My mom nearly didn’t make it when I was born, which is why I remained my dad’s only child.
So, eighteen years ago, he adopted a poor young boy, raising him as his heir.
He wanted someone truly trustworthy by my side in the future, someone who could help safeguard the family business and look out for me.
But then, at the peak of his career, my dad suddenly died.
I couldn’t handle the shock. I fell terribly ill and spent a whole year recovering abroad.
When I returned, I found that the owner of the auction house was now Victor Sterling.
All of my dad’s treasured collections had been sold off by him, at rock-bottom prices, to overseas dealers.
What he didn’t know, though, was this:
My dad adopted more than just him.
Victor Sterling twirled a pen between his fingers, his gaze cold and distant, devoid of the tenderness I remembered.
“Who said you could come in?”
He spoke, the coldness in his voice piercing my eardrums.
I took two steps forward, glaring at him. “Victor, this is my dad’s auction house.”
He scoffed, leaning back in his chair.
Chloe, her bright crimson nails gleaming, lifted her head from his embrace and playfully tugged at his tie.
“Cassidy, get it through your thick skull. This auction house is Victor’s now.”
She leaned closer to Victor’s ear, purposely raising her voice. “Some people just don’t know when to quit, do they? Couldn’t hold onto what was theirs, and now they’re crawling back, shamelessly begging.”
Victor didn’t push her away. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist, his eyes turning even colder as he looked at me.
Seeing them like this, I felt like a vice was squeezing my heart.
“Victor, have you forgotten what you promised my dad on his deathbed?”
“You said you’d protect the Preston legacy, that you’d treat it like your own business!”
“Have you forgotten who entrusted you with all the Preston collections? Who believed in you and made you the head of the auction house?”
Victor idly twirled a strand of Chloe’s hair around his finger, not even bothering to lift his gaze. “Cassidy, your sentimental games? I’m so over them.”
“Those collections, those promises, they were just your dad’s wishful thinking,” Chloe added, her voice dripping with mockery. “Did you really think Victor would hold onto that ‘sentiment’?”
I searched Victor’s eyes, hoping to find a hint of the man I once knew.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
“It was a setup from the start, wasn’t it?”
“You got close to me, close to the Preston family, all for this auction house, for our collections?”
My voice trembled, but I forced the words out.
Victor finally looked up at me, his lips twisted into a cruel smirk.
He didn’t answer directly. He reached out and pinched Chloe’s cheek. “See? She’s only just figured it out. Isn’t that a little stupid?”
Chloe shook with laughter, a sickening, theatrical sound.
I started coughing, the taste of blood rising in my throat.
Every word I spoke dripped with hatred. “You owe the Prestons, you owe my dad, and I swear, I’ll make you pay back every single cent, twice over!”
But Victor just chuckled as if I’d told a joke. He stood up and walked toward me.
He loomed over me, his eyes full of disdain. “Pay back double? Cassidy, you have nothing left. What are you going to fight me with?”
“This auction house? I call the shots now.”
He then reached out and brushed his knuckles against my cheek, a gesture so dismissive and insulting it made my skin crawl. “I advise you, be smart and leave Starhaven City. Find some quiet place to live your life.”
“Otherwise.”
“If I can take your dad’s auction house, I can make sure you have no place to stand in Starhaven City at all!”
The pain in my chest intensified, yet I started to laugh.
“Victor, do you really think you can take all of this?”
The words barely left my mouth when my wrist was suddenly seized.
The next second, Victor’s hand clamped down hard on my jaw.
The sharp pain in my bones made me wince.
“Cassidy, I’ll say it again.” His eyes were menacing, his grip tightening relentlessly. “This auction house is mine now!”
“If you dare make another scene here, I won’t hesitate to have you dragged out.”
People around us started to gather, their whispers like needles pricking my ears.
“Is that Professor Preston’s daughter? I heard she squandered all the family collections.”
“She sure did. Now she’s making a fuss here, acting like a total lunatic.”
“Mr. Sterling was kind enough to take over the auction house and clean up her mess. And she’s so ungrateful.”
I wrenched my hand free from Victor’s grip.
“Squandered the collections? Victor, do you dare deny that you sold my dad’s priceless antique books and paintings to overseas dealers?”
Those ancient texts were my dad’s life’s work!
Victor scoffed, stepping back and pulling Chloe closer by the shoulder.
“Easy there, Cassidy. You can’t just throw accusations around.”
“You were the one desperate for cash, secretly selling off the collections. Your dad was so furious, it triggered his illness.”
“Now, all of Starhaven City knows that Cassidy Preston is an unfilial daughter.”
His tone was calm, but every word he uttered was a dagger straight to my heart.
At the same time, Chloe pulled a blue-bound notebook from her bag and waved it in front of me.
It was my dad’s Personal Appraisal Log, the culmination of thirty years of his painstaking work!
“Your dad treated this log like gold. He never let anyone outside the family even glance at it.”
“And what did it get him? He raised an ungrateful daughter like you, who couldn’t even protect the family fortune.”
“Give it back!”
My eyes blazing, I struggled to snatch it.
But Victor suddenly stepped forward and kicked me hard in the knee.
My balance instantly gave out, and I fell heavily to the floor.
My back slammed into a nearby display stand, making a jarring crash.
Bang!
A delicate antique vase on the stand wobbled, then crashed straight to the ground.
Shards flew everywhere, and a sharp piece of porcelain sliced my arm. Blood instantly welled up.
Ignoring the pain, I tried to push myself up.
But Victor crouched down, pulled a document from his suit pocket, and tossed it in front of me.
“This is the collection custody agreement you signed and fingerprinted.”
The signature and fingerprint on it were undeniably mine.
But I had never signed anything like this!
“This is fake!”
I crumpled the paper in my hand, my voice filled with despair.
Victor raised an eyebrow, looking at the people around us. “Everyone, take a look. Aren’t these Ms. Preston’s signature and fingerprint?”
“Looks like it, I’ve seen Ms. Preston’s signature before.”
“Maybe she willingly gave them up and now wants to back out?”
“How can Professor Preston’s daughter be so shameless?”
Accusations rose in a chorus, like a net, trapping me tightly.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
The bitter taste of being utterly speechless, with no way to defend myself, stung more than the cut on my arm.
“Cassidy, what do you have to say for yourself now?”
“Do you have any conscience at all?”
“My dad treated you like his own son, raised you as his heir. Is this how you repay him?”
Back then, my dad saw he was alone and not only put him through school but also personally taught him how to appraise collections.
He even entrusted him with the core operations of the auction house without reservation.
Victor scoffed, tugging at his tie.
“His own son? Cassidy, don’t you forget.”
“When you secretly sold off collections to pay debts, who helped you keep it from your dad?”
“And that time you were cornered in an alley by creditors, who got you out of there?”
“It was me!”
He emphasized the words, as if taking credit. “But you? You turned around and forgot all my kindness, and now you’re here slandering me!”
These twisted lies made my blood run cold, then boiled with fury.
Then, I abruptly pushed past the bodyguard next to me and lunged at Chloe.
“Give me back my dad’s things!”
But Chloe seemed prepared. As I charged, she suddenly recoiled, raising her hand high.
Rip.
The crisp tearing sound was like a knife plunging straight into my heart.
The blue-bound log was torn clean in two.
Paper scraps fluttered to the ground, my dad’s thirty years of painstaking work, destroyed just like that.
Immediately after, Chloe’s legs gave out, and she clutched her stomach, collapsing to the floor.
“Ah! Victor, my stomach hurts…”
Victor, quick as a flash, caught her. His eyes, when they turned to me, were instantly filled with murderous rage.
“Cassidy! You dare push her?”
“I’m telling you, from today onward, I’ll make sure you can’t even get a meal in Starhaven City!”
I stared at the shredded fragments of the log on the ground, my mind blank.
The surrounding clamor faded, leaving only the sound of my own heavy breathing.
My dad’s image, bent over his desk, writing in that log, still flashed vividly before my eyes.
He used to say, every word in this log was the root of our Preston family.
But now, the root was gone.
A wave of pure rage surged from deep within me. I bent down, snatched a ceramic shard from the floor, and lunged toward Chloe.
“I’ll kill you!”
But after just two steps, security guards rushed up from behind, pinning my arms tightly.
I struggled desperately, the ceramic shard in my hand digging deeper into my palm. Its sharp edges bit into my flesh.
Blood streamed from between my fingers, dripping onto the floor, blooming into blinding crimson flowers.
Victor set Chloe down and slowly walked toward me.
His dress shoes crunched on the blood droplets I’d shed, making a sickening, sticky sound.
“Do you really think those collections can be recovered?”
He leaned down, whispering into my ear, his voice laced with venomous amusement. “I’ve already turned them into luxury cars and mansions, bought jewelry for Chloe.”
“Your dad’s life’s work? Now it’s just capital for me to spoil Chloe.”
I trembled with rage.
“Victor, you ungrateful snake! You beast!”
“My dad never should have saved you, never should have pulled you out of that gutter!”
“You’ll get your comeuppance! You will!”
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