She Accepted Divorce, He Panicked

The love-and-hatred show is still on as Scar and Damian quarrel. Johnny Vanderbilt would raise his plate instantly after the host announces Anna's call or even faster, and Anna would pout, bite her lips, and glare over before she raises again. Her face is like a painting plate, changing color in seconds as if every one of his calls is like a bomb blowing up on her face.

The phone call comes in at that moment--

Anna's phone rings, breaking the silence in the room, loud and clear. She glances at it with an indifferent face, not picking it up. But her hand hesitates to raise her plate again.

"Who could be calling her?" Scar murmurs to Damian. All of Anna's family is down there by her side. Her parents died years ago. So who could be so important to her that a phone call from him could hesitate her decision?noveldrama

Seeing all these, Johnny Vanderbilt suddenly raises his plate again, this time announcing himself: "Two billion."

Anna's tears break out as her hand drapes powerlessly -- it's not the price that defeated her, but his attitude.

She's not even responding to his price, and he added another billion with no other reason but to tell her: that she has no room to go up, but he has. The necklace does not belong to her.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" Anna suddenly burst out, her broken voice ringing in the quiet room, "You are here for me, aren't you?!"

Ava gasps in shock, demanding with a disbelieving voice: "Mom?! Are you serious?!"

Anna is making herself a fool by doing this in public, and when this makes it to the front page, Ava would be a laughing stock in her career where reputation means everything. Everything Ava has worked for would be ruined, for Anna's caprious lash out. "Johnny--"

"Mom! What are you doing?!" Ava bursts out, standing up, "Please! Do you not care about me at all?"

Jack Fuller sighs. He raises his hand as if he wants to stop Ava, but in the end, he just remains seated, watching with a dead desperation in his eyes.

"I know you are mad at me because I called off our wedding, but haven't I got enough punishment already?" Anna ignores Ava, keeps on the one-sided conversation with Johnny Vanderbilt, "I just want a talk. I'll return the necklace if you want--" "Mom!" Ava shakes Anna frantically, "That's TWO BILLION dollars! Are you out of your --"

"Two billion once," The host announces, "Two billion twice--"

He pauses, giving Anna Fuller a chance. But she's not speaking. Damian nudges Scar and she quickly grabs the chance and raises her plate.

"Two billion ten thousand!" The host announces, pointing his hammer in Scar's direction with a pleasantly surprised look, saved from the drama, "By Mr. X!"

Anna darts a confused look over,

only to widen her eyes when she sees Scar behind the window. She. stares at Scar, the confusion in her eyes replaced by shock before fiery hatred that Scar has never seen in her eyes. Her lips trembling as if seeing a ghost, and her body stiff as if petrified.

Scar looks back with an indifferent look. She doesn't know, but at that moment, she looks exactly like her father, and that similarity puts a horrified took on Anna's face. She looks at the woman she once gave up her freedom for, scared of how she never noticed the deep hidden hatred behind those eyes when she called that woman Mom over and over again.

That woman hates her. That woman not only knew who her father was, but was acatually in love with him. She loved Johnny Vanderbilt, had a fall out with him and hated him for some reason, and she kept Scar when Emma died, and tormented Scar for years. A chill runs down Scar's spine. She couldn't even start to imagine it was with what kind of a complicated, twisted, dark mood that Anna lived with her all these years.

So Anna Fuller backed out of their engagement, and that pissed off Johnny Vanderbilt? Is that why he married Emma instead? Is that why he appears as if he doesn't care about Emma or Scar at all?

Scar darts her angry eyes to Damian.

"It's not like that!" Damian raises both his hands, "I-- I don't believe that! I won't! Mom and Dad were the happiest couple in the world! I won't believe a word coming out of the Fullers!"

Scar snorts angrily, but she swallows her complaints. She can't imagine any good reasons for Johnny Vanderbilt's actions, but Damian is right about one thing:

The Fullers are known to be liars.

She needs to reach the truth, not some stories from either side. Johnny Vanderbilt shows up as a cold-hearted businessman when Anna pants him as a passionate lover who did everything he did out of the drama with her, while Damian paints a totally different image. Who is lying? Her manipulative adopted Mom? Her lying brother? Her cold father? Or...

All of them?

"Two billion ten thousand, sold!"

The host snaps Scar out of her thoughts. She opens her eyes wide, not sure she heard him right. That was her price! She...got the necklace?!

Anna only snaps out of her freezing zone now and lets out a frantic shout. Being the only one who's happy about this, Ava grins widely at Jack Fuller, who just answers with a sigh. Scar darts her eyes to the other window, only to see Johnny Vanderbilt leaving his seat without even a pause. Throughout the drama, he never returned even a word.