The Vance Family

The hysterical screams tearing from Mrs. Vance’s throat shattered the remaining silence in the room. She knelt in the pooling blood, clutching at her unconscious son with trembling hands. Seeing the older woman’s sheer devastation, the initial panic on Chloe’s face vanished. A dark, predatory gleam took its place.

The bleeding man on the floor was Declan Vance, the only son and sole heir to the Vance Corporation. Born in the autumn of his parents' lives, Declan had been spoiled beyond reason. The Vance family wielded tremendous wealth and influence, utilizing every resource to sweep their darling son’s endless trail of trouble under the rug. Unchecked power bred unhinged behavior. Declan had grown lawless, notoriously driven by his lust, never taking no for an answer when a pretty woman caught his eye.

Chloe knew all of this. She held a bitter grudge against Serena for the public humiliation she suffered earlier in the evening. Knowing Serena was still Damian's wife and that tonight was Senior Sinclair's milestone birthday party, Chloe understood she could not strike at Serena directly. She needed a proxy. Tessa was the perfect target.

Chloe's original twisted scheme had been simple: lure the guests to this VIP room to catch Tessa and Declan in the middle of intercourse. She wanted the high-society crowd to brand Serena's assistant as a cheap, promiscuous climber. By embarrassing Tessa, she would humiliate Serena.

Finding Declan unconscious with a smashed head was a shock, but Chloe adapted fast. The chaotic reality was even better than her plan.

"Mrs. Vance!" Chloe stepped out of the whispering crowd, pointing an accusing finger straight at the trembling assistant. "Your son was hurt by that indecent woman!"

Mrs. Vance’s weeping stopped. Her head snapped up. Her tear-streaked face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage. She pushed herself off the blood-stained carpet and marched toward the dazed, weeping Tessa. The older woman raised her hand high, aiming a vicious slap at the girl's pale cheek.

Before the palm could connect, a slender hand shot out and gripped Mrs. Vance’s wrist mid-air.

Serena stood firm, physically inserting herself between the furious socialite and her terrified friend. She shoved Mrs. Vance’s arm back with steady force.

A flash of delight crossed Chloe’s eyes. She seized the opening to twist the knife deeper. "Mrs. Vance, you should know Mrs. Sinclair is the one who brought Miss Blair to this party tonight."

Mrs. Vance’s fierce glare shifted to Serena. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths. "So, you're the one who dragged this bitch here to hurt my son?"

Serena stood tall, refusing to back down. "Mrs. Vance, your son cornered Tessa in this room. He tried to molest her first. She acted out of pure self-defense."

"Did he? Or did she try to seduce him and fail?" Chloe retorted, her voice dripping with disdain. She paced forward, ensuring the surrounding crowd hung onto her every word. "Think about it. As the only heir to the Vance family, Declan can have any woman he wants. Celebrities, runway models, elite socialites—they throw themselves at him. He has endless choices. Does it make any logical sense for a man of his stature to force himself on some no-name, plain-looking assistant?"

The guests shifted their gazes to Tessa, murmuring in hushed tones.

Tessa was not an ethereal, show-stopping beauty like Serena. She possessed a quiet, exquisite charm. Her facial features were delicate, her eyes clear, and her youthful spirit gave her a fresh, clean aura. Anyone familiar with Declan’s filthy habits knew he had a sickening obsession with pure, untainted girls. Tessa was exactly his preferred type. Yet, in a room full of opportunistic elites, no one dared to point out the truth and offend the powerful Vance family.

Mrs. Vance glared at Tessa with raw contempt. "Exactly!" she spat. "My son would never look twice at a cheap bitch like you! I bet you tried to play Cinderella tonight, and when your pathetic seduction failed, you threw a tantrum and bashed my son's head in!"

The injustice hung thick in the air. Tessa’s dress was ripped into jagged strips at the shoulder. Her hair was a tangled mess. Anyone with eyes could read the signs of a struggle and an attempted assault. Yet, Mrs. Vance willfully ignored the blatant evidence, shifting all the blame onto the traumatized victim.

"Serena," Mrs. Vance snarled, her tone unreasonable and demanding. "I know you brought her. Because of Damian, I will let you off the hook. But this little bitch..." She jabbed a finger at Tessa, her eyes burning with malice. "I must have a say in how I want to punish her!"

Tessa shrank behind Serena. She was just an ordinary girl, thrust into a nightmare she could never have imagined. The heavy realization settled over her that she had severely injured a powerful man and dragged Serena into a dangerous feud.

All color drained from Tessa's face. "Serena, I—"

"Don't worry," Serena said softly, her voice steady and resolute. She squeezed Tessa's shaking hand. "I will handle this."

Tessa’s nose twitched, and she pressed her lips tightly together to stop herself from bursting into loud sobs.

Serena turned her sharp gaze back to the fuming matriarch. "Your son tried to molest her. Tessa was just acting in self-defense. I am sorry about his injury, Mrs. Vance, but I cannot hand Tessa over to you."

Chloe refused to let the tension drop. She eagerly added fuel to the fire. "It is not your place to decide if she deliberately harmed Declan or if it was self-defense. The truth has the final say."

The truth was fragile. Declan had not succeeded in his assault. Tessa claimed self-defense, but she had no witnesses. The only tangible evidence in the room was a wealthy heir with his head smashed badly, bleeding out on the carpet. The elites in the room knew Declan's rotten core, but offending the Vance family was career suicide. If push came to shove, Serena knew half these guests would gladly perjure themselves to testify against Tessa just to curry favor with Mrs. Vance.

The suffocating standoff was suddenly broken.

"What happened?"

A cold, low, alluring voice sliced through the heavy atmosphere.

The whispering crowd instantly parted. Damian Sinclair stepped into the room, his imposing presence demanding immediate submission. Vivian walked closely by his side, scanning the wreckage of the private lounge.

Seeing the man arrive, Chloe’s eyes lit up. She rushed forward, desperate to control the narrative.

"Damian, it's Tessa, that bi—" Chloe caught herself just in time, swallowing the crass word. She quickly smoothed her expression into one of deep concern and backtracked. "Tessa had terrible intentions while you and Ms. Sterling were out wishing Senior Sinclair a happy birthday. She sneaked in here to seduce Declan. When he rejected her, she snapped. She got angry and smashed his head! Look at him, Declan is still lying on the floor!"

Damian followed her pointing finger. His dark eyes locked onto Declan’s bleeding form.

He ignored Chloe’s frantic storytelling. "Have you called the ambulance?"

Serena met his gaze. "Yes."

"Mr. Sinclair." Mrs. Vance’s usually gracious face was distorted by fury. She visibly struggled to rein in her screaming in front of the powerful young CEO, but the raw hostility in her tone bled through. "As the host of this party, you owe me an explanation. My only son suffered this severe injury under your roof. What are you going to do about this?"

Damian shifted his gaze to the grieving mother. His handsome face remained an unreadable, stoic mask. The air around him grew colder.

"Rest assured, Mrs. Vance," he replied, his tone smooth yet carrying an undeniable weight. "I promise I will give you a full account of this matter. But assigning blame means nothing if we lose him. The top priority right now is getting your son to the hospital. We cannot risk delaying his medical treatment."

Right on cue, the distant wail of sirens grew loud outside the estate. The paramedics arrived, pushing through the crowd with their medical kits. Mrs. Vance knew Damian was right. Her son's life mattered more than immediate vengeance.

As the medics hoisted Declan onto a stretcher, Mrs. Vance turned back. She fixed Tessa with a hateful, venomous glare. "Just you wait!" she hissed.

She shot Serena one last warning stare before turning on her heel and following the stretcher out of the room.

With the matriarch gone, the immediate danger seemed to pass, but the tension in the room remained suffocating. Chloe, unwilling to let her setup fail, opened her mouth to continue slandering the two women.

Damian did not even spare Chloe a passing glance. He dismissed the scheming woman’s existence, shutting her down without a single word.

Instead, he stepped further into the room. The oppressive weight of his attention shifted. His dark, penetrating eyes bypassed the shattered lamp, the blood on the carpet, and the weeping assistant.

His gaze landed squarely on Serena.

Specifically, his eyes swept over the new, ugly outfit she had changed into. The harsh, judgmental stare locked onto the fabric, raking up and down her frame. The silence stretched, thick and dangerous, as he stared at her clothes, leaving everyone holding their breath, waiting for him to open his mouth.