"You can't do this! My father will—""Your father will do nothing," Sebastian replied calmly. "Unless he wants to join you.""Please! Please, I'm sorry! I'll never bother Elena again! I swear!" Vincent's voice rose to a hysterical pitch as the guards grabbed his arms."You should have thought of that before you tried to force yourself on Mr Karvel’s wife," Sebastian said without emotion.As the guards dragged the screaming Vincent away, Margaret approached them again."Mr. Morrison!" she called out sweetly. "Since we're Mr Karvel’s family, perhaps I could join you upstairs? Family should stick together, don't you think?"Robert stepped forward, his voice tired but firm. "Mother, with all due respect, you just threatened to have Elena arrested ten minutes ago.""That was different! I was just—""You expelled us from the family years ago," Patricia added quietly. "Remember? You said we were dead to you."Margaret's face flushed red. "I was being dramatic! Family is family!""No," Ro

Lisa clutched the ring possessively, rolling her eyes at Karvel's warnings."Oh please, stop trying to scare me!" she scoffed. "Lisa, you really should listen to him—" Elena began, but her sister cut her off with a sharp laugh."Listen to him? He's just a pathetic leech who got lucky once!" Lisa sneered, fastening the ring onto a chain around her neck, where it gleamed against her dress. “I’m heading to the Whitmore gala right now，with this ring! It’ll make them notice us.”Patricia leaned in, eyes sharp with calculation. “She’s right. Whitmore’s full of the people who matter— the investors we’ve been begging to meet. When they see that ring, they’ll ask where she got it. And she’ll say, ‘From Sebastian Morrison.’” She smiled, a greedy, triumphant thing. “Suddenly, we’re not the ‘forgotten Howards’ anymore. We’re the family Morrison favors. They’ll line up to lick our ass—offer deals, invitations, respect. All because of this ring.”Robert nodded, leaning against the wall with a ne

"Mother, please calm down—""Calm down? CALM DOWN?" Margaret's shriek could wake the dead. "Do you realize what you've done? I had someone investigate this whole mess, and you idiots have thrown away the opportunity of a lifetime! Your worthless son-in-law saved Sebastian Morrison's daughter from a car accident! Morrison owed him a massive favor—a favor that could have elevated our entire family to unimaginable heights!" Margaret raged. "And what did you morons do with this golden opportunity? You let him waste it on a party for Elena! A PARTY!""But Mother—" Robert stuttered. "But nothing! You could have asked for business partnerships worth billions! Stock options! Government contracts! Instead, you got cake and fireworks!"“Mom, it’s that trash’s fault. We didn’t know—” Robert tried to explain. The ring had been taken back, which meant that they had lost the connection with Sebastian. They couldn’t bear irritating Margaret now.“Shut up!” Margaret snapped. "Not only did you waste

Elena’s blood turned to ice. Her chest felt like it was being crushed under a boulder, every breath slicing through her lungs like glass.“What did you just say?” she croaked, her voice barely audible. “Auction me? Like… like a piece of merchandise?”Margaret raised an eyebrow, calm as if she were discussing the weather. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s a transaction. You’ll do your duty, and we’ll finally claw our way out of the mess your father dragged us into.”“Duty?” Elena sneered,“You’re selling me to a bunch of old men and calling it duty? Grandmother, you’ve lost your mind!”Robert shot to his feet, face flushed with rage. “Mother, this is too much! Elena is my daughter—”“Daughter?” Margaret cut him off, her eyes sharp with venom. “She’s the debt you owe this family. Either she obeys, or by tomorrow morning, you’re all erased from the family registry. And don’t even think about staying in that shabby house—you’ll be out on the street. Choose.”Patricia’s face turned ghostly pale.

The winning bidder’s phone slipped from his hand and hit the marble floor with a loud crack. His body wavered then collapsed in a heap.Gasps echoed through the hall.“Someone help him!” a voice shouted, but Margaret simply rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively.“Drag that fool out of here,” she snapped coldly to her guards. “He’s no longer useful.”Two men in black suits rushed forward and dragged the unconscious man across the floor like discarded trash, leaving behind stunned silence and a ripple of dread.Margaret turned to the host with a tight smile. “That’s his loss. Can we move on? Or better still give her to the next highest bidder.”The MC hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly, trying to maintain composure. “Yes… I think awarding her to the second-highest bidder is the most reasonable decision.”A dark chuckle echoed from the crowd as Mr. Astro stepped forward confidently, straightening his jacket. “Looks like luck is finally on my side,” he said, eyes locked