Chapter 4

Ashley glared at me from across the ballroom, her expression a mask of pure contempt.

She made a show of ignoring the early auction items, looking bored and superior. With her family's fortune gone, she couldn't afford to bid on anything, and the other wealthy attendees gave her a wide berth.

Then, a specific piece came up for bid: an antique diamond and sapphire bracelet.

The auctioneer started the bidding at ten thousand dollars. Suddenly, Ashley' s hand shot up.

"Fifty thousand!" she yelled, her voice ringing through the silent room.

A murmur went through the crowd. People turned to stare. She didn't have that kind of money.

Someone from a rival family laughed. "Is your billionaire boyfriend paying for that, Ashley? Or did you forget you're broke?"

Ashley's face flushed with humiliation. Liam, standing next to me, tensed up, his jaw clenched in anger at the insult directed at her. But he did nothing. He just stood there, letting her continue this charade.

"One hundred thousand!" she shouted, her voice trembling with a mixture of rage and desperation.

The bidding stalled. No one else was willing to jump to such a ridiculous price.

"One hundred thousand going once, going twice..." the auctioneer called. "Sold! To the young lady in the red dress."

The auctioneer' s assistant immediately approached Ashley with a payment terminal. "We'll need payment now, miss."

All eyes were on her. She looked cornered, her bravado crumbling. She turned and locked eyes with Liam, a desperate, pleading look on her face.

"Liam," she mouthed.

Someone in the crowd snickered. "That bracelet is for his fiancée, dear. Not his assistant."

I watched Liam's face. His expression was cold, unreadable. For a fleeting moment, I thought he was finally going to put his foot down, to end this madness.

Ashley took a shaky step towards him. "Liam, please," she whispered, her voice breaking.

"No," he said, his voice low but firm.

The single word hung in the air. A collective gasp went through the room.

Ashley' s face crumpled. The public rejection was too much for her. She let out a choked sob.

"I hate you!" she screamed at Liam, her voice cracking. Then she turned to the bracelet, which the assistant was holding. With a wild cry, she snatched it and threw it to the ground. The delicate antique shattered on the marble floor.

She gave Liam one last, venomous glare, then turned and fled the ballroom, tears streaming down her face.

The room erupted in shocked whispers. Liam's face was a thunderous mask. He turned and strode out of the ballroom, not even glancing at me.

I knew he was going after her.

I followed him. I found them in a secluded garden outside the venue. Ashley was sitting on a stone bench, sobbing. Liam was standing in front of her.

"Why did you bid on it if you couldn't pay?" he asked, his voice softer now, the anger replaced with something else. Concern.

"It was my mother's," Ashley choked out between sobs. "It was the last piece of her jewelry I thought I could ever get back. My father sold it after... after everything."

Liam' s posture changed. The story, true or not, had its intended effect.

"Ashley, if you had told me, I would have bought it for you," he said gently.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and wet with tears. "Really?"

"Of course," he said.

"Then... why did you say no in there? You let them all laugh at me."

"I..." he started, then trailed off. "I'll make it up to you. I'll have the bracelet repaired."

She sniffled. "How will you pay me back?"

He looked at her, a strange light in his eyes. "Tell me."

She leaned forward and pressed a soft, quick kiss to his lips. "Like that."

Liam froze. His whole body went rigid. I saw the tips of his ears turn red.

She smiled, a slow, knowing smile. She leaned in again, and this time, the kiss wasn't soft or quick. It was deep and demanding.

And this time, Liam didn't freeze.

He responded. His hand came up to cup the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair as he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

They were lost in each other, a passionate, desperate mess in the moonlight.

The world tilted on its axis. The man who had held me just an hour ago, promising me a romantic evening, was now kissing my worst enemy as if his life depended on it.

And I finally, truly, understood. It wasn't just a sick obsession.

It was love.