Chapter 3: The Erasure

"Mr. Vance, please!" Arthur begged, dropping to his knees beside his groaning son. The proud, cruel man who had just torn me apart on stage was now shaking, his hands raised in surrender. "We didn't know she was a Vance! She told us she had no family! We can fix this, we can give her anything she wants!"

My father stopped right in front of him, looking down at Arthur with pure, unadulterated disgust. "You think my daughter needs your money, Arthur? You think she needs your pathetic little name?"

Harrison turned to his assistant, who immediately stepped forward with a tablet.

"Arthur Securities," my father read off the screen, his voice flat. "Your primary investor is the Vanguard Trust. Am I correct?"

"Yes, yes!" Arthur nodded frantically, sweat dripping down his face. "They hold eighty percent of our capital!"

"I am the Vanguard Trust," my father whispered. He looked at his assistant. "Liquidate it. Now."

"Sir, it’s done," the assistant replied with a single tap on the screen.

Arthur gasped, his phone vibrating violently in his pocket. He pulled it out, his face turning a sickly shade of gray as he read the notifications. "No... no, no. Everything is gone. We're bankrupt. We're ruined!"

Salem looked up from the floor, blood dripping from his nose, his eyes wide with desperate tears as he reached for my hand. "Ava, please! I loved you! Tell him to stop! I only did it because of my father!"

I looked down at him, deliberately stepping back so his bloody fingers couldn't touch my dress.

"You said you loved me when I had nothing, Salem," I said, my voice echoing clearly for all six hundred guests to hear. "But the moment your family demanded cruelty, you became a coward. You wanted a wife with a powerful name. Well, now you know it."

I turned away from him and took my father's offered arm.

"Let's go, Dad," I said softly.

May you like

I stepped into my father’s luxury hotel gala in full military dress unif...

Part 1: The Night I Took Back My Mother’s LegacyI arrived at the Halston Meridian Hotel only five minutes after the donors’ toast...

He Slapped Me to Make Me Leave—Until He Realized I Owned Every Penny He...

He Slapped Me to Make Me Leave—Until He Realized I Owned Every Penny He Had.The slap landed so hard the sound echoed through the m...

He Smirked After Slapping Me At The Anniversary Gala—Until The Ballroom...

Chapter 1: The Silence of the KingThe heavy oak doors of the grand ballroom didn't burst open. They were opened smoothly, respectf...

"Always, Little Bird," he murmured, wrapping his heavy wool coat around my shoulders.

As we walked out, the elite of the city bowed their heads in absolute terror, making a wide path for us. Behind us, the sounds of Salem weeping and Arthur screaming at the empty stage faded into nothing. They wanted a story about power. They got one.