4

Chapter 4

  Four years later

  

  Emily Monroe

  

  “We are here, Emily,”

  I slowly opened my eyes when I heard Xavier's voice, and I looked outside the window. We had already arrived at the auction house.

  

  “Oh…” I mouthed, exhaling deeply.

  It has been four years since I last stepped my foot into this city, and I couldn't believe that I would be here today. Yes, I still had plans of coming back here, but I never imagined it'd be this soon.

  

  My phone pinged with a text just when I alighted from the car. It was a text from Stiles.

  

  'I'm sorry I couldn't go with you, babe. I promise to meet you there as soon as I'm done here'

  

  We were supposed to attend the auction together, but just before we could leave the house, he got a call from work, and had to leave first. I had to call Xavier to fill in for him at the last minute.

  

  ‘It’s fine. Do your thing'

  I replied to his text before proceeding into the building with Xavier trailing behind me.

  

  Despite wasting three good years of my life on a monster who didn't deserve me, I was still able to get everything back within two years after our divorce.

  The life I had thrown away, my career as an artist, which I was grateful I had been making waves in over the years, my kingdom. Everything. Getting a divorce was the best decision I would forever be grateful for.

  

  “Isn't that Emily?” I heard a familiar voice behind us, but I didn't stop to look at whoever the person was, until I felt a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to halt. I turned swiftly, and there she was. Erica Jones. My ex-husband's mistress. Who knows, maybe she was his legal wife now.

  

  “I knew it was you,” She rolled her eyes at me, scoffing.

  

  “Why are you here? I didn't remember giving you an invite,” she spoke rudely to me, her eyes daringly gazing straight into mine. If only she knew that the auction house belonged to my dad.

  A few days ago, I got a tip from the manager here that someone brought an art frame here for auction, posing as me. I knew from just a glance at the picture that it was just a mimic of my work, and not the original one. Whoever the person is, was going to regret ever messing with me.

  

  Her eyes wandered to Xavier, and she scoffed, crossing her arms on her chest. “Isn't this your so-called attorney from the other day? Is he a fake attorney? Wait… did you bring your boyfriend to pose as an attorney so you could get money from Josh?” She snapped at me, her face burning up with anger.

  

  “Watch your mouth, lady!” Xavier snapped back at her.

  

  “And what are you going to do if I don't? I can have you kicked out of this building this instant!” She threatened as if she owned the building.

  

  “Have you always been this loud? I wonder what Josh found attractive in you,” I shook my head and left with Xavier without another word.

  

  “Huh? Emily! Come back here!” I heard yelling behind us, but I didn't stop to glance or listen to her.

  

  “I don't know if it was you or your ex-husband who lacks taste. Why would any man find that loud woman attractive?” Xavier scoffed.

  

  There were only a few people in the hall when we arrived. It seemed like we came earlier.

  

  “I'll be back, Xavier. I need to use the restroom,” I was only seated for a few minutes before I suddenly had the urge to visit the restroom.

  

  “Do you need me to come with you?” Xavier asked with concern.

  

  “Don't worry. I'll be fine,” 

  

  It wasn't difficult finding my way to the restroom.

  Just when I was about to leave after I was done relieving myself, I was forced to stop when I heard a muffling sound across the restroom. It was someone's voice. 

  At first I was going to ignore it as it wasn't my business, but just when I was about to leave, Erica's familiar voice cut through my ears sharply.

  

  “I'm nervous, Josh. What if something goes wrong later? What if they find out,” Her voice was a bit shaky as she spoke nervously.

  

  “What is that bitch hiding now?” I muttered, squinting my eyebrows. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I found myself doing it. 

  

  “I told you to let this go already, babe. We've been doing this for long and we never got caught. You are not going to get caught this time. Besides, nobody knows Indigo Nightingale. You have been using that name for years, and nobody has ever come for you. Don't be nervous, alright?” My jaw dropped shockingly when I heard Josh's words. The person who has been impersonating me was that bitch, Erica?

  Wow! She was so good at covering her steps that she was never caught even after a series of investigations, but I finally got a hold of her now.

  

  “But this is the first time we are going to go for an auction. We have only been selling in stores. This might earn us big money, but there's also a high risk—”

  

  “So what? Are you going to back out now? Do you know how much I've spent on this to get here? Do you know how much money I had to invest to make this a success?” Josh scolded her, and I huffed almost silently.

  

  I pushed the door open and stepped out of the restroom, and they did at the same time, but with speed. They were probably worried that someone overheard them.

  However, Josh's face dilated in shock the moment he set eyes on me, and Erica just hissed loudly and rolled her eyes.

  

  “It's you?” Josh huffed, looking straight at me.

  

  “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?” He blurted out those trashy words from his mouth, and I scoffed.

  

  “You are not that important, Josh,” a smirk tugged at the corner of my lips as I replied to him, and I saw anger flash in his eyes.

  

  I walked past them in a bid to leave, but he spoke again.

  

  “I see you've been spending my money well. I was mad at you for taking shares from me all these years, but now that I see you, I think I feel a little relieved. Who knows, maybe you would've died of poverty now if you didn't take that money then,” he chuckled mockingly, but that didn't get to me a bit. 

  If only he knew that he was nothing without me. If only he knew that everything he owned, he owed it to me. 

  

  Perhaps he would be crawling and worshipping the ground I walk on by now if he knew that with just a single call, he would lose everything he ever worked for. Fortunately for him, it wasn't time for that yet.

  

  I ignored them and left without sparing a glance.

  

  “What took you so long?” Xavier questioned as I took a seat beside him when I went back to join him.

  

  “I ran into Josh,” I replied to him, staring straight into space.

  

  Shortly after, Josh and Erica walked inside and took seats just beside me.

  Erica looked so proud and confident for a lowly thief who was making money off of someone else's name. The name that I had spent years of my time and hard work to build.

  

  “What do you plan to do to the impersonator? Are you going to sue him or her later?” Xavier leaned in and whispered.

  

  I glanced at Erica, a smirk playing at the corner of my lips before I returned my gaze to Xavier and shook my head. “Not yet. 

  

  The auction began shortly, and everyone started bidding. From the anxiousness of each an everyone, I could tell that they were a big fan of my art.

  

  “This is one of Ms. Indigo's most recent artwork collections, ‘the raging wave’,”

  

  Even though I wasn't sitting close to where the art frame was, I could spot every missing detail from here. It was so obvious that it wasn't designed by me. 

  

  “Let the bidding begin. The artwork is going for a million dollars,” 

  I huffed silently in disbelief.

  

  “Two million dollars,” 

  

  “Three million dollars,”

  

  “I will pay five million dollars,”

  

  “Ten million dollars,”

  

  I looked over to Josh and Erica, and they looked so excited. They obviously couldn't wait to get their hands on the money. I hated to break it, but they were going home not even with a cent to their names.

  

  “Ten million dollars going for one… two… And sol—”

  

  “That is a fake artwork. It's not designed by Indigo Nightingale,” my voice suddenly cut through the audience, and all eyes turned in my direction.

  Yes! It's about to go dirty…