He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 287

Hearing Rupert reveal that Nelson had stood in the pouring rain all night, Lydia's chest tightened violently.

Her intuition screamed that he had done it for Juniper.

Thank God Juniper had no idea.

Her chest heaved slightly, and she bit the inside of her cheek hard.

Completely unaware he had just leaked a massive secret, Rupert smiled kindly. "Does Miss Thorne have an eye for jadeite as well?"

Lydia forced a bright smile. "Yes. I sneak into auction houses all the time to study the pieces, but I haven't quite mastered it yet."

It was a complete lie. Why would she ever bother learning when the Thorne family could just hire experts?

"No wonder. That boy stood in the rain all night for you. Seeing you two doing so well puts my mind at ease."

Lydia looked appropriately shy, her tone turning soft. "I didn't expect him to go to those lengths..."

Rupert patted her shoulder. "He's always had you in his heart."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia checked on Juniper. Knowing Juniper had heard every word, she curled her lips. "I know he does, Master Zale."

As they spoke, the first group of appraisers was called into the inner circle.

Juniper stood up, but Helena grabbed her wrist.

Helena was a fierce executive at Caleb's auction house, but at her core, she relied entirely on her son. The staff only respected her because of her title.

She was visibly nervous. "Juniper, just do your best. Don't stress if you can't find a winner."

She had heard the entire exchange next door. It was obvious the Thornes had a massive grudge against Juniper, and she dreaded what they might pull.

Juniper looked entirely unfazed and gave a slight nod.

Wyatt stood up at the same time, letting out a cruel scoff. "With Master Zale here, the best piece is automatically going to the Thornes. Do yourself a favor, Juniper, and just go hide in a corner."

Juniper didn't even break stride. "What a loyal dog. If I didn't know better, I'd say your last name was Thorne."

A few nearby appraisers cracked up laughing.

The impact drained the color from her face, and she instinctively dropped to a crouch.

Wyatt's eyes glinted with vicious amusement. "Oops. My bad. Slipped."

In a high-stakes setting like this, everyone else was frantically checking stones, terrified of wasting a second. Even Rupert didn't bat an eye; dirty tricks weren't exactly uncommon here.

But Wyatt knew Rupert was securing the win for the Thornes. Since he was basically just here to make up the numbers, he figured he might as well sabotage Juniper.

He wanted her to bleed out her entire ten minutes writhing on the floor with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Sitting beyond the velvet rope, Helena shot to her feet in outrage.

But her hands were tied. She represented the Xavier family and absolutely could not start a public war with the Thornes.

She bit her lip and slowly sat back down, watching Juniper in sheer panic.

A dozen pounds of solid rock had just crushed her foot. It was definitely broken or severely swollen.

Juniper's face was chalk-white, but instead of checking her injury, she immediately leaned over the massive rock that had crashed onto the floor.