She still couldn't understand why the four of them would ever fall for her!

Zoe clenched her fists. "I said, money is not an issue."

"But I just want to see you kneel." Susan smiled sweetly. "Otherwise—"

Zoe’s gaze fell on the painting that Susan was holding casually.

It was her late mentor’s final masterpiece, the object of her mentor's wife’s constant thoughts. Thinking of the old woman weeping, Zoe’s heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

"Fine, I’ll kneel!"

In the end, she slowly bent her knees and knelt down in front of everyone.

The cold marble floor sent a piercing chill through her thin clothing, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness in her heart.

As she stood up, Zoe’s voice was frighteningly calm. "Can you give it to me now?"

Susan suddenly laughed, and there was a terrifying malice in her smile.

Right in front of Zoe, she gripped both ends of the painting frame—

"Rip!"

The sound of the canvas being torn to shreds was piercingly sharp in the silent auction hall.

"You!" Rage surged through Zoe, and she swung her hand to deliver a slap.

"Zoe!" In the next second, Jasper’s voice thundered like a lightning strike. "What are you doing!"

"Jasper..." Susan clutched her face, tears flowing instantly. "Don't blame the eldest lady, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have come to the auction with you..."

Her slender fingers tugged at Jasper’s sleeve, her voice choked with just the right amount of emotion. "You are the high-and-mighty heir of the Jasper family, and I’m just a poor student who relies on the Wen family’s sponsorship... the eldest lady loves you, so it's only natural she’d be angry that you bought me so many things."

"I know my existence makes things difficult for you..." Susan suddenly pushed Jasper away, stumbling backward. "If that's the case, let me disappear completely!"

The speed at which she turned and lunged toward the floor-to-ceiling window was astonishing.

"Susan!"

Jasper’s roar echoed throughout the auction hall, but it was too late—

"Crash!"

The sound of shattering glass accompanied a dull thud, amplified infinitely in Zoe’s ears.

She rushed to the window, only to see Susan lying silently in a pool of blood like a broken-winged butterfly, a strange, triumphant smile playing on her lips.

Chapter 3

Just ten minutes ago, they had sworn with utter conviction, "Whatever you like, Zoe, we'll buy it for you."

Digging her fingernails into her palms, she raised her number plate again: "Fifty million."

"Eighty million."

"One hundred million."

In the end, Jasper had actually gone all in!

As he stood up to swipe his card, his long legs in dress trousers strode across the red carpet, not sparing a single glance for the pale-faced Zoe.

"Zoe, don't be sad," Lucas quickly comforted her. "If you like this painting so much, I’ll check the back room now to see if there’s a similar one, and I’ll bid on it for you immediately..."

"I’ll go too!" Hugo quickly chimed in.

"I’m coming as well!" Jude followed closely behind.

The backs of the three men as they hurried away blurred in Zoe’s vision. She took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of heartache, and headed straight toward Susan, who was surrounded by others like a star.

"Name your price for this painting." Zoe’s voice was terrifyingly calm. "Five times, ten times, twenty times—it doesn't matter."

Susan chuckled, a flash of smugness in her eyes. "So, the high-and-mighty heiress also has to beg?"

She tilted her head, blinking innocently. "But money isn't everything. I don't want to sell this painting for now. However, if you really want it, kneel down and beg me, and I'll give it to you."

Zoe’s breathing hitched slightly.

The face before her always acted weak and frail in front of men, but was arrogant and insufferable to the point of nausea when facing her.

This was why she had never liked Susan in either her past or present life.

She still couldn't understand why the four of them would ever fall for her!

Zoe clenched her fists. "I said, money is not an issue."

"But I just want to see you kneel." Susan smiled sweetly. "Otherwise—"

Zoe’s gaze fell on the painting that Susan was holding casually.

It was her late mentor’s final masterpiece, the object of her mentor's wife’s constant thoughts. Thinking of the old woman weeping, Zoe’s heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

"Fine, I’ll kneel!"

In the end, she slowly bent her knees and knelt down in front of everyone.

The cold marble floor sent a piercing chill through her thin clothing, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness in her heart.

As she stood up, Zoe’s voice was frighteningly calm. "Can you give it to me now?"

Susan suddenly laughed, and there was a terrifying malice in her smile.

Right in front of Zoe, she gripped both ends of the painting frame—

"Rip!"

The sound of the canvas being torn to shreds was piercingly sharp in the silent auction hall.

"You!" Rage surged through Zoe, and she swung her hand to deliver a slap.

"Zoe!" In the next second, Jasper’s voice thundered like a lightning strike. "What are you doing!"

"Jasper..." Susan clutched her face, tears flowing instantly. "Don't blame the eldest lady, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have come to the auction with you..."

Her slender fingers tugged at Jasper’s sleeve, her voice choked with just the right amount of emotion. "The eldest lady loves you, so it's only natural she’d be angry that you bought me so many things."

"I know my existence makes things difficult for you..." Susan suddenly pushed Jasper away, stumbling backward. "If that's the case, let me disappear completely!"

The speed at which she turned and lunged toward the floor-to-ceiling window was astonishing.

"Susan!"

Jasper’s roar echoed throughout the auction hall, but it was too late—

"Crash!"

The sound of shattering glass accompanied a dull thud, amplified infinitely in Zoe’s ears.

She rushed to the window, only to see Susan lying silently in a pool of blood like a broken-winged butterfly, a strange, triumphant smile playing on her lips.

Jasper was completely out of his mind.

With red-rimmed eyes, he scooped up Susan from the pool of blood, his voice hoarse and terrifying. "Someone! Take her to the hospital!"

He glared at Zoe with eyes that seemed ready to tear her limb from limb. "Zoe, you better pray sincerely. If anything happens to Susan, I will make you pay with your life!"

Under the pale, clinical lights of the hospital corridor, time seemed to stand still.

A doctor rushed over, panic in his voice. "The patient is hemorrhaging; she needs an emergency transfusion. But she has Rh-negative blood, and the hospital blood bank is running low..."

Jasper turned sharply, his gaze piercing like a blade toward Zoe, who was being held by bodyguards. "You have Rh-negative blood too."

"No..." Susan, lying on the hospital bed, opened her eyes weakly. "It was all my fault, don't let the eldest lady give me her blood, she's anemic..."

"At a time like this, you're still worrying about her? Susan, why are you so kindhearted?" Jasper quickly held her hand, his voice incredibly gentle, as if coaxing a frightened child. But when he turned to Zoe, his eyes turned cold as polar ice. "Someone, tie her up and put her on the table!"

"Jasper, you wouldn't dare!"

"You'll see if I dare!"

Zoe was brutally pinned to the operating table, the cold metal surface pressing against her back.

She struggled desperately, her legs kicking over the nearby instrument rack, sending surgical tools clattering to the floor.

"Hold her down!" Jasper barked.

Three or four bodyguards swarmed forward, pinning her limbs down tightly.

Zoe’s hair was disheveled, and her gown had been torn in the struggle, exposing her pale shoulders.

"Jasper!" She screamed his name at the top of her lungs, her voice filled with an unprecedented sense of despair. "You will regret this..."

"You're the one who should regret this." Jasper sneered, personally driving the needle into her vein.

Blood poured out through the catheter, and Zoe’s consciousness began to blur.

Chapter 4

In a trance, she seemed to return to that rainy night in her past life—

The blinding headlights, the screech of brakes, and on the other side of the road, the cold gazes of Jasper and the other three.

Only Julian, that bitter rival she had hated since childhood, had stumbled over through the rain, trembling as he gathered her mangled body in his arms.

"Julian..." Zoe’s tears mingled with the blood, blooming like sorrowful flowers on the operating table. "When are you coming back... I miss you so much..."

Her voice grew weaker and weaker, eventually fading into the freezing air.

When Zoe opened her eyes, the blinding white light made her instinctively raise a hand to shield them. The countless needle marks on her arm were a reminder of that forced blood donation.