Chapter 1
"If you were waiting for him for five years,
why were you secretly engaged to Marcus Roth three months ago,"
Jacqueline asked,
her voice perfectly level.
The entire ballroom went completely still.
You could hear the ice melting in the glasses,
and the soft hum of the air conditioning above.
Khloe stepped back,
her fragile facade cracking for the first time.
"That is a lie,"
Khloe stammered,
her voice trembling as she looked up at Julian.
"Julian,
she is lying,
she just wants to hurt me."
Jacqueline did not raise her voice,
she simply opened the manila envelope,
and pulled out a stack of high-quality photographs.
She tossed them onto the polished marble table nearest to her.
The photos scattered,
revealing Khloe Sterling in a tight red dress,
kissing Marcus Roth on the deck of a private yacht,
and holding up a massive diamond ring.
"Marcus Roth filed for bankruptcy two weeks ago,"
Jacqueline stated,
her eyes sweeping across the room.
"And suddenly,
Miss Sterling remembered her childhood love,
just in time to greet him at the airport."
Julian looked down at the photos,
his face turning the color of ash.
He looked at Khloe,
who was now shaking uncontrollably,
and then he looked at Jacqueline.
"Jackie,"
Julian started,
taking a step forward.
"Do not call me that,"
Jacqueline interrupted,
her tone dropping ten degrees.
"Only my family and my friends call me Jackie,
and you are neither."
Eleanor Vance rushed forward,
trying to block the photos from the view of the whispering guests.
"This is a private matter,"
Eleanor hissed,
glaring at Jacqueline.
"You are making a scene,
you are embarrassing us."
Jacqueline laughed,
a cold,
hollow sound that sent shivers down the spines of the men standing nearby.
"I am not embarrassing you,
Mrs. Vance,
I am simply turning on the lights."
She signaled to her investment director,
David Miller,
who stepped forward with a tablet.
"By tomorrow morning,
the Vance Corporation will face a massive liquidity crisis,"
David announced,
his voice booming across the silent room.
"We have pulled all our secret backing,
and Chase Bank has officially declined your loan."
Richard Vance gripped the edge of a chair,
looking as though he might have a heart attack.
"You cannot do this to us,"
Richard choked out,
"we are family."
Jacqueline tilted her head,
her eyes completely devoid of mercy.
"We were never family,
Richard,
you just needed a maid with a trust fund."
The truth hit them like a physical blow.
For five years,
she had played the quiet,
obedient daughter-in-law,
while they laughed behind her back.
Now,
she was the executioner.
Julian pushed past his mother,
his eyes locked onto Jacqueline.
"I did not know about Khloe,"
Julian said,
his voice desperate.
"I thought she was just an old friend,
I thought she was innocent."
"And what did you think I was,"
Jacqueline asked,
her voice cutting through his excuses.
"Did you think I was blind,
or did you think I was just stupid."
Julian flinched,
the reality of his mistake finally settling in his bones.
He had thrown away a diamond,
to pick up a piece of broken glass.
"The hostile takeover begins at 9 AM,"
Jacqueline announced to the room,
ignoring Julian completely.
"Enjoy the champagne,
ladies and gentlemen,
it is the last time the Vance family is paying for it."
With that,
she turned on her heel,
May you like
and walked out of the ballroom,
leaving the Vance family drowning in the wreckage of their own making.
