My only daughter trashed my office, all for some gold-digging opportunist. I refused to make him Vice President of the company, and she absolutely lost it. “Mom,” she wailed, tears streaming down her face, “you can’t just hog the company forever! You’re getting old. Isn’t this supposed to be Liam’s to manage eventually?” Furious, I immediately fired Liam Miller. I laid out all the evidence showing he was completely untrustworthy, not someone she could ever build a future with. I thought she’d come to her senses, but instead, she slammed a formal declaration disowning me onto my desk. “You’ve been single for twenty years, Mom. All you see is money. Do you even know what love is? I’m marrying Liam, no matter what. If you don’t approve, then fine, go spend the rest of your life alone with your precious company.” Watching her storm out and slam the door, I picked up my phone and called my nephew. “Ryan,” I said, my voice steady, “come home. It’s time to take over the company. Your cousin doesn’t want it anymore.”
After hanging up, I immediately instructed HR to draft his appointment notice. At the same time, I contacted a friend, set up an irrevocable trust for my assets, and cut off all of Scarlett’s credit cards and financial support. I’ve been in the business world for twenty years, Eleanor Vance. I’ve navigated the choppiest waters; nothing fazes me. Liam wouldn’t seriously think he could control me just by using my daughter, would he? Whispers spread through the company. No one understood why I was bringing in a fresh-faced kid to be the new CEO. But I knew exactly what I was doing. It was about pushing him into a corner. Otherwise, my daughter would fall into a true abyss, drained dry, bone and blood, by a leech like Liam. Sure enough, Liam got the message. He arranged to meet me in a private lounge at a high-end club. When I arrived, Liam was already seated, impeccably dressed in a suit, a fancy gift box on the table in front of him. I had to admit, Liam had good looks, alright. With those charming, almost too-sincere eyes that could make any girl swoon, he was a real heartbreaker. He saw me, politely stood up, poured me tea, and pulled out my chair. “Ms. Vance, I think you might have misunderstood me,” he began, his smile perfectly composed, his manner respectful. “I’d like to speak with you as a respectful junior.” “The Sterling Group reported me for demanding exorbitant kickbacks,” he explained, holding my gaze. “That’s only because I’m strict about quality. I found a box of slightly damaged goods, and they tried to pass it off. I refused.” He pulled out a quality inspection report and placed it in front of me. “And about me taking an intern to a hotel room? She had too much to drink at a client dinner that night. I had no choice but to take her to a hotel.” He then showed me their SnapChat messages from the next day. It was just the intern thanking him, no hint of anything inappropriate. He sighed, looking at me with feigned helplessness. “Ms. Vance, I know I come from a humble background, and I might not be good enough for Scarlett. But Scarlett and I are genuinely in love. She cried all night yesterday, and it broke my heart.” He stood up, bowed deeply, his face radiating an air of righteous sincerity. “Ms. Vance, you came from humble beginnings too, didn’t you? Just give me a chance, and I promise I won’t let you down.” I stared coldly at Liam, cutting straight to the chase. “Liam, what if I don’t give you that chance?” His expression faltered for a second, then a wider, almost cruel smile flashed across his face. “Ms. Vance, why make things so drastic? If you support me, I’ll treat you like my own mother. Wouldn’t that be better than those arrogant trust-fund kids?” “Eleanor,” he continued, leaning forward, “Scarlett and I have already been intimate. With a little more effort, I’m sure we’ll have a grandchild for you very soon. Do you really want Scarlett to be shamed and ridiculed by high society, a woman without proper standing?” My heart clenched painfully. Scarlett had grown up in a mansion, her bedroom carpeted in wool, drinking imported milk. She attended the top international private schools, surrounded by children of the wealthy elite. My little princess, whom I had nurtured so carefully, I truly didn’t want to see her dragged into the mud. But Liam was wrong. I didn’t get to where I am today by letting personal feelings cloud my judgment. I slowly pulled out the trust agreement and slid it across the table. The moment his eyes landed on the ‘beneficiary’ clause, his face drained of all color. He snatched the document, his expression contorted with rage. “Why?! Ryan Vance is an outsider, a distant relative! Is he closer to you than I am, your daughter’s partner?” I just gave him a cold, small smile. “Liam, your grand ambitions have come to nothing.” Liam slowly released the document, a chilling, cruel smile spreading across his face. “Eleanor, since you clearly don’t care about Scarlett, then I guess I have no choice. I’ll just have to drag her down to the bottom with me.”
The moment I stepped out of the club, my daughter’s call came through. “Mom, Liam has already humbled himself, practically begged you and explained everything! Do you really have to tear us apart?” “I don’t care what tricks you’re pulling, I’m marrying him, and that’s final!” Her sharp accusations and furious shouts rang in my ear. All about how good Liam was to her – he’d stayed up all night comforting her through her period cramps, he’d wake up at 6:30 AM to make her favorite seafood stew, making her feel the warmth of a true home. While I, the “robot,” only offered cold, hard cash. Finally, she pleaded with me to just let her have her true love. Hearing her tearful accusations, my heart ached with a sharp, wrenching pain. My whole body trembled. For a man, she’d forgotten every parent-teacher conference I’d attended despite my packed schedule, forgotten how I’d abandoned lucrative deals just to be with her on her eighteenth birthday trip. The privileged life I’d worked so hard to give her, in her eyes, had become a cold, sterile cage. But she hadn’t seen the greed in Liam’s eyes the first time he entered our home, staring at the antique artwork. The expensive liquor cabinet wasn’t something he admired; it sparked pure jealousy and resentment. And that snide remark he’d blurted out, “Eleanor, maybe a woman like you shouldn’t drink so much.” It sounded like concern, but his tone dripped with unspoken disapproval, as if I were squandering his money. I knew I was wrong. I’d raised her in a bubble, leaving her utterly clueless about the depravity of human nature. I’d fostered a naive, innocent, and spoiled personality. That’s why a few cheap compliments and a pitiful ‘woe-is-me’ act about his unrecognized talents were all it took to completely win her over. By then, my mind was made up. I simply spoke calmly, “Scarlett, I’ve already informed your cousin to come back and take over the company. If you break up with Liam now, you’ll still be the heir. But if you persist in this folly, I will formally hand the company over to him.” “My business, which I built from the ground up over twenty years, isn’t a charity project, and I’m certainly not going to hand it over to an ungrateful parasite.” My daughter was furious. “Mom, let’s be real. You just look down on Liam because he’s not rich. You’re a snob, and you just want to use me for some arranged marriage to boost your business and make even more money!” “Liam said those videos were all staged by you, hired people to set him up! How could you be so evil?!” “Don’t worry,” she continued, her voice trembling with anger, “I’ll make sure you see that Liam can succeed even without you. You’ll realize how despicable you are for trying to destroy true love!” Then she slammed the phone down. My heart seized, and I almost couldn’t catch my breath. Once I recovered, I started calling a few old friends, moving ahead with my original plan. Liam was smarter than I’d given him credit for; he understood the importance of leverage. He sold Scarlett’s Cartier bracelet, her ruby necklace, and some designer bags. He cleared his payday loans, cashed out a couple hundred thousand dollars, and then decisively rented a small office building and registered his own company. I heard the grand opening was quite a spectacle. He held a grand bouquet of a thousand roses, knelt before Scarlett for the cameras and social media influencers, and proposed. “Scarlett, you are the most understanding woman I’ve ever known, the woman willing to build an empire with me from nothing. I, Liam, swear that from this day forward, you are my life. I will live every day for you.” Supposedly, Scarlett was so moved she burst into tears, clinging to him and sobbing, vowing never to leave his side. I stood calmly by the wide floor-to-ceiling windows on the twenty-fourth floor, listening to my secretary report on Liam’s latest moves.
With money in hand, he rented a lavish penthouse apartment and even moved his mother and younger brother from his old town, claiming they were there to ‘help’ Scarlett with the house. Yeah, right. He then started parading Scarlett around to visit family friends and business acquaintances, hoping she’d bat her eyelashes and beg for contracts. My old friend, Mr. Sterling, even sent me a video. “Mr. Sterling, you’ve known me my whole life, you have to help us this time! Liam and I aren’t asking for much, just a third of the contracts you usually give my mother’s company.” “Mr. Sterling, honestly, my mom’s just been single for too long. She can’t stand to see me happy, and she’s intentionally trying to sabotage Liam. Trust me, if you partner with us, Liam will cut you a much better deal than she ever would.” Beside her, Liam, in his slick gold-rimmed glasses, sat there, looking utterly confident, like he’d already won. “Mr. Sterling,” he chimed in, “we’re all smart people here. You give me a leg up now, and when I become the CEO of Vance Corp, you’ll be my most valued client.” Mr. Sterling just smiled, saying he’d “consider it,” then had his secretary escort the persistent Scarlett out. But Scarlett clung to the door frame, still pleading with Mr. Sterling, promising that once they weathered this storm, she’d give him five percent of Vance Corp in company shares. Watching the video, seeing her red-rimmed eyes stubbornly offering Mr. Sterling ten percent of the company, my heart burned with fury, but I felt no pity. I had already spoken to Mr. Sterling, along with all my other trusted clients. No one would be doing business with that opportunist. He truly thought he could use my name to make a fortune? Dream on. Besides, Vance Corp was already entirely in the trust, and Ryan Vance was the designated beneficiary. My secretary continued to track their situation, and I listened silently to her report. A month passed with no contracts, and the harsh realities of life quickly caught up to them. Rent and utilities were due, and the two employees they’d hired needed to be paid. Liam’s mother, believing her son had become a big-shot CEO, went on a spending spree. She bought five gold bangles, rings for all ten fingers, and a mountain of “health” and beauty products. All told, it was easily over forty thousand dollars. You might ask where she got so much money. Well, Liam, eager to show off, had linked his PayPal to his mother’s, telling her to buy whatever she liked. He had no idea his penny-pinching mother, who used to haggle over pennies, would suddenly be dropping tens of thousands without batting an eye. When Liam and Scarlett went to the supermarket to buy groceries, the card was declined – insufficient funds. A frantic call revealed they were overdrawn by six thousand dollars. When Scarlett and Liam rushed home, they found Caleb, Liam’s younger brother, with his bleached blonde hair and lazy grin, glued to his phone, racking up charges on a game. Scarlett lunged forward, snatching the phone and smashing it on the floor. “Do you have any idea that’s our startup money, yours and Liam’s?! Who gave you permission to blow it on games?!” Seeing his broken phone, Caleb shoved Scarlett hard in the chest. “You bitch, it’s my brother’s money! What’s it to you?! Who the hell do you think you are?!” He raised his hand and slapped Scarlett across the face. Mrs. Miller quickly pulled back her youngest son, who was about to strike again, and then said in a mocking tone, “Well, well, I guess you just can’t marry a rich girl! No respect for elders, just smashing things before you’re even officially family. Do I, your future mother-in-law, even exist to you?” Scarlett, I was told, froze on the spot, clutching her stinging face. Growing up, no one had ever laid a hand on her, especially not a man. Scarlett was about to explode, but Liam grabbed her, pulled her into his arms, and dragged her into their room. From behind them, Mrs. Miller’s voice dripped with disdain. “Liam, you need to teach her a lesson today, or she’ll walk all over us! A woman with no manners like that, how can she be worthy of you?” For the first time, the couple had a screaming match about money inside their room. Liam ranted about the hardships his mother and brother faced, subtly blaming Scarlett for embarrassing them in public. Scarlett, however, was dumbfounded, staring at the man she had so wholeheartedly trusted. She’d been hit, and he hadn’t defended her. Instead, he was accusing her of only caring about money, telling her to prioritize family above all else. A few hundred thousand dollars used to be mere pocket money to Scarlett. Now, that money wasn’t just cash; it was the foundation proving she wasn’t wrong, the starting point of her ‘true love.’ But Liam kept going on and on about his mother and brother’s struggles. In that moment, something inside Scarlett began to crumble. Finally, Liam went to boil an egg for her swelling face, then softened his tone and coaxed her. “Scarlett, you’re from a noble family, you know? My mom and brother, they feel inferior. They’re afraid you look down on them.” “You smashed Caleb’s phone today. How can they possibly stay here now without losing face? If word gets back home, they’ll say I married a shrew!” “From now on, take out your anger on me. Hit me, yell at me, whatever you want, but you have to give them some respect.” He even raised his hand and lightly slapped his own face, starting to play the victim. “It’s all my fault for being useless, for not making more money and putting my wife in such a tough spot.” “I swear, from now on, all my money goes to you, my dear. You’ll be in charge of everything.” Eventually, under Liam’s sweet talk, Scarlett’s anger subsided. The next day, she, the new “head of the household,” actually sold the diamond necklace I’d flown to the US to bid on for her eighteenth birthday, just to fund Liam’s business. Liam perked up, sensing an opportunity. I knew it was time to bait the hook and reel him in.
At my signal, Mr. Sterling deliberately introduced Liam to a company. It was an old, established company, quite prominent in the city. But only I knew that an ethics committee had already begun investigating their criminal activities. They were set to implode within three months, tops. The company was desperate for cash and was actively seeking clients at inflated prices. After Mr. Sterling’s introduction, both sides immediately clicked. Liam wanted to use this opportunity to make his first big fortune. The other company wanted to take the money and run. With the promise of huge profits and the company’s long-standing reputation, Liam immediately transferred the eight hundred thousand dollars from the necklace sale into their account as a supply fund. He signed a long-term cooperation agreement. He had no idea this was his greed digging his own path to hell. Liam started frequenting fancy hotels, inviting former classmates and colleagues to lavish dinners, urging them to join his new company, already strutting around like a successful entrepreneur. Liam’s mother even called back home, boasting about how amazing her son was, signing multi-million dollar contracts with nearly a million in profit. Liam’s uncle immediately arrived with his son and daughter. His second aunt arrived with her daughter and son-in-law. Mrs. Miller instantly declared Liam’s uncle’s son the Vice President, and his second aunt’s daughter the Assistant Manager. The second aunt was furious. “Why is my daughter only assistant manager?! Liam and I are true siblings! How can outsiders interfere in our family company?” Her brother, Uncle Ben, slammed his hand on the table, bringing up past favors. In their heated argument, both families started throwing punches. Mrs. Miller couldn’t break them up and had to call Liam. When Liam rushed home, he found utter chaos. The TV was smashed on the floor, cups and vases shattered everywhere, and the marble coffee table lay broken in two. Even worse, his second aunt’s son-in-law had a bleeding head wound, and his uncle’s son couldn’t move due to a back injury. Liam looked at the crying, wailing mess of people and had no choice but to call an ambulance first. Scarlett, meanwhile, was wide-eyed, staring at the older relatives still shouting obscenities, until she heard Mrs. Miller declare that everyone would take turns being Vice President for six months. Only then did the two groups quiet down. The second aunt immediately demanded an annual salary of fifty thousand dollars, stating that no money should go to “outsiders.” Liam actually agreed without hesitation. In that moment, a sudden wave of dread washed over Scarlett. At the hospital, when the doctor asked for the admission fee, Uncle Frank and Aunt Carol immediately turned their eyes to Liam. Seeing this, Mrs. Miller quickly stepped forward. “Liam, your sister and brother are technically employees of your company now, right? So you should cover their medical bills.” Scarlett finally couldn’t hold back. “Carol, the company has a proper hiring process! They have no education, no experience! How can they be senior executives?” “And as for the medical bills, we can’t pay them. They got into a private brawl themselves! What does that have to do with Liam and me?” Mrs. Miller immediately lunged, slapping Scarlett across the face. “What gives you, a woman, the right to speak on men’s affairs?! My son’s money goes to whoever he wants! It’s not for some abandoned girl kicked out of her own home to decide!” Liam, too, roughly grabbed Scarlett, his tone harsh. “Scarlett, those are my family! How dare you speak to them like that?!” “It’s just a little medical fee! Once the shipment arrives, we’ll have millions in profit! Don’t be like your mother, caring only about money and having no warmth!” He glanced at the simple jade bangle on Scarlett’s wrist and said impatiently, “Scarlett, I’ve been entertaining a lot of clients lately, and I’m a bit tight on cash. Sell that bangle to cover the medical bills, and when I make money, I’ll buy you an even more expensive one.” Scarlett looked at Liam’s entitled expression, and for the first time, her eyes turned cold. “Liam, this bangle was my grandmother’s. I will not sell it to support a bunch of leeches.” Liam’s family instantly erupted, showering Scarlett with insults. “You little whore! Who are you calling a leech?! You shameless runaway, back in the day, they’d drown you for less!” They grabbed Scarlett’s clothes, pushing and shoving her. “If it weren’t for your mother owning a company, my family wouldn’t even want a shameless tramp like you! Now Liam’s a big boss, how can a stupid girl like you be worthy of him?!” Scarlett’s face was scratched, her hair ripped, and Mrs. Miller even slapped her several times. “My son even looking at you is your good fortune! And you dare to look down on our family?!” Scarlett cried out, calling for Liam. He just stood there coldly, watching. After a long moment, he finally walked forward, grabbed her arm, and tried to pry off the bangle. “Scarlett, it’s just a cheap bangle. Why make such a scene? You brought this on yourself!” Scarlett struggled desperately, then SMACK! Liam’s palm landed squarely on her face. Scarlett froze, tears streaming down her face like a broken dam. In that moment, her world collapsed into ruins. She wasn’t crying over the slap itself, but over her shattered faith in love and her trampled dignity. Liam didn’t coddle her with tenderness as he usually would. Instead, his face was cold as he forcefully ripped off the bangle. I stepped out from around the corner, my gaze chillingly sharp. “Liam, put the bangle down. I’ve already called the police.”
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