Chapter 1

I spent five years with Julian. To support him, I spent my days dumpster diving and my nights pole dancing at clubs, and I was barely in my twenties when my body started falling apart from it all.

After finally waiting for him to achieve success, he made a grand entrance with a sweet little innocent who still uses a toddler's bowl for her meals.

Not only did he demand I give up my place as his fiancée, but he also wanted me to serve as a foot servant for his sweet little innocent.

I let out a cold laugh, flipped over that sweet little innocent's baby bowl, and turned toward the man standing alone in the corner — the illegitimate son the Blackwood family had exiled for ten years, the one everyone said was violent and crippled.

"Damian Blackwood. A hundred-billion-dollar dowry from The Clark Group. Marry me — if you dare?"

Crystal chandeliers scattered light like crushed diamonds across the grand ballroom of The Clark Group's seventieth anniversary gala, casting a warm glow over a room full of designer gowns and glittering jewels.

I stood there in a Paris couture dress, holding a single sheet of paper that felt almost weightless in my hand.

It was a freshly notarized share transfer agreement — worth over a hundred billion dollars.

Tonight, I wasn't just here to announce Julian as The Clark Group's co-CEO. I was here to announce our engagement to everyone who mattered in Washington, D.C's inner circle.

Five years of absolute devotion, just to prop him up and push him to where he is now.".

He was the kind of man who would drive across the city at midnight just to bring me a bowl of soup. Who would stay up all night by my side when my stomach was acting up. Who had spent six months planning a trip just because I once mentioned I wanted to see the Northern Lights.

I had always believed he was the one I was meant to spend my life with.

"And now, please welcome Miss Victoria Clark to the podium." The emcee's voice echoed through the lavish hall.

I gathered my skirt and walked to the podium, every eye in the room on me — every power player in Washington, D.C's inner circle watching.

Julian was standing just below the stage. His tailored suit made him look sharp and polished, almost impossibly handsome. He was looking at me, but his eyes weren't warm the way they used to be. There was something cold in them — something I couldn't read.

I pushed the uneasy feeling aside and smiled into the microphone. "Tonight, I have an important announcement to make. What I'm holding is a transfer agreement for thirty percent of The Clark Group's shares. The recipient is—"

Bang.

The heavy mahogany double doors flew open, and my words died in my throat.

Every head in the room turned.

"Wait!" A sharp, breathless voice cut through the solemnity of the hall. A girl stumbled in wearing a faded, washed-out dress, her eyes red and swollen. "Wait. Please."

She looked like a white flower battered by a storm — fragile, trembling, heartbreaking to look at.

It was Chloe.

The girl I had been supporting for four years. The girl Julian had always introduced to others as his distant cousin.

She moved like a startled fawn, stumbling forward and throwing herself into Julian's arms, sobbing. "Julian, I was so scared. Victoria tried to lock me up — they wouldn't let me come see you…"

The room erupted. Guests exchanged glances, eyes gleaming with shock and barely concealed excitement.

Dozens of eyes darted back and forth between the three of us, hungry for whatever came next.

I stared at Julian. My fingers tightened around the paper in my hand as I waited for him to explain.

He didn't push Chloe away.

Instead, he pulled her behind him — right there in front of everyone — shielding her with his body. Then he raised his head and looked at me with an expression I had never seen on his face before. Cold. Hateful. Like I was a stranger.

"Victoria, enough." His voice rang out through the silent hall, each word landing like a blade. "I am so sick of that self-righteous, hypocritical face of yours."

"Did you actually think I loved you? The Clark Group destroyed Chloe's family. I never forgot that. Not for a single day."

"You sponsored Chloe to cover up what your family did — all the blood on The Clark Group's hands. And you kept me around because you loved the feeling of grinding someone's dignity under your heel."

"Tonight, I'm getting justice for Chloe. I'm going to expose you for exactly who you are and make you pay for it."

Julian's words detonated like a bomb. The hall went dead silent for one breathless moment — and then erupted into a roar of voices.

"Oh my God, The Clark Group has blood on their hands?"

"So Julian stayed with her for five years just to get revenge?"

"Victoria really took a massive tumble this time; she helped an ungrateful person."

I stood on that stage and looked at Julian's face — twisted with rage and the sick satisfaction of revenge — and suddenly, I just felt like it was all absurd.

Five years.

I stayed up countless nights with him, helping him revise his business proposals. When he was hospitalized with a stomach hemorrhage, I stayed by his side for three days and three nights without sleep. I swallowed my pride and used my connections to introduce him to every major player in the industry.

And after all that, in his eyes, it was nothing but "charity from someone looking down on him"?

A quiet laugh escaped me. Julian's jaw tightened, his eyes locked on me without blinking.

"So," I said, my voice cold and steady — calm enough to surprise even myself, "you're standing here today, fighting for her, declaring war on me?"

"Yes!" Julian lifted his chin, his eyes burning with resolve. "Victoria, as of today, I'm done with you — done with The Clark Group. We're finished!"

Chloe was hiding behind him, pretending to tremble, but I caught it clearly — that fleeting smirk at the corner of her lips.

I lowered my gaze and ran my fingers over the transfer document in my hands.

The bold heading — EQUITY TRANSFER AGREEMENT — printed across the top of the first page felt less like a legal document now and more like a silent mockery.

Mocking me for being blind.

I glanced down at the document — a stake worth over a hundred billion dollars.

Then, under the stunned eyes of everyone in the room, I gripped the edges of the paper with both hands.

Riiip—

The sharp, clean tear cut through the silence of the hall like a blade. Julian instinctively stepped forward, but Chloe grabbed his arm.

I tore apart the document that so many people would have killed for, and tossed the pieces into the air.

White scraps of paper drifted down like snowflakes, scattering at Julian and Chloe's feet.

"Julian, who do you think you are?" I looked down at him, a cold, contemptuous smile playing at the corner of my mouth. "Without me, you wouldn't even have the right to stand in this room. You want to declare war on me? You really think you have the right?"

Julian's face went ashen. "Victoria, don't push it! I already have access to The Clark Group's core client source. Even without you, I can—"

"yeah?"

I cut him off, my gaze sliding past his furious face toward the quietest, most overlooked corner of the hall.

A wheelchair sat there.

A man sat in it.

He was dressed in an all-black suit, his entire presence blending into the shadows as if he were part of the darkness itself.