Chapter 2
Aurelia's POV
"Oh my God, where did Evelina go?" I pitched my panic perfectly, ensuring I was just loud enough for the head table to hear it. "She went up to the second floor because she wasn't feeling well, but I still have her asthma medication!"
Whether she actually had asthma didn't matter. What mattered was that no one would bother verifying it at a moment like this.
My father’s brow instantly furrows. Old Mr. Vance turned his head toward the commotion.
"What is going on, Aurelia?" my father scolded in a hushed, harsh whisper.
"If she has an asthma attack, it could be fatal! I've looked everywhere on the first floor. What if she passed out in a lounge?" Lifting the hem of my dress, I marched straight for the grand staircase.
No one in this crowd of well-dressed hypocrites wanted to miss a spectacle. A few socialites and journalists eagerly trailed right behind me. To maintain his facade as a caring father, Richard had no choice but to bring Old Mr. Vance and follow me upstairs.
At the end of the second-floor hallway, the heavy oak doors were shut tight.
I didn't knock. I grabbed the handle and pushed it wide open.
The hallway light spilled into the dark room. Clothes were strewn all over the floor, and on the sprawling king-sized bed, two bodies were tangled together. Pinning the woman down was Darius Vance, while the white-clad figure underneath him let out a saccharine, breathless moan. My dear sister, Evelina.
The sudden eruption of camera flashes turned the room as bright as day.
Several society matrons shrieked and covered their eyes. Jolted awake by the blinding light, the lingering effects of the drugs completely vanished from Darius’s handsome face, leaving only pure horror. Evelina screamed, frantically yanking the duvet over herself.
"Evelina?!" My father’s face turned an ashen, sickly green, the name barely squeezing through his gritted teeth.
Old Mr. Vance was shaking with rage. His most prized eldest son was caught in bed with the Thorne family’s illegitimate daughter at their jointly hosted gala.
I stood in the doorway, not so much as twitching a brow.
"It seems my sister’s illness required Master Darius to administer a cure," I said softly, layering my voice with just the right amount of shock and heartbreak.
Darius glared at me, his eyes practically bulging out. "You! Aurelia, you set me up!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" I took a subtle step back, letting my eyes turn red right on cue. "I came up here out of the goodness of my heart to bring her medication, and this is what I find."
Old Mr. Vance slapped Darius so hard that the crack echoed through the packed room. "You animal! As of today, you are stripped of your position as primary heir."
I lowered my eyes, hiding the cold mockery swimming in them. Darius, this is just the interest.
Just then, an aggressive gaze locked onto me. I looked up, peering past the chaotic sea of people, and collided directly with Killian Vance's eyes. He stood in the shadows, a faint, unreadable smirk playing on his lips as the silver coin flipped effortlessly across his knuckles.
He saw right through it. But he didn’t say a word.
The following day, after the scandal hit the front pages, both the Thorne and Vance families saw their stock prices utterly tank. Darius had been grounded by his father, and Evelina was locked in her room by Richard, her sobbing echoing through the entire luxury estate.
At midnight, I took a private elevator to the top floor of an exclusive club owned by the Vance conglomerate.
Behind heavy mahogany doors, Killian sat on a leather sofa. His tie was loosened, and a glass of whiskey rested in his hand. The dim lighting sharpened his harsh, chiseled jawline. The man radiated the aura of a black panther stalking the night—lethal, and known to leave no survivors.
"The Thorne Heiress comes knocking in the dead of night. Aren't you afraid tomorrow's headlines will declare, 'Eldest Thorne Daughter in Midnight Rendezvous with Vance Bastard'?" he asked, not looking up. His voice was low, laced with a lazy drawl.
I reached behind me, locked the door, and walked over to sit across from him, elegantly crossing my legs.
"Control over the Vance family is well worth a tabloid headline."
Killian finally lifted his eyes. A glint of dark amusement surfaced in those icy, grayish-blue irises. He leaned forward, the sheer force of his presence hitting me like a physical weight. "What makes you think you, acting entirely alone, can help me seize power? And what makes you think I would even agree to work with you?"
"Because last night, I single-handedly pushed your beloved oldest brother to the edge of ruin." I picked up the untouched glass of bourbon on the table and took a sip. The burn sliding down my throat only sharpened my senses.
"You spiked the champagne," he stated. It wasn't a question, and there was an undeniable trace of admiration in his tone.
"Darius is a fool, but he still holds thirty percent of the Vance Group’s shares. Your father is furious now, but eventually, he might soften. He won't truly destroy him. But you..." I locked eyes with him. "You only hold five percent to your name. Even counting those off-the-books offshore assets of yours, swallowing the Vance empire will take you at least three years."
I set down the glass. "I can condense three years into three months. The Thorne family owns three core international shipping lanes. I can quietly transfer them over to you. With those in your pocket, you’ll have the leverage to completely phase Darius out at next month's board meeting."
Killian abandoned his lazy posture entirely, watching me the way a predator eyes its prey. "Those shipping lanes are Richard's lifeblood. Can you even touch them?"
"The three main Starlight Shipping lanes are held in the trust fund my mother left behind. Richard has been managing them for a decade, but the sole beneficiary has always been me." I smiled faintly. "He’ll soon realize that his most prized daughter can not only touch his shipping lanes—she can touch his life."
"And what do you want?" he asked.
