**Chapter 5**
Before I could even react, Brooke had already rushed over with the bodyguards.
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“Search her!” she shrieked.
I struggled to back away. “I didn’t steal it…”
But the bodyguards roughly pinned me down, publicly stripping my clothes.
“Found it!” Brooke announced triumphantly, holding up the blue diamond necklace.
She swung her hand back and slapped me again. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
“Haven’t you learned your lesson from last time?!” she screeched.
My vision swam, but I still insisted, “I didn’t steal it… There are security cameras here, we can check the surveil…”
*Smack!*
Another slap cut me off.
Brooke turned to Damien, her voice venomous. “Brother, it seems she’s still not over you. Last time she deliberately scalded Seraphina, and this time she stole Seraphina’s necklace. I think we need to make her completely understand her place!”
She flashed a cruel smile. “I just saw a vagrant outside the hotel. How about we let them spend the night together?”
My blood ran cold.
But the next second, I heard Damien calmly say, “Mm–hmm,” his eyes filled with utter disgust.
At that moment, I felt like I’d been struck by lightning.
I didn’t care about anything else. I lunged, grabbing his sleeve. “I didn’t steal this necklace! I have no intentions toward
you whatsoever! Damien, check the cameras, I…”
Brooke’s face contorted in rage, and she sharply interrupted, “Drag her away!”
A bodyguard roughly yanked my hair.
I clung desperately to Damien’s sleeve, my fingertips turning white.
But he, one by one, pried my fingers away.
An icy sensation spread from my fingertips to my heart.
As the last finger was pried open, I heard him say-
“Dirty.”
At that moment, I bit down hard on my teeth, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face.
Memories flooded back like a tide: the days he cherished me, the times he’d worry for hours if I so much as bumped myself…
A year ago I had a fover of 102 degrees and he flow back from
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A year ago, I had a fever of 102 degrees, and he flew back from overseas overnight, staying by my bedside for three days without closing his eyes.
Six months ago, a wealthy heir chatted me up at a party, and the next day, his family business declared bankruptcy.
Three months ago, I wanted a cake from the west side of the city in the middle of the night, and he drove himself to get it, resulting in a car accident.
For the past year, he had claimed me countless times, day and night, like an addiction.
And now, standing beneath the glittering crystal chandeliers in the banquet hall, he personally handed me over to a filthy vagrant.
He even slowly wiped his fingers with a handkerchief, as if touching me was something repulsive.
The bodyguards threw me into a dim guest room and locked the door from the outside.
I curled up in the corner, the wounds on my back burning.
Not long after, the door was pushed open, and a man reeking of stale sweat and grime walked in.
He was in rags, his hair matted, and he bared a mouth full of yellow teeth, his eyes gleaming with a repulsive light.
“Little beauty…” He rubbed his hands together and lunged at me.
I screamed and dodged, grabbing a bedside lamp and throwing it at him. He grunted in pain, cursed, and slapped me across the face.
“You little bitch, try disobeying again. Miss Brooke said I could do whatever I wanted tonight…”
He pressed me onto the bed, his filthy hands tearing at my collar.
I screamed and kicked, my nails raking blood across his face, but he bound my hands with his belt.
Just as he was about to succeed, I felt the flower vase on the bedside table.
*Smash!*
The vase shattered on his head. He groaned and collapsed.
I broke free, stumbling out the door.
The hallway was empty. I ran barefoot, terrified the vagrant would chase me.
In a panic, I pushed open a slightly ajar door and slipped inside.
The room was pitch black. I held my breath, shrinking into the corner.
I was safe…
I was about to let out a sigh of relief when the bathroom door suddenly opened-
“Who’s there?”
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Damien’s deep voice, laced with a hint of intoxication, drifted out.
My blood ran cold.
