Chapter 4

Officer Matthew’s gaze towards her became complicated. She spent another three days in the detention center.

Three days later, James finally remembered her. James came to pick her up personally. Seeing her frail figure, his brows furrowed slightly and he quickly stepped forward to drape his coat over her shoulders. “How did you get like this?”

He held her mangled fingers, his eyes filled with tenderness. “It was my negligence that made you suffer. I was handling urgent matters in Norvanya these past few days and I only saw the news today…”

This gesture, if it had happened before, might have softened Emma’s heart. But now, she simply withdrew her fingers. “Let’s go.” The stinging pain in her fingertips was far less than the numbness in her heart.

All the way, James patiently comforted her, signaling the driver to drive carefully while taking out a thermos. “Your favorite red date and longan tea.”

The warmth from the tea quickly dissipated the moment Emma pushed open the villa door. Charlotte, dressed in a maid’s dress, was kneeling on the floor with her back to the door, her buttocks raised high.

Emma froze in her tracks. “Isn’t the cleaning lady’s antics enough? Does she have to wear a maid outfit and continue this uniform fetish?”

James frowned slightly, put his arm around her shoulder and explained gently, “Charlotte ran off last time and caused you to be misunderstood. She feels bad about it, so she wants to work as a maid for a few days. If you don’t want her, I’ll make her leave tomorrow.”

The same old excuse. Emma felt exhausted. She pulled her hand away and turned to go upstairs.

In the afternoon, Charlotte brought in tea. But when she put down the tray, her elbow accidentally bumped into a photo frame on the table. The photo frame fell to the ground, the glass shattering instantly.

Emma froze instantly, her blood seemingly freezing. That was the only family photo the three of them had taken when Michael turned one month old. Now it was shattered.

Charlotte cried out in alarm and hurriedly knelt down to pick it up.

“Don’t touch it!” Emma pushed her away, trembling as she knelt down and carefully picked up the photo. Her fingertips traced Michael’s bright smiling face, her heart breaking.

She raised her hand and slapped Charlotte hard across the face. The loud noise startled James. He looked at the mess on the floor, then at the finger mark on Charlotte’s face and gently comforted Emma in his arms.

“Emma, don’t be angry, don’t be angry. It was my oversight. The negative of this photo should still be there. I’ll have someone expedite the restoration tomorrow, okay?”

Emma leaned against him, listening to his steady heartbeat, but she couldn't feel any warmth.

That evening, she received a message from Charlotte: [Mrs. Nicholas, you probably don’t know, but after you left, Mr. Nicholas has been comforting me in the room. He even applied medicine for me himself just now.]

She then sent a photo. In the photo, James is kneeling on one knee, tenderly stroking Charlotte’s face.

Emma’s fingers paused slightly. James had always been arrogant and haughty; even with her, he had only knelt before her during his proposal and their subsequent remarriage. Now, for Charlotte, he had lowered himself considerably.

Looking at the screen, she could almost picture Charlotte’s smug expression as she typed. She replied expressionlessly: [A maid doesn’t deserve a cell phone. It seems James is still too lenient with you.]

After sending the message, Emma blocked Charlotte’s number.

The next day, to make up for the previous day’s unpleasantness, James took Emma to a private auction. Faced with those priceless jewels, James didn’t even blink, repeatedly raising his paddle to bid for Emma’s items.

“The last item, from Mrs. Nicholas!” As the announcer’s voice fell, the curtain rose, revealing a huge tank filled with countless piranhas on the stage. Above the water tank, an iron cage was slowly lowering. Inside the cage was Charlotte, dressed in a thin white dress!

“Mrs. Nicholas ordered that this beauty be bid on before the countdown ends, otherwise, the cage door will open and this beauty will have intimate contact with the piranhas in the tank.”

James’s previously relaxed body instantly stiffened. He almost instinctively looked at Emma beside him, his eyes filled with disappointment. “Emma, stop. Even if she displeases you, this method has gone too far.”

Emma clenched her fingers, her heart turning icy cold. Charlotte’s self-directed trick was so clumsy that he couldn’t possibly not see it, yet he still condemned her without explanation.

“James, in your eyes, am I just a vicious woman who will stop at nothing? Since you’ve decided it’s me, then you might as well see what your little lover looks like after being bitten by piranhas!”

James’s eyes suddenly darkened and he raised his bidding paddle without hesitation.

“$2.9 million USD!” Having successfully won the bid, he immediately strode onto the stage, not even bothering to say a word to Emma.

Emma sat alone, surrounded by various ambiguous gazes. She sat upright, expressionless. Just when she thought the matter was over, two men in black approached.

“Mrs. Nicholas, our auction house’ rule is always one for one. Since that young lady has left, you will take her place as today’s auction item!”