Chapter 4 - The Billionaire's Proposal
The news van from Channel 4 News was already parked outside the apartment building by noon. Reporters buzzed around the entrance like angry hornets, shoving microphones toward Victor and Selena as security guards escorted them off the property with cardboard boxes in their arms. Inside apartment 4B, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.
The room had been instantly upgraded. Vance Global had sent a team of cleaners, interior designers, and legal advisors who had somehow transformed the tiny studio apartment into a sleek, modern suite while Mara was still trying to process reality.
Mara sat at a newly delivered marble-topped table, clutching a steaming cup of artisan tea that Elias had poured for her himself.
"I don't understand," Mara said, shaking her head. "You're... you're Elias Vance. Why were you lying in an alley? Why didn't you just call your bodyguards?"
Elias sat across from her, his expression turning solemn as he stared into his own cup. "My security detail was trailing a block behind me, but I managed to slip away. I wanted to walk the streets alone last night. I wanted to see what my city looks like when the sun goes down and the wealthy go to sleep. I wanted to know if basic human empathy still existed in the world I helped build."
He looked up, meeting her eyes directly. "And I found out that it does. In a broke twenty-four-year-old baker who had nothing to give, yet gave me her last bowl of soup and her only blanket."
"Anyone would have done the same," Mara murmured, looking down at her hands.
"No, Mara. They wouldn't," Elias replied firmly. "People walked past me for forty-five minutes before you stopped. Men in expensive suits stepped over my legs. Teenagers laughed at me. Only you stopped."
Richard Sterling entered the room quietly, holding a thick folder. He placed it neatly on the table beside Mara's tea.
"Mr. Vance, the legal transition of the building is complete. Kane Properties is officially dissolved. All current tenants have been notified that their back rent is wiped clean, and their leases are being rewritten with zero rent increases for the next five years." Sterling paused, glancing at Mara. "And per your special instructions, Miss Bell is now the sole owner and primary property manager of this entire apartment complex."
Mara choked on her tea, coughing into her napkin. "I am what?!"
"You heard Richard correctly," Elias said with a slight smirk. "You needed a stable income, and I needed someone with actual morals and compassion running my real estate assets in this sector. Consider it a promotion."
"I... I can't accept this! I don't know the first thing about managing a building!" Mara protested, her eyes wide with panic.
"You know how to treat people like human beings," Elias countered softly. "That is the one qualification money cannot buy. But that isn't all. Richard, bring in the second portfolio."
Sterling opened another folder, revealing a full academic scholarship package and a housing endowment for Liam, Mara’s younger brother, at the most prestigious university in the country.
May you like
Mara stared at the documents, and the dam finally broke. Hot, heavy tears streamed down her face, but for the first time in years, they weren't tears of despair or exhaustion. They were tears of overwhelming relief.
Before she could even begin to thank him, a sharp, frantic pounding echoed from the apartment door below—followed by a voice that made the blood run cold in Mara's veins. It was a voice from her past, a voice she had prayed she would never hear again.
