After the Gavel Falls

“You bastard! After all those years of pursuing our daughter, how could you just watch as she sold herself off at an auction like that?!”

“Ivan was only trying to help, but you maliciously raised the price so that he couldn’t afford to save her anymore!”

My face still stung from the attack. The others in the room could not stand to watch anymore and yelled back.

“Weston wasn’t the only one at the auction. Ivan started the bid at fifty million! Wasn’t he maliciously raising the price?”

Gwen’s parents crossed their arms. They did not think they were in the wrong at all.

“Ivan is our ideal son-in-law, while Weston’s just a pathetic simp! He knows we’ll never take him seriously, so he’s sure to try some dirty tricks so he can marry Gwen!”

Gwen held Ivan’s arm and looked at me coldly, as though she completely agreed with her parents’ points. “I thought I would spend a few days with you, depending on your performance at the auction.

“But to think you were just messing with me! Now my parents will never agree to let me marry you. You’ll regret this!”

I held my reddened cheek and laughed. “You called me a simp? Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, two years ago, you were the ones who begged me to get engaged to Gwen.”

The two of us had just started college at the time, and all that was left was to meet the family. She would always ask me shyly, “You’ll marry me soon, right? My parents are waiting to hold our engagement party.”

Once her family knew how wealthy I was, they kept bugging me to make things official. However, their attitude changed the moment Ivan forged a document saying that he was even richer than I was.

After that, they kept nitpicking everything I did and refused to let Gwen date me anymore.

Once I brought up the past, Gwen’s parents calmed down slightly, but they still looked down their noses at me. I scoffed and offered a toast to my other friends in the room before taking my things to leave.

Ivan rushed up to me and knelt again. “You can’t go, Weston! You gotta compensate me for what you did!”

I glared at him coldly. “Move aside, unless you want to test how badly I can really beat you up. If you want to push your luck, I won't hold back.”

He pretended to drop his phone in fright, but when he bent to pick it up, he flashed me a greedy grin. “See this picture of your beloved Gwen? I can easily spread it all over town.

“Then all I have to do is say the word, and she'll think you're the one who shared it. Don't try to bribe me once she hates you and decides to never go speak to you again!”

The picture was of Gwen without a piece of cloth on her body.

No matter how much I disliked her now, I could not stand such despicable behavior, so I grabbed him by the collar and socked him in the face.

“Weston Greene! How dare you hit Ivan!” What hurt more than her parents’ slap was her gaze on me, filled with utter disgust.

I laughed self-deprecatingly. Why did I bother trying to defend her?

Finally, I threw a bank card at Ivan and glanced at Gwen coldly. “You're the one who chose a scumbag like him. Don't regret it in the future.”

Her screams behind me were cruel and merciless. “You're the only one who will regret it! Ivan is the only man I love! I'll never regret choosing him!”

As soon as I got my affairs in order, I headed to the airport without a moment's hesitation. Before I boarded the plane, however, I received a message from Gwen.

[I haven't seen you in five days. Where have you gone?]

[My parents thought it over and agreed to let us get engaged. Come back and apologize for your behavior that night.]

[This is your only chance. If you don't show up in three days, I'll assume you gave up on marrying me. Think carefully.]

I sent her a screenshot of the camera footage from that night, zooming in on the picture of her on Ivans's phone.

After that, I blocked her number and boarded the plane.