Aurora stood silently in the distance, listening without a word.
Isabelle, smug and self–satisfied, sauntered over, looking down at her with disdain.
“The party’s great, but there’s a small problem. There’s no carpet in the hall, and my dress is dirty. To make up for this oversight, you’ll hold my train.”
Aurora kept her head down, her tone neither humble nor arrogant.
“Please wait, there are extra carpets backstage. I’ll have someone lay them down immediately.”
Seeing her refusal, Isabelle’s face darkened.
Sebastian entered at that moment, seeing her displeasure and rushing to her side.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sebastian, I don’t want to get my dress dirty. I asked your secretary to hold my train, but she refused! Is she still angry about what happened last time?”
Seeing Isabelle Monroe’s aggrieved expression, Sebastian immediately embraced her, his eyes darkening as he looked at Aurora.
“It’s just holding a train. It’s your job. You’re not a first–day secretary; you should be able to handle such a small matter!”
The guests began whispering, their comments laced with sarcasm.
“A secretary daring to give Miss Monroe a hard time? She should know her place!”
“Some people are born with a silver spoon, pampered and cherished, while others are lucky to just hold a dress train!”
Hearing these taunts, Aurora’s eyes dimmed.
Suppressing her discomfort, she bent down to hold the train.
Isabelle led Sebastian on a tour of the house, intentionally tormenting her. The train was adorned with countless pearls, weighing heavily on Aurora’s aching arms.
Isabelle, unsatisfied, ordered more drinks, beckoning Aurora with a finger.
“I don’t want to drink, but our friends are here, so I can’t refuse. You drink these for me.”
“I’m allergic to alcohol…”
“Sebastian, look at her!” Before Aurora could explain, Isabelle started whining.
Sebastian knew about her allergy, but to appease Isabelle, he agreed.
“Don’t you carry allergy medication? Take it, then you can drink. You should be fine.”
His unyielding tone sent Aurora’s heart plummeting.
Her face paled, she silently took her medication.
Soon, a group of people approached to chat, and she forced down drink after drink.
Her stomach churned; she felt nauseous. Her head swam, her vision blurred.
In a dizzy whirl, Aurora heard Isabelle scream.
“Sebastian, my necklace is gone! Only your secretary was near me; she must have stolen it!”
Hearing this baseless accusation, Aurora briefly regained her clarity,
“Mr. Hawthorne, it wasn’t me.”
Sebastian looked at Isabelle’s reddened eyes, then at the thoroughly intoxicated Aurora, his expression grave.
“It was crowded; maybe it just fell off. Let’s look for it.”
Isabelle Monroe refused to relent, violently pushing him away.“It has to be her! It’s because it’s your gift to me that I’m so upset. You’re protecting her! If you won’t search her, then don’t come looking for me!”
She stormed off, and Sebastian quickly embraced her, coldly summoning the security guards.
In the next instant, several guards tackled Aurora to the ground, tearing at her clothes.
Her mind went blank; she struggled desperately but couldn’t match their strength.
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3.7%
Her shirt was ripped to shreds, her dress torn, her skin scratched and bruised, bleeding profusely.
An overwhelming sense of humiliation washed over her, causing her to cry out for help. “I didn’t do it, it really wasn’t me!” But her cries only brought a more brutal response.
The guards grabbed her bra, about to tear it away.
Sebastian couldn’t bear to watch and was about to call a halt when several servers rushed over.
“We found it! The necklace was on the stairs!”
In an instant, all eyes in the hall fell upon the glittering diamond necklace in their hands.
Sebastian’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly, he waved the guards away.
Then, he picked up the necklace and put it around Isabelle’s neck, his tone softening.
“The necklace is found. Don’t be angry, okay?”
Isabelle finally stopped crying.
Looking at the disheveled Aurora on the floor, she clung to Sebastian’s arm, resuming her whining.
“Thank goodness it was found; I would have been so upset. But your secretary suffered such a great injustice; should I apologize to her?”
For a moment, all eyes turned to Aurora.
Faced with these hostile gazes, she could only curl into a ball, desperately hugging herself.
Amidst her immense pain, she heard Sebastian’s indifferent voice.
“No apology necessary. She’s just a secretary. A little humiliation is nothing.”
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