"Jasper, let's just pay her for the necklace."
The shattered chain lay on the floor not far from their feet.
Jasper glanced at it and frowned. Something about it looked familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"It's worthless junk. She got in your way—she's the one who owes you an apology. The gala's wrapping up. Let's go."
Vivienne nodded with a demure little smile, and the two of them walked off together, chatting and laughing as they went.
Hilda lay on the cold floor, eyes hollow, still as a corpse.
It took her a long time to come back to herself. Slowly, she crawled forward and closed her fingers around the necklace.
The broken shards bit into her palm, blood welling between her fingers, but she didn't seem to feel it. She only squeezed tighter.
Hilda's mind had never been so clear.
Grief drove into her heart like a thousand needles, puncturing it full of holes, and pain seeped out in place of blood.
Her left hand, the one Jasper had stepped on, throbbed and swelled. The slightest twitch of her fingers sent agony shooting up her arm.
She stayed there for a long time before she managed to get to her feet. Then she limped toward the exit.
Taxi after taxi slowed down, took one look at her, and pulled away. No one would take her. So Hilda walked, one unsteady step at a time, still in her heels.
"Hilda, it really is you!"
A car screeched to a halt beside her. Jasper scrambled out, panic written across his face.
The necklace had been circling his mind for a while. The instant he placed it, cold sweat broke over his skin. He'd abandoned Vivienne on the spot and bolted.
Now his face was contorted with anguish as he cradled Hilda's swollen hand with excruciating care.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was you."
"Does it still hurt? You're hurt this badly. Let me take you to the hospital, okay?"
His tears fell onto the battered skin of her palm.
"Why were you at tonight's gala? You should have told me. If you had, I never would've—"
"Never would've what?"
Hilda wrenched her hand free. "Don't touch me. You make me sick."
Jasper's breathing turned ragged. His expression crumbled, inch by inch.
"Families like mine, this is how it works. You know I don't have a choice. But no matter what happens, you're the only one I've ever loved!"
"Marriage is just a title. Everything with anyone else is fake. You're the only thing that's real."