"You Serve the Wine," His Fiancée Said—Then the Family Attorney Pulled Out My Chair | Part 1

The gala was a massacre. The Laurent family fled out the back exit before the appetizers were even served. By midnight, the hashtag #ValeRansom was trending globally.

Back at Blackthorne Hall, the sprawling mansion was deathly quiet.

Elena sat in her father’s old study. The desk was covered in the files Sterling had turned over to her. She was tracing the black wax seal on the original letter that had broken her chains.

Why three days? she thought.

The payments Victoria made to the estate attorney to fake the will and hide Elena’s existence started exactly three days after Edmund Vale died in a tragic private plane crash.

Adrian walked into the study. He had skipped the gala. He looked at the files, then at Elena.

"I broke off the engagement," he said quietly, sitting on the leather sofa. "Celeste called me crying. I told her never to contact me again."

"I'm sorry, Adrian," Elena said gently. "I know you cared for her."

"I cared for the idea of her," he corrected, rubbing his temples. "I've been a puppet my whole life. My mother pulled the strings, and I just danced. But you... you broke the strings." He paused. "Elena, why did my mother keep you here? If she hated you so much, why not just pay you off and send you to another country? Why force you to clean her floors?"

"I asked myself the same question," Elena said. She picked up a yellowed legal document. "And I found the answer an hour ago. Read this."

She handed him the paper. Adrian scanned it, his eyes widening.

"My father's real will," Adrian breathed. "Wait... this clause..."

"Yes," Elena said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Edmund knew Victoria would try to get rid of me. So, he put a poison pill in his will. 'Should my daughter, Elena, be removed, exiled, or otherwise forced to vacate Blackthorne Hall before her twenty-fifth birthday, Victoria Vale’s entire share of the estate will instantly be liquidated and donated to charity.'"

Adrian looked horrified. "She didn't keep you here to punish you. She kept you here because she had to. She made you a maid so you wouldn't suspect who you really were, but she couldn't legally kick you out without losing her fortune."

"Exactly," Elena said. "I turn twenty-five next month. She was just running out the clock. Once I hit that birthday, she was going to throw me out on the street with nothing."

Adrian stood up, pacing the room. "My mother is a monster. But Elena... there's something else."

"What?"

"My father's plane crash." Adrian’s voice trembled. "It happened the day before he was going to officially introduce you to the board. The day before he was going to legitimize you."

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Elena looked at the date on the crash report, then at the date on the trust documents.

"You think she killed him," Elena whispered.

Before Adrian could answer, a loud, echoing shatter came from the hallway outside the study. The sound of a window breaking. Heavy footsteps crunched on the glass, moving swiftly toward the study door.