Chapter 5 - The Heir's Return
The richest man in the room dropped down to one knee, ignoring the dirt touching his bespoke suit.
Hazel threw her small arms around the old man's neck, burying her face into his shoulder. "Grandpa!" she sobbed, her sweet voice breaking the suffocating silence of the room.
Sterling’s heart stopped. His jaw dropped so low he looked foolish. "G-Grandpa?" he stammered, looking between the child and the old man. "Sir, there must be a mistake! She's my daughter, she doesn't know what she's—"
"Grandpa," Hazel whimpered, pointing a trembling finger straight at Victoria, who was now shrinking back into the crowd. "She’s the one who hurt me... and Daddy let her."
Arthur Vance pulled the little girl back gently, wiping a tear from her cheek with a tenderness no one in the business world had ever seen him display.
When he stood up, the warmth vanished instantly from his face, replaced by absolute, lethal rage.
"Is that true, Sterling?" Arthur asked softly.
Sterling’s mind scrambled, terror seizing his throat. "Mr. Vance, I swear, my ex-wife is unstable! She’s indoctrinating the child! We don't even know who you—"
"She isn't indoctrinating anyone," a striking voice echoed from the top of the grand staircase.
Every head in the ballroom turned.
Descending the stairs in an emerald green silk gown, adorned with the legendary Vance family diamonds, was Genevieve. Her posture was commanding, her eyes sharp as flint, and her head held high.
May you like
Sterling felt the ground beneath him give way. "Genevieve...? What... what are you wearing?"
"She's wearing her family crest, you idiot," Julian Thorne sneered, stepping out from behind Arthur Vance with a thick black leather portfolio. "May I introduce Genevieve Vance—sole heiress to Vance Global, and the real owner of your company."
