Chapter 3
The crowd around us absolutely exploded.
“Holy shit, he’s breaking up with her right here? She was actually his arranged fiancée?”
“Oh my God, this is insane! Like some real-life rich family drama? Is it because she’s too ordinary?”
“Has to be.No wonder Mr. Hawke doesn’t want her- look at the difference. Even his secretary’s wearing two-million-dollar earrings. Poor girl!”
Celine stood behind Elliot, her eyes full of smugness and challenge, with just a hint of pure satisfaction.
The Arden and Hawke families had been friends for generations, just in different fields. As classified personnel for NASA, Dad had devoted his entire life to America – he wasn’t beneath the wealthy Hawke family at all.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been awarded that priceless national medal.
I’d come back to escort Dad’s belongings home and was planning to call off the engagement anyway.
But Elliot right now seemed to absolutely despise me, like he was terrified I’d cling to him or something.
Fine then. I didn’t need to save his ass anymore.
With that thought, I let out a cold laugh and slowly raised my head.
“Mr. Hawke’s totally right – a measly two million dollar earring really isn’t shit! I’ll pay!”
Elliot raised an eyebrow, Celine’s expression instantly froze, and the crowd around us looked stunned – like they thought I’d snapped.
I ignored everyone’s reactions and looked past Elliot to Celine.
“Well now, let’s talk about what your precious secretary destroyed. How exactly are you gonna pay for that?”
Elliot snorted and looked down at the ordinary-looking black aviation case by my feet.
“These broken pieces of junk?”
“Calista, I know this whole breakup thing is hitting you hard, but be realistic. Don’t make a scene here, and don’t try to pull some scam!”
“Even if your case was full of treasures, I can afford to pay for it! Name your price, take the money, and get the hell out of here. Stop making a fool of yourself!”
I laughed softly.
“Pay? I’m afraid you can’t afford it!”
Elliot looked like he’d heard the world’s funniest joke.
“What?”
Even his bodyguards and Celine started snickering.
The crowd around us shook their heads, thinking I was some woman who’d been driven crazy by the public breakup and had completely lost it.
“She’s totally lost it!”
“Hawke Industries! Worth hundreds of billions! And she’s saying Mr. Hawke can’t afford it?”
“Poor girl, getting dumped in public, can’t afford the expensive earrings – she’s had a complete mental breakdown. Look at that beat up case of hers, what valuable stuff could be in there? Maybe a few hundred thousand in antiques at most? That’s nothing to the Hawke family!”
Elliot looked completely disgusted.
“Calista, do you have any idea what Hawke Industries is worth? Do you know how much just one of my properties is worth?”
10
“Torget your broken pieces of ceramic- even if you had ten cases full of it, I could still…”
Before he could finish, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.
It was a number with no name saved, just marked with a special code.
A few seconds later, the call connected.
A steady, weathered male voice answered.
“Who is this?”
With no expression on my face, I clearly stated the unique code that was engraved on the bottom of the porcelain, marking its supreme status.
“Uncle Daven, item number ‘Artemis-9’ has been destroyed.”
The other end of the line went dead silent. After a full three seconds, that steady voice suddenly shot up, filled with shock and disbelief.
“What! What did you say? Artemis-9 is destroyed? That’s impossible! Where are you!”
