I let out a slow breath, my voice turning ice-cold. “There were two people in this room. What makes you so sure I was the one who broke it? She stole my bracelet and refused to return it. When I tried to take it back, she shattered it. She should be the one compensating me.”
Just as the last word left my lips, Ava’s eyes welled up with tears.
“I’m sorry… It’s all my fault,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Audrey’s bracelet was just so beautiful; I couldn’t help but admire it. I only tried it on because I couldn’t resist…”
Her tears slipped down like pearls rolling off a broken string, her delicate face painted with remorse.
The moment Hugo saw Ava’s pitiful expression, his entire demeanor shifted. The harshness from earlier vanished as if it had never existed.
With a tenderness I had never once received, he pulled out a handkerchief and gently handed it to her. His voice, now warm and soothing, carried none of the sharpness he had used on me.
“Don’t say that. You deserve everything beautiful in this world.”
Jasper, too, lost his earlier arrogance. He eagerly leaned closer to Ava, his eyes brimming with admiration.