Forced to Kneel

"You must be doing this on purpose," Chloe screamed. Her voice cracked as it echoed through the suffocating, breathless tension of the grand entrance. She stood rigid, glaring at Carter and refusing to believe the platinum-edged invitation in Valerie’s hand was genuine. She clung to her crumbling superiority. "It is obvious you are a low-level staff member Valerie bribed to put on a show! Aren't you afraid the Aurum Auction House will dismiss you for this?"

Carter found her pathetic denial amusing. He did not bother to defend himself against the baseless accusation. Instead, he offered a low chuckle and gestured with a lazy flick of his wrist to a nearby senior employee.

The employee stepped forward and dropped a bombshell on the whispering crowd. "This handsome, authoritative young man is none other than Mr. Carter Brooks, the esteemed General Manager of the Aurum Auction House."

The shocking revelation shattered the last remnants of Chloe’s confidence like fragile glass. Her mind reeled in denial. How could Valerie, a disgraced murderer despised by everyone, know the general manager? The high-society guests shifted their expressions, stunned into a pin-drop silence. The man standing before them was no hired actor.

"Chloe, you lost," Valerie said smoothly. Her voice remained calm as her piercing gaze fixed on her sister. A dark, mocking smile played on her lips. "Now, it is time for you to fulfill your end of the bet and bow."

Fear and sheer resentment twisted Chloe’s features. She trembled, her face draining of color as she stared at the woman she despised. "Valerie, you orchestrated this vile, humiliating trap designed to ruin my reputation! You knew the invitation was genuine!"

"I never claimed the invitation was fake," Valerie replied, her tone dropping a few degrees. "It was you who chose to challenge me. Now, you must face the consequences of your actions."

Seeing his favorite daughter cornered, Arthur intervened. He stepped in front of Chloe like a protective shield, his face flushed with indignation. He refused to let his precious daughter kneel before an ex-convict. "She is your sister! How dare you force her to kneel?" He puffed his chest out, daring Valerie to try and force her. "Go ahead and try it!"

Valerie glanced at Arthur, her voice dropping to a freezing whisper. "Then why don't you do it for her?"

Arthur sputtered, choking on his own rage.

Chloe bit her bottom lip, her eyes darting around the expansive marble floor. She braced herself, preparing to feign a sudden, dramatic fainting spell to escape the inescapable humiliation. She let her eyelids flutter, pretending her balance was failing.

Little Leo stood quietly by Valerie's side, watching the pathetic performance unfold. A mischievous, calculated smirk slowly spread across the young boy's face. With a discreet flick of his chubby little hand, a tiny gadget hidden in his sleeve did its work.

Suddenly, the unyielding Chloe lost all control of her legs.

She dropped to her knees with a heavy, painful thud that echoed across the marble floor. Driven by the unseen force, her torso dipped forward. She bowed three distinct times directly to Valerie's feet before a horrified audience.

"Chloe! Chloe, what has gotten into you?" Miriam screamed, her voice piercing the silence. She rushed over in a panic, shaking her daughter's shoulders to snap her back to reality. Seeing her daughter prostrate before this wretched woman was unacceptable.

Hearing her mother's frantic voice, Chloe snapped out of her daze. She looked down at the cold floor, realizing the devastating, career-ending reality of what she had just done in front of Eastport's elite. Her face paled to a sickly white. Then, an explosive, uncontrollable rage took over. She scrambled up, her body shaking as she pointed a trembling finger.

"It was you! It had to be you!" Chloe seethed, her eyes bloodshot. She wished with every fiber of her being that she could tear Valerie into a thousand pieces right then and there. "Valerie, this is your doing! You must have done something!"

Valerie let out a sharp, cold laugh at Chloe, who had finally dropped her victim act. "Chloe, do not make unfounded accusations," she replied with steady calm.

"Valerie, cut it out!" Arthur roared, his voice shaking with a potent mix of embarrassment and fury. "Apologize to Chloe immediately and get out of here with your filthy bastard!"

The repeated, vicious insult to her precious son ignited a dark, lethal fury deep within Valerie's chest. She let out a sharp, mocking laugh that cut through the lingering tension. She decided to strike right at the Kensington family's deepest, most guarded insecurities.

"No matter how disgraced I may supposedly be," Valerie retorted, her voice carrying clearly to every listening ear, "it pales in comparison to your disgusting, decades-long affair and your precious illegitimate daughter."

Miriam and Chloe went rigid, their faces draining of whatever color was left. The ugly truth hung heavy in the air. Even after all these years, the fact remained that Miriam was a homewrecker, and Chloe was an illegitimate child. It was the exact reason Chloe constantly competed with Valerie, desperate to claim what was never truly hers.

Viewing the sputtering Kensington trio as nothing more than pathetic clowns, Carter stepped in with cold corporate authority.

"From now on, no member of the Kensington family is allowed in the Aurum Auction House," Carter announced. His voice brooked no argument as he looked down at them. "This ban applies to everyone in the family, with the sole exception of Valerie."

He turned his sharp gaze to his security team. "Throw them out into the street."

"You... How dare you oppose the Kensington family?" Arthur bellowed, puffing up his chest in a desperate bid to salvage his pride. "Believe me, I will use my connections to shut this venue down in Eastport!"

Carter remained unfazed by the pompous threat. "You can try."

Arthur's words fell flat. It was a clear testament to the house's formidable, mysterious backing. No one in Eastport dared provoke the Aurum Auction House, not even families far more influential than the Kensingtons.

Carter respectfully escorted Valerie and Leo through the grand doors, leaving the discarded family behind. The wealthy onlookers murmured feverishly among themselves. Watching the general manager treat Valerie with such reverence, they speculated that the once-disgraced beauty must have secured an untouchable patron.

Watching this chaotic spectacle unfold from a shadowed distance, Wyatt, Caleb, Jaxon, and Gideon took in the sheer magnitude of Valerie’s triumphant return.

"Seven years later, and Valerie has really made something of herself," Wyatt noted, a newfound respect lacing his tone as he observed her mysterious newfound status. He cast a glance at the cold, noble man beside him. "It looks like she has a special relationship with Carter."

Jaxon’s curiosity became fixated on the striking young boy holding her hand. "I am more curious about that young boy with Valerie."

Gideon, however, strode silently ahead. His handsome face was dark and brooding, his thin lips pressed into a tight line of repressed emotion.

Knowing his volatile nature and stubborn pride, his companions murmured quick warnings to each other. They were terrified of doing anything to provoke him. "Keep your comments to yourself," Caleb warned, eyeing the aloof man. "If you provoke him, you will regret it."

Thrown roughly outside onto the cold pavement in embarrassment and boiling anger, the disgraced Kensington trio stumbled to catch their balance. The humiliation burned in their chests as the venue's heavy doors shut them out.

As they scrambled to regain their dignity, Chloe suddenly spotted Gideon's group emerging from the shadows. Her tear-filled eyes lit up with frantic hope. She scrambled to her feet, abandoning whatever pride she had left, and hurried over to him.

"Gideon, you have to support us," she pleaded, her voice breaking into a pathetic whine as she sought refuge and vengeance. "Valerie treated us so cruelly."