flash
The helicopter’s blades beat a relentless rhythm into the night sky, throwing cold air over the entrance of L’Auberge, the city’s most elite restaurant. Inside, the silence remained suffocating. / Chapter 6 / 8

Chapter 6 - THE ARCHITECT OF REVENGE

The heavy wooden door of the office swung open. Vanessa slammed the laptop shut, but it was too late. Andrew stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowing as he saw the terror on her face.

"You shouldn't be looking through restricted files, Vanessa," Andrew said softly, walking into the room.

"You knew..." Vanessa’s voice shook violently as she backed away from the desk. "You knew who I was before we ever met! You knew my father was in debt! You knew Marcus was courting me!"

Andrew slowly walked over to the executive desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms.

"Of course I knew," Andrew said calmly. "Did you really think a man in my position leaves anything to chance?"

"Why?!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Why did you pretend to be poor? Why did you let me walk all over you? Why did you buy that engagement ring?!"

"Because your father destroyed my mother’s business twenty years ago," Andrew revealed, his voice dropping into a dark, terrifying register. "Your family’s luxury life was built on the blood and sweat of my family. My mother died in poverty because Richard corporate-raided her company."

Vanessa stopped breathing. The reality of the situation shattered her world once again.

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"I spent ten years building Vance Global," Andrew continued, step by step approaching her. "I wanted to give your family everything—hope, wealth, status—and then tear it away piece by piece. The engagement ring? It belonged to my mother. I wanted to see if you had a single ounce of genuine humanity in you. If you had said yes to a simple man with a simple ring, I would have forgiven your family's past."

Andrew stopped inches from her. "But you proved to be just as vain, cruel, and greedy as your father. You destroyed yourself, Vanessa. I just laid the track."

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