It’s our fault for not stopping her! Thank God you came back, or who knows what would have happened!”
Gabriel even tried to take Sophie’s hand, his voice a gentle coo. “Sophie, don’t you worry. I’ll make sure those photos and videos of
Sophie snatched her hand back. “Disgusting.”
you are never leaked.”
Seeing that neither of us was buying their act, the auctioneer’s face hardened. “So, gentlemen, I take it you are unable to make the payment? And you are also unable to pay for the thirty- million–dollar Phoenix Pin that was destroyed on the floor?”
Lucas’s jaw dropped “What did you say? Thirty million?”
The man gave a dry laugh. “Miss Kane has exquisite taste. She just had to smash the most expensive one.”
Shane swallowed hard. “She’s the one who broke it! It has nothing to do with us!”
Rosalind stared at him in disbelief. “Shane! What are you saying?” She then turned to Gabriel, grabbing his sleeve desperately “Gabe, you’re not like them, are you? You promised you’d alw- ays stand by me, no matter what!”
Gabriel
I coldly pushed her hand away. “But didn’t you just say you thought Lucas was better than me? I won’t force you. If you like Lucas, you should choose him.”
had to laugh. Just moments ago, these three were willing to bankrupt themselves to win her favor.
Rosalind’s face flushed with humiliation. I had seen enough. I instructed my assistant to have them all removed.
The auctioneer, his face grim, began packing up. He turned to Lucas, Shane, and Gabriel “You lit five lamps in total. The penalty fee is five hundred million. Add to that the thirty million for
the Pacer Pm, plus our service fees for today. If you cannot pay, we will have to pursue legal action.”
At those words, all three of them dropped to their knees in front of me. Lucas, crawling like a dog. grabbed the hem of my pants, his voice choked with sobs. “Charlotte, I was wrong! I was just joking with Sophie! How could I not know that everything in the Shaw family belongs to her? You always favored me the most! You wouldn’t just watch them drag me away, would you? Please, pay it for me first! I promise I’ll be good to Sophie after this is all over!”
I kicked him away. “Ajoke? You slandered my daughter and tried to marry her off to a monster like Warren while I was gone, and you call that a joke?”
Shane started slapping his own face. “Charlotte, you’ve supported us for more than a decade! You must have some feelings for us, right?”
“Yes! People said we were your sons, and you never denied it! Are you really that heartless?”
When he saw that I wasn’t budging, Gabriel dropped his act. He stood up and pointed at me, his voice a furious roar. “This is all your fault! If you hadn’t treated us so well all these years, like we were your own sons, we never would have misunderstood your intentions! And now that you see none of us want your damaged goods daughter, you’re just going to kick us to the curb, is that it?”
After a moment of stunned silence, Rosalind rushed forward to join him. “That’s right! Since you adopted and sponsored them, you’re their mother! It’s only natural that you should pay their debts!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Mother? Did you ever see me file a single adoption paper? All three of them are still officially registered to the orphanage.”
I felt a wave of relief. I had considered formally adopting them, but I worried that if they became Sophie’s legal brothers, it would complicate my plans for one of them to be her husband.
At my words, Gabriel shook his head, a cold sneer on his face. “So all this time, you were just being selfish. You only ever wanted us to be Sophie’s toy husbands.”
