Chapter 130
a
In the end, everything at the auction was sold for $300 million to an anonymous buyer whose identity no one could trace.
My grandmother and uncle tapped into every connection they had, trying to find out who this person was, but it was fruitless. All they got was the buyer’s assistant, who coldly rejected their offer to repurchase the items for ten times the original price.
Still, the auction caused an international stir.”
Not just because of what was sold, but because of how much it went for and what it represented.
Naturally, I became the center of the storm.”
I lay in bed, staring numbly at my phone, scrolling through the chaos.
[Has Denton completely lost it? Who auctions off their own son’s heart?]
[That poor woman. What she went through was inhumane.]}
[Come on, don’t act like she’s some saint. I heard she’s been shady for years.]}
[Someone leaked old photos of her working as a bartender at a bar. Disgusting!]}
[Bartender? Please. I heard she used to sell her body for $200 a night, no questions asked.]}
No wonder Mr. Francis did what he did. That kid probably was a bastard.]}
[With a mom like that, maybe the kid died from shame.]
Upon reading those comments, I froze, and my thumb stopped mid–scroll.”
Every comment felt like a knife.
It was like the entire world had stripped me bare, left me naked and bleeding in the town square, letting strangers throw
stones while they laughed. I was the one who’d been hurt. So why was I the one being dragged through the mud?”
“Sadie, stop reading that trash.” Uncle snatched the phone from my hand, his face dark with fury.”
He knew exactly who was behind it–Melanie.
She had weaponized an army of trolls, twisting the truth and manipulating public opinion. She didn’t just want to humiliate me. She wanted to erase me. She wanted to drive me insane and leave nothing of me behind but a ruined shell.
“Listen to me, Sadie.” Grandma gently cupped my face, forcing me to look into her eyes. “You are brilliant. You’re our family’s heir. You’re not someone who breaks under pressure from petty clowns like them.”
And she was right.<
Before marrying Denton, I’d been a computer prodigy, praised in tech circles for my innovation and talent. My name stood for brilliance, excellence, and progress.”
But once I married him and Mick came into the picture, I dimmed my own light. I gave up that spotlight to become a wife, a mother, a caretaker.
And what did that loyalty earn me?”
I closed my eyes, and Mick’s pale face came rushing back to me. His tiny lips quivering as he said, “Mommy… I’m cold.”
My heart shattered all over again.”
I then opened my eyes, and there were no more tears, no more fear, only fire.
How could I fall now? How could I let Mick’s name be dragged through filth? How could I let those monsters walk away unpunished?
“Grandma. Uncle.” I wiped the tears off my cheeks. My voice was calm and steady. “I’m done letting Denton and Melanie think they can crush me forever. It’s time they learn what real consequences feel like.”
A flicker of pride flashed in Uncle’s eyes.
“That’s the spirit. That’s what it means to be a Middleton.”
Grandma smiled, a deep, proud kind of smile. She squeezed my hand and patted it gently.”
“You know better than anyone the power of the internet,” she said softly. “And better than anyone, how to use it to fight back. Don’t be afraid, Sadie. Whatever happens, we’re behind you. Always.“N
