Vivienne's POV
The noise of the ballroom returned to me as a deafening, sickening roar. The golden light, moments before a beautiful canvas for my success, now felt like a spotlight fixed on my shame. I stood there, clutching Victor's arm so tightly I knew my nails would leave crescent marks, and I felt the entire room watching me, judging me.
The misunderstanding was thinking you still mattered.
Adrian's words, quiet and absolute, were still echoing in my ears, louder than the entire orchestra. That ex-con, the broken boy I tossed aside, had stood next to Evelyn Carter—the most powerful woman in the city—and executed the social and financial death of my family. He didn't even look angry; he looked bored. That quiet certainty was worse than any shout.
"He... he said that I don't matter," I whispered, the sound catching in my throat. I couldn't move. My feet were cemented to the marble, trapped in the precise spot where my world had just imploded.
Victor—useless, utterly useless—was still trying to regain his composure. "Vivienne, stop. Just breathe. He was trying to provoke us. We need to ignore him."
Ignore him? He had just signed the termination papers for my inheritance and my status! I turned on Victor, the fury I couldn't direct at Adrian boiling over onto him. "Ignore him?! My cooperation is terminated! Evelyn Carter spoke to me like I was a piece of trash that needed sweeping! And you stood there like a decorative lamp, doing absolutely nothing!"
Victor's face went white beneath the chandeliers, fear and a flash of wounded male pride mixing painfully. "I told you, don't provoke him! This is a controlled environment! We have to act like we don't care, or they win the scene."
But the scene was already lost. They had won. I looked across the room. Evelyn hadn't even glanced back. She was laughing now, a cool, measured sound, speaking to some irrelevant diplomat. She was acting as if the tiny, insignificant speck named Vivienne Morgan had simply ceased to exist.
How dare she. How dare that ice queen assume she could use my defeat as social fodder? And Adrian. The way he looked at her, the way he stood so close, the undeniable tension that felt like raw, sparking electricity between them—I saw it all. That look wasn't business; it was possessive. It was the same intense focus he used to reserve only for me, warped and applied to her.
My betrayal felt suddenly deeper, more personal. He wasn't just destroying my life; he was parading his new alliance, his new power, and the terrifying, magnetic connection he shared with Evelyn right in front of my face.
A wave of dizzying, suffocating hatred washed over me. I wasn't humiliated; I was ruined. And my ruin was being broadcast live in front of everyone who mattered.
"We are leaving," I ground out, my voice thick with suppressed rage. I didn't wait for Victor. I tore my arm from his grip and started moving, not caring about the speed or the look of wild desperation I knew was plastered across my face.
Victor scrambled to catch up. "Where are we going? We can't just leave! We need to meet other people, prove we aren't affected—"
"I am affected!" I hissed, grabbing his silk lapel, pulling him close until his eyes met mine. They were terrified. Good. "I am affected, and I will not let this stand! He wants a war? He will get a massacre."
We burst out onto the massive marble steps, the cool night air hitting my skin like a slap. I didn't need to return to the ballroom tonight. I needed to strategize.
"Listen to me, Victor," I commanded, forcing control back into my voice, making it hard and sharp. "The invitations were a necessary public display, but they are useless now. Evelyn Carter is insulated. We don't attack her directly yet."
"Then what do we do?" he asked, rubbing his arm where I had gripped him. "Adrian is her guest. He's protected."
I stopped dead, turning to face the impenetrable glass tower. Adrian was inside there, warm, safe, standing next to his powerful new protector.
A slow, vicious smile curved my lips. Adrian had a weakness. He didn't just crawl out of prison; he crawled back into society, and people like him left trails.
"He may be untouchable here, at the top," I murmured, the taste of my own venom bitter on my tongue. "But he hasn't been back for long. He is still vulnerable outside that office. He has secrets, Victor. He has a life that existed before Evelyn Carter's golden cage. And I will find every single rotten thread."
I grabbed Victor's hand, my eyes burning with a feverish intensity. "Forget Evelyn for now. Adrian needs to be dealt with first. We are going to remind him exactly what it means to cross me. By the time I'm done, he'll be begging to go back to jail just for the peace and quiet."
I didn't need status or a company agreement. I needed vengeance. And I would dismantle Adrian's world, piece by excruciating piece, until he was nothing but a cautionary tale Evelyn Carter couldn't even bear to look at. My game had just begun.