ans

careless fool!" Benjamin Blackvale roared, his voice slammed the murmurs of the board members sitting around the

ent was obvious, but I felt their judgment carve through me. The viral footage of me and Lilian Sinclair - Isabella's stepsister - had blown up everywhere, my betraya

set up." Lies had a bitter taste to me but I had long since perfected the art of deceit. And trust was a coin in the Blackvale family, and had learned to spend

fenseless future wife, had dared to revert back to being the Ashcroft heiress, my family's most hated enemy. The newsreels this morning - of her triumphant return as the trillion dollar

It was marrying her that mattered, and no scandal would get in the way of that. I only had to deal with it in a cooler way and not emotionally. I pushed away

s. The sleek black dress she wore was confidence, not the battered girl I'd been l

being invited in. I was twice her height, but she did not fli

leak your sex tape, Ethan. But I'm not crying about it." Her guiltless certainty was unnerving. I'd fed my ego on her vulnerabi

I snapped, catching up with her. "You were

. "I'm done being your pawn." Her words hurt, but I didn'

her frosty blue eyes ablaze with rage. In silence she cros

roy me, to make sure my image was destroyed! You were sick with jealousy that Ethan wanted me!

was a liability, but I couldn't step in - not yet. Isabella placed

vance. Isabella's best friend, the disgraced journalist turned influencer, didn't waste a second. "You shameless slut! Shut up Lill

s awful stuff. But I remained silent, my jaw clenched. Lilian was a pawn, not an ally, and I wasn't going to jeopardiz

ing a pawn. Maggie was next to her with an ugly look, challenging me to object. I tried to press, to pressur

San Francisco's craziness was almost an extension of my own. The v

. Once it's published, push the narrative that it's AI-generated, deepfake nonsense. Pay whoever you need to." I had friends in deep places - tech 

lla's

words had been a salve to my rage, her calling Lilian a slut but it was Ethan's silence that had hurt more. He never defended Lilian, never apologized, just

gently this time. I said, yes - but my chest was hurt with the weight of betrayal. Th

hat I now have. The video of Ethan and Lilian had caused a commotion in Blackvale, but I hadn't l

tting next to me. "The internet's loving this," she said, smirki

ed on Ashcroft now, trying to restore what my father had left to rot. The news around my return was making headlines,

ht up with an unknown number. I hesitated, then answe

is E. Black. I want to buy a billion dollars of stock in th

er stunned the tech world, a move that could shift the balance of power among Silicon Valley's largest

rying to keep my voice even. "I'm curious

ice steady and filled with purpose. "I would rather negotiate in person.

st time as the estate's heiress. But who was this E. Black? The name nagged at me, too similar to Ethan Blackvale to be a coincidence.

I'll take a look at it." I hung up, my heart racing. Maggie arched on

king at the phone. "They want to purch

bold. Do you think it's

how much this stranger was putting in. But also more baffled as there