Chapter 5 - The Trap at the Gala
Three weeks later.
The Metropolitan Grand Ballroom was lit up with golden chandeliers. The city's top elites, billionaires, politicians, and media moguls were gathered for the annual Vance Global Charity Gala.
Rumors had been swirling through the high society for weeks. The mysterious downfall of the Sterling family, the secret arrest of Richard Vance, and the rumors that Alejandro Vance had brought a "nameless street woman" into his grand manor were the talk of every elite circle.
At the edge of the ballroom, several aristocratic women whispered behind their silk fans.
"Did you hear? Alejandro canceled his wedding with Victoria and brought some common maid into his house!"
"Unbelievable. A peasant trying to play high-society queen. She’ll embarrass him tonight in front of the international board."
Suddenly, the grand doors at the top of the ballroom balcony swung open.
"Announcing the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vance Global, Mr. Alejandro Vance... and his wife, Mrs. Elena Vance!"
The room fell dead silent.
Alejandro stepped out in an immaculate velvet tuxedo. But all eyes were locked onto the woman on his arm.
Elena was ethereal. She wore a custom midnight-blue gown encrusted with thousands of real diamonds that sparkled like stars in the night sky. Her hair fell in elegant, glossy waves, and around her neck rested the Heart of Monaco—a rare forty-carat blue diamond necklace worth over fifty million dollars.
Her posture was regal, her gaze piercing and calm. There was no trace left of the broken woman who had been kneeling on the cold marble three weeks ago.
As they descended the marble staircase together, the elite guests parted like the Red Sea, gasping in shock and awe.
"She... she doesn't look like a maid at all," one heiress muttered in disbelief. "She looks like... royalty."
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"She is royalty," Alejandro’s deep voice echoed as he paused in the middle of the dance floor, signaling for the press microphones to turn on.
"Tonight," Alejandro announced to the room, "I invited all of you here not just to celebrate Vance Global's highest quarterly profits in history... but to introduce the true owner of this empire."
