Chapter 2

The applause lingered long after the gavel fell. The charity auction was over.

Carter wore the Patek Philippe pocket watch at his chest—the heirloom that symbolized bloodline—strolling through the ballroom on Barbara's arm.

My three childhood friends, the ones who'd once sworn they would always protect me, were busy running interference for Carter now, shielding him from toasts and steering introductions his way.

Barbara broke away from the crowd and walked toward me.

She stopped in front of me, her voice flat.：“That watch is Carter's ticket to staying in this circle. You're already the Delgado heir. You don't need one antique.”

“It's just an old keepsake. Be the bigger person.”

“If that keepsake had gone to a stranger tonight,” I looked at her, “how would Grandmother see me? The Delgado heir who can't even hold on to his own father's belongings?”

Barbara's brows knotted together.

“It's always about leverage with you. Besides the inheritance and the shares, is there anything else in that head of yours?”

When I didn't answer, her voice dropped lower. “William, you're ruthless. You'd survive just fine without the Delgados. But Carter can't!”

“If I hadn't given him the watch tonight, the family elders would've written him off for good. He'd be thrown out.”

I stared down at the tips of my shoes.

She didn't know. The succession fight inside the Delgado family had reached the closing net.

My mother's hints had been perfectly clear.

Either I passed tonight's evaluation and proved I could keep absolute control of myself.

Or she would marry me off to the notorious eldest daughter of the Wang family, trading me for the Summers Group's capital injection.

I'd wanted to gamble on three years of what Barbara and I had built.

But that bidding war stripped every last illusion away.

Carter came trotting over with a glass of juice, pressing himself against Barbara's side.

“Barbara, I want to go say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore over there.”

“I'm scared I'll say the wrong thing. Could you teach me, brother?”

He turned to face me, eyes wide with rehearsed innocence. “You keep all those notes on people's connections, right? Every executive's preferences, written out on your desk. Who smokes, who drinks what, when they prefer to be approached. Every last detail, memorized.”

He paused there, pressing his hand over his mouth as if he'd caught himself.

“I'm not saying you're scheming or anything……I just think you work so hard.”

The expressions on several nearby socialites shifted.

“He tracks details like that? The Delgado heir's mind runs deeper than I thought.”

“Well, what do you expect? Raised outside the family. You can smell the social climbing on him.”

The whispers settled over me.

Those notes were Grandmother's assignment. She'd told me to memorize the habits of every elder in the capital, all for the sake of the Delgado family's century-old foundations.

Barbara had praised me for being thorough at the time.

But now she stood there looking at me with nothing in her eyes but disgust, and didn't say a single word in my defense.

Carter tugged at Barbara's sleeve. “Did I say something wrong again? I'm no good with words, not like my brother. He always knows how to charm the ladies……”

Barbara smoothed his hair. “Don't worry about it. Your brother has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He won't hold a little thing like this against you.”

Then she took Carter's arm and walked with him into the center of the crowd.