Ivy ran aimlessly, her life unraveling as Zachary was captured and their identities exposed. Their family, once solid, crumbled overnight, everything as erratic as a roller coaster ride.
Just moments ago, she was at the peak, and then abruptly, she plummeted into the dust.
She looked at her gown, a bespoke piece by a European fashion master.
Without the Montgomery family, she was nothing, and images of Magnus’s affection over the past twenty years flooded her mind.
“All gone, everything is gone.”
Exhausted, her pace slowed, and among the myriad lights before her, not one shone for her.
She crouched down and wept silently, unaware that this was merely the beginning of a nightmare, and she had debts of karma to repay.
Suddenly, a car stopped in front of her, and before she could react, several men from the car dragged her inside.
When she woke, she found herself in a decrepit warehouse, murmuring, “Where is this?”
In the darkness, she smelled something foul, like rot or sour fermentation, reminiscent of the beggar she had encountered before.
A chill of unease spread through her, and the click of a lighter echoed by her side, casting a beam of light into her eyes.
A man stood nearby, the lighter illuminating his handsome face, making his simple act of lighting a cigarette seem almost picturesque.
“Mr. Barnet, why is it you?”
Seeing Julian here was not good, especially under these circumstances.
“Miss Montgomery, do you know what’s going to happen next?”
Julian’s voice was like a chilling winter breeze.
Instinctively uneasy, Ivy kneeled before him, “Mr. Barnet, I realize now my folly, my delusions of seducing you and ruining your relationship with Aurora.
Please, in consideration of our total loss, spare my brother. He was just too angry to control himself.”
“Spare him? He might be safe, but you, do you think you have the luxury to worry about your brother? You might want to start worrying about yourself first.”
Julian slightly leaned over, moving the lighter close to Ivy’s face.
Ivy stepped back in fear, “Mr. Barnet, why have you brought me here?”
“To do what you like doing. I can overlook what you did to Little Bunny three years ago, thinking of it as a child’s mistake, though you were punished. Yet, you still haven’t learned.”
Ivy remembered being knocked out three years ago, waking up to nude photos of herself in the headlines, which infuriated Oswaldo enough to cancel their shares.
“So it was you who did that!”
Back then, Ivy had hired a private detective to find out who was behind it.
No matter how hard she searched, she found nothing, and her poor memory let it slip away.
Had Julian not mentioned it, she would have never known the mastermind behind those events.
“What if it was me? Back then, I only had some photos taken, considering your young age, nothing more. Yet, it seems you never learn gratitude,” Julian’s tone now thoroughly cold.
“Mr. Barnet, Susan made me do it; it has nothing to do with me. If you want revenge, go find her,” Ivy quickly shifted the blame to Susan.
It turned out that Susan had a hand in this affair too. Julian’s eyes darkened, “I will take my revenge as due, but for now, let’s have you enjoy a taste of your own medicine.”
Julian snapped his fingers, and the lights in the ruins lit up. Ivy saw five or six filthy beggars standing not far away.
Her face turned pale, realizing Julian intended to do to her what she had once done to Aurora. Ivy shook her head repeatedly, “No, Mr. Barnet, I was wrong, I truly was!”
“If you could do such a thing to others, now I’m merely reciprocating the gesture, letting you experience the same pain!”
Julian coldly stated.
The beggars approached her. Recalling how she had once enjoyed sending them to harass Aurora, she had never considered the devastating impact such actions could have on a woman. Like a small animal, tears rolled down her cheeks, “Mr. Barnet, please, spare me, I promise I’ll never harm Aurora again.”
“Mistakes warrant punishment; that’s what you owe her, and it’s time to pay up.”
Julian, who generally disliked mistreating women, found Ivy’s actions unforgivable.
Although the beggars had not assaulted Aurora, she had escaped by cutting her hand with a blade, which needed bandaging in the clinic.
Seeing the long scar on her pristine palm, bleeding from within, even if her wound healed, the scar would likely remain forever.
Why should Aurora endure such treatment?
“Do you think your plea for forgiveness can compensate for the years of trauma Aurora has endured? What have you and your daughter done to her? Even killing you wouldn’t atone for her suffering.”
Julian thought about the night Aurora almost jumped from the window sill, shuddering at how much more difficult her life had been than he could have imagined.
While Ivy and Genevieve lived comfortably, who knew the kind of life Aurora really led?
“I know I was wrong, can’t I change?”
Ivy pleaded, already grabbed by her dress, experiencing such humiliation for the first time.
The very people she despised, these filthy beggars, reached out with their dirty hands toward her.
They began tearing her dress, exposing her bit by bit in front of Julian, who showed no pity.
His eyes filled with hatred; if Aurora hadn’t learned some self-defense over the past three years, she would have been the one lying there.
Thinking of his beloved’s tear-stained face, he felt deep compassion, “This woman is yours to play with, just don’t kill her.”
“Thanks, boss!”
The beggars’ eyes gleamed with lust, eagerly beginning their assault.
As Julian left the warehouse, Ivy’s screams echoed through the night, chilling to the bone. Julian quickened his pace.
If you don’t court death, you won’t die. Ivy’s downfall was entirely of her own making; she could blame no one else.
“Aurora, Julian, I will never forgive you!!!”