On our tenth wedding anniversary, I flew back from abroad, planning a surprise for my husband, Ryan Sterling. As I used my black card to retrieve a piece of jewelry, the sales associate, who had been overly enthusiastic moments before, suddenly stiffened. “Is this *your* black card?” I frowned, confused and irritated by her sudden change in attitude. What concern was that of a sales associate like her, whether it was my black card or not? Even though the primary card was with my husband, using a supplementary card shouldn’t warrant such blatant contempt from a clerk. “Of course, it’s mine. What’s there to doubt?” I snapped impatiently, urging her to continue. Tiffany gave me a swift once-over, then retrieved the jewelry. “You’re Mr. Sterling’s mistress, aren’t you? I’m warning you, get lost! How dare someone like you even associate with Mr. Sterling?” “I don’t even get a chance to be near him, so who do you think you are?!” When she handed it to me, she deliberately let go just as I reached for it, sending the exquisite piece crashing to the floor. I stood there, stunned, unable to react. But Tiffany had already pulled the mall’s alarm. “This woman deliberately damaged a million-dollar piece of jewelry! Arrest her!”
Hearing the mention of a million dollars, the security guards immediately sprang to action. I stared at Tiffany’s baseless accusation, utterly appalled. “Trying to skip out after destroying jewelry? Grab her!” Tiffany sneered at me, her face contorted with arrogant disdain. Faced with the sudden, wild accusation, my mind went blank. Skip out? Destroyed jewelry? She was the one who couldn’t hold on to it! “Who the hell do you think you are?” I growled, my brows furrowed, my eyes icy. “You’re the one who lost your grip!” But the security guards ignored my protests. At Tiffany’s subtle nod, they moved in. They roughly pinned me to the floor with their batons, and my fingers twisted at an unnatural angle as I fell. The searing pain in my fingers shot through me. The excruciating agony instantly drained all color from my face. “Let go of me!” I struggled desperately on the ground. “This is slander!” More and more onlookers gathered. All I wanted was to end this absurd disaster as quickly as possible. “Let me go now! I’m calling the police! Otherwise, prepare for a court summons!” “You dare call the police? A summons?” Tiffany glared at me, a mocking smirk on her face. “So self-assured despite trying to skip out on a million-dollar bill!” The surrounding crowd started whispering. “Her clothes don’t look like she’d skip out on a bill, do they?” “What do you know? That designer jacket she’s wearing? There’s only one in the world, and it was bought by a foreign collector.” “Then she’s wearing a knock-off?!” “How tacky!” “And she dared to skip out on a bill? Such a huge amount, she should be locked up for ten years!” Their mocking gazes rained down on me. The taunting words in my ears were like poisoned darts, piercing me deeply. “I didn’t break it! Just check the cameras!” My eyes grew colder with anger, every ache in my hands and body tearing at my nerves. “Cameras?” Tiffany sneered. “How conveniently, the cameras broke yesterday!” My eyes widened, beginning to bloodshot. Tiffany continued her righteous accusations. “I know! You’re the one who sabotaged the cameras, aren’t you?!” Her gaze, like a venomous snake, wrapped around me inch by inch. “Your goal wasn’t to destroy the jewelry, it was to steal it!” My heart hammered in my chest. How could it be such a coincidence? My face turned ashen, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. “I have proof!” I suddenly remembered that I was recording a video for my best friend when I entered the store, and my phone was still recording! “Let go of me! Who the hell do you think you are?” My gaze, cold and certain, pierced the two security guards. They exchanged a look, hesitated for a moment, then lowered their batons. Ignoring the throbbing pain in my twisted fingers, I pulled out my phone. “See for yourselves! This video proves I didn’t break the jewelry!” I played the video, holding it up for everyone to see, my voice laced with ice. “For everything that’s happened today, I’m suing all of you for assault and battery!” Everyone crowded closer, their suspicious glances turning into looks of disbelief, as if I were insane. Tiffany was the first to let out a derisive laugh. “This video is all shaky and blurry, completely unclear! You just filmed some random shaky footage beforehand, then blurred it on purpose, hoping to escape your guilt today, didn’t you?!” The crowd chimed in. “Exactly! Only the beginning is clear, nothing after that. Do you think we’re idiots?” “Why waste time? Just send her to the police station!” Watching the grim-faced security guards slowly advancing, I quickly clicked on the video. The video was perfectly clear. Why were they all pretending not to see it? The two guards exchanged a look, then picked up their batons again, pointing them directly at me. Seeing the sharp ends of their batons, my face went white, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably. “Wait!” I pulled out my supplementary card, wanting only to escape quickly. I had no desire to deal with these barbarians any longer. After all, a hundred million was negligible to me, but being gawked at like a circus monkey made me intensely uncomfortable! “Just swipe a hundred million. Get it done.” Tiffany saw me pull out the supplementary card. Her smug expression twisted into something uglier. Tiffany scoffed, looking me up and down, then leaned in close, whispering conspiratorially. “You’re Mr. Sterling’s mistress, aren’t you? I’m warning you, get lost! How dare someone like you even associate with Mr. Sterling?” “I don’t even get a chance to be near him, so who do you think you are?!” My heart skipped a beat, a bad premonition instantly flooding my mind. I didn’t understand what she meant! Mistress? “Is this *your* card?” she sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. My face showed impatience, my eyes shooting daggers at her. “Of course, it’s mine!” Tiffany stepped forward and, to my utter shock, slapped me across the face. She yanked my hair, her eyes filled with disgust. “This is Mr. Sterling’s supplementary card. Who are you to him?” My ears rang, my breathing grew heavy. “Ryan Sterling?” My gaze fixed on her. “I’m his wife! What’s the problem?” Tiffany ignored my cold stare and burst out laughing. “Wife?” Her eyes were filled with utter disdain. She then pulled out her phone. “*She’s* Mr. Sterling’s wife! You’re just a pickpocket who stole the card, aren’t you?” My brow twitched, and I instinctively looked at the phone. When I saw the young woman nestled against Ryan Sterling, my breath caught in my throat. I felt as if I’d been struck by lightning. The woman intimately embracing my own husband wasn’t me!
My face went ashen. I snatched the phone and examined it carefully, zooming in. I finally confirmed that the man was indeed Ryan Sterling. Seeing this, the security guards became completely unrestrained. They used their batons to violently, humiliatingly, pin my body to the floor. I couldn’t fight off two grown men and could only retreat, struggling against them. “Still trying to lie?! Don’t think you can fool *me*!” Saying this, as if to vent his frustration, one of them kicked me hard in the side. The stabbing pain in my side sent my mind reeling, a blank fog descending. I gritted my teeth against the agony, my bloodshot eyes fixed on Tiffany. “You’ll regret this!” I roared, my voice hoarse. “Go get Ryan Sterling here!” Tiffany walked over, looked down at me, then squatted down and brutally pinched my cheek. She forced me into a deeply humiliating position, exposed to the gawking crowd. “You presumptuous little mistress, still daring to ask for Mr. Sterling?” She spat at me, figuratively. “You got all that plastic surgery to hook him! Shameless!” “And you dare impersonate his real wife?” She curled her lips, her eyes filled with disgust. “Mr. Sterling has plenty of admirers, and *I* haven’t even made my move yet. You’re certainly not going to!” I instantly looked at her, my mind feeling as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, churning in chaos. Did she mean… Ryan Sterling had more than one mistress?! I closed my eyes, suppressing the tremor in my heart. “Ryan Sterling ordered this set of jewelry, but *I’m* the one who signed the receipt! You can check!” Tiffany’s smile vanished, replaced by a sneer. “Hardheaded. I said you broke it, so you broke it! What’s there to argue about?” The security guards hauled me up from the ground, my hands pinned behind my back. “Enough!” My breathing was heavy, a cold warning in my voice. “Let’s see who dares touch me!” “I dare!” A striking figure emerged from the crowd. My eyes widened as I watched her approach, but seeing the young woman’s face, I felt as if I’d been struck by lightning again. She was the woman by Ryan Sterling’s side! More importantly, she bore a striking resemblance to me from ten years ago. No wonder Tiffany inexplicably accused me of plastic surgery! Her face was cold. She walked up to me, looked me up and down, then a sharp slap landed across my face. The stinging pain on my cheek and the metallic taste of blood in my mouth instantly cleared my head. “Who are you?” My throat was so dry it hurt. It took me a moment to speak. “Who am I?” She folded her arms, radiating arrogance. “You have the nerve to ask? How dare you impersonate me? Do you have a death wish?!” She scrutinized my face, then scoffed. “Sweetie, you think you can climb your way up to Ryan by getting plastic surgery to look like me? You’re just a pathetic copycat.” My breath hitched. My voice was raspy. “So, you’re Ryan Sterling’s wife?” She nodded confidently. “Of course. Who else would it be? You?” Tiffany stood by, a flicker of jealousy in her eyes as she looked at Chloe, but she still stepped forward and bowed her head. “Mrs. Sterling, you’re finally here! This woman doesn’t know her place, trying to hook up with Mr. Sterling!” Tiffany’s eyes darted, and she smirked. “She even has Mr. Sterling’s supplementary card. I wonder when she stole it!” Tiffany was fanning the flames, thinking that if I were out of the picture, she would surely succeed in becoming Mr. Sterling’s mistress. Even being his kept woman would be worth it! A look of infatuation flashed in Tiffany’s eyes as she thought of that distinguished man. Chloe’s gaze, sharp as ice, immediately pierced me. “Are you completely shameless? Flaunting your affair with a married man so openly?” She held out her hand. “Give me back the supplementary card! You shameless thing, trying to use my husband’s money to pay for your jewelry! Ugh!” The crowd watched the spectacle with relish, adding fuel to the fire. “OMG, mistresses these days are getting bolder and bolder! Caught by the wife using her husband’s supplementary card, how embarrassing!” “Exactly! In the old days, she’d be publicly shamed for life!” “So shameless!” I turned, my eyes cold, staring at the gossiping crowd. The sheer coldness and immense pressure radiating from me instantly silenced everyone. Chloe, hearing this, puffed out her chest with absolute arrogance. “I see you won’t give up until you’re utterly defeated!” She then dialed a number. “Honey,” Chloe said, her voice a soft, injured whimper, radiating vulnerability. “I’m at Sterling Mall, and there’s a crazy woman causing trouble. She insists she’s your wife! You need to come and expose her and teach her a lesson!” 七獎灐嘥幱禽旛鯆躏塠哦墎碤鄕镅灵 The man on the other end of the line paused, sounding confused. “My wife? What does she look like?” he asked tentatively. Chloe didn’t notice his hesitation. She sneered, looking me up and down. “She’s hideous. An old woman.” A faint sigh of relief came from Ryan’s end. At that moment, my phone buzzed. It was a message from Ryan Sterling. “Wife, where are you? Miss you.” A soul-devouring storm raged in my eyes. I gripped my phone tightly to prevent myself from losing control. “Still in Europe. I’ll be back in a week to see you,” I deliberately replied. Sure enough, Chloe excitedly hung up the phone. “Old woman, I’m telling you, my husband is coming right now! You just wait!”
“Oh really?” I looked at her, a strong mocking glint in my eyes. I wanted to see just how many unspeakable things Ryan Sterling had done over the years, operating behind my back and using my power. Chloe paused, surprised that I wasn’t afraid. Then she scoffed, “Heh, scared stiff, are we? You should thank me, otherwise, someone like you would never get to meet a top-tier man like my husband!” A cold light flashed in my eyes. “You’re right, I *should* thank you. You’ve helped me see exactly what kind of man he truly is!” I frowned. I was truly alone here. “You woman, of all the things to do, why impersonate me?” Chloe smugly touched her smooth, porcelain-like face, a sneer on her lips. “Look at you, so old. Trying to look like me is just a pathetic copycat.” My gaze swept over her face, and I let out a cold, dismissive laugh. But my hands, hanging at my sides, clenched tightly, a barely perceptible tremor running through them. Suddenly, Tiffany, who was standing beside me, shrieked. “The store’s centerpiece jewel is gone!” She was frantic, cold sweat streaming down her face. The previously bored onlookers, who had been losing interest, instantly perked up, their eyes wide with excitement. They straightened up, staring at us. Chloe frowned. “What centerpiece jewel?” Tiffany was panicked and distraught, her voice cracking with tears. “It’s a top-grade emerald piece, worth billions!” “How could it just disappear?” Chloe said dismissively. “Just a few billion. Why are you so worked up? No ambition.” Tiffany’s face froze, a flicker of intense jealousy in her eyes. But she took a deep breath, then her sharp gaze fixed on me. “Did *you* steal it?!” She suddenly lunged forward, her eyes red, trying to pin the blame on me. “Please, just hand it over! If the centerpiece jewel is lost, we’ll all be ruined trying to pay for it. Please, have pity on us!” Tiffany cried and pleaded, a sight that would inspire pity in anyone. I was caught off guard by this sudden, brazen accusation. “What are you doing?” I rasped. “Framing me once wasn’t enough, so you’re trying again? You’re truly incredibly stupid.” Chloe, seeing this, sneered. “Not only a mistress, but a thief too!” The surrounding crowd started pointing fingers and condemning me. “Oh my god, she broke a million-dollar piece earlier, and now she dares to steal something worth a billion! She’ll get life imprisonment!” “I say, just call the police!” Tiffany’s eyes darted. She seized the opportunity. “Your bag!” She stepped forward, reaching to snatch my bag. “It must be in your bag!” I frowned, angrily rebuking her. “How dare you!” “You’re guilty, aren’t you?!” Tiffany declared, instructing the security guards to restrain me. The guards, realizing the seriousness of the situation, moved quickly. This time, they didn’t even give me a chance to resist or struggle. One of them immediately kicked me in the abdomen. Then, they firmly pinned me to the floor with their batons. “Let go of me!” I struggled desperately, roaring a warning. Tiffany seized the opportunity, snatched my bag, and rummaged through it. “The centerpiece jewel is here!” Tiffany’s face was flushed, her expression excited as she pulled a box from my bag and opened it. “This is what we lost!” Seeing this, my mind went blank with shock. But then, I instantly understood. I narrowed my eyes, looking at Tiffany with a cold smirk. “You set this up, didn’t you?” No wonder she had been standing so close to me! She must have been looking for an opportunity to plant the jewelry in my bag! I struggled with all my might. “Let go of me! I’ll arrange to pay whatever you want!” Seeing my offer, the security guards finally loosened their grip. The chill in my eyes intensified. I pulled out my phone and made a call. At that moment, Chloe glanced at her phone. With the undeniable air of the rightful wife, she looked down at me, chin raised.
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