The rain in the city felt like a funeral, but as I drove across the bridge toward the private estate of the Vance family, it felt like a baptism. Every mile I put between myself and the penthouse was a mile closer to the woman I used to be before Mark Thorne had systematically hollowed me out.
I pulled up to the massive iron gates of the Vance Manor. These gates hadn't opened for me in five years. Not since I had told my grandfather, Silas Vance, that I was giving up my inheritance to marry a "brilliant young man with a dream."
The security guard stepped out, his flashlight cutting through the downpour. He looked at my bedraggled hair and my soaked clothes, his expression turning from stern to shocked.
"Miss... Miss Aria?"
"Open the gate, Jim," I said, my voice cracking but steady. "The Prodigal Daughter is home."
The gates groaned open. I drove up the winding path lined with ancient oaks, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had nothing. No luggage, no money, no husband. But as the silhouette of the three-story stone mansion appeared, I realized I had something Mark could never steal.
I had the Vance bloodline.
I stepped out of the car, the cold wind whipping my wet hair across my face. The front doors swung open before I could even reach for the knocker.
Standing there was a man who looked like he was carved out of granite. Silas Vance, the "King of the Atlantic," leaned on his silver-headed cane. His eyes, as sharp as a hawk's, scanned my shivering form.
"You look like a drowned rat," he grumbled, though his voice was thick with an emotion he refused to show.
"I look like a fool, Grandpa," I replied, walking into the warm, marble-floored foyer. "I let a scavenger eat at my table for five years while I starved for his affection."
Silas didn't offer a hug. The Vances didn't do hugs. Instead, he turned to his butler. "Get her a cognac. And call the stylist. I want every trace of that man's 'housewife' scrubbed off her by morning."
He looked back at me. "I heard about the shares, Aria. My sources tell me Mark is already bragging at the club that he owns your soul."
"He owns a folder of empty promises," I said, taking the crystal glass of cognac the butler offered. The liquid burned my throat, sparking a fire in my chest. "He doesn't know I filed a 'Conflict of Interest' clause in the original company bylaws three years ago. If he commits adultery, his voting rights are frozen for ninety days. He thinks he's celebrating a victory. He's actually just walked into a cage."
Silas chuckled a dry, dangerous sound. "That's my girl. But ninety days isn't enough to kill a man like him. You need a hammer. A heavy one."
"I know," I said. "That's why I need you to set up a meeting with the Thorne-Vance Group's biggest creditor."
Silas raised an eyebrow. "You mean Lucian Thorne? His own cousin?"
I froze. Lucian Thorne. The "Black Sheep" of the Thorne family. He was the man Mark feared most a cold-blooded venture capitalist who had built a rival empire just to spite the family that had cast him out.
"He hates Mark," I whispered.
"He hates everyone," Silas corrected. "But he's currently sitting in my library. He's looking to buy Mark's debt and liquidate the company by the end of the month."
My heart leaped. This was the shortcut I needed.
"Take me to him."
"In those clothes?" Silas gestured to my ruined blouse and the mascara running down my face.
"Especially in these clothes," I said, my eyes flashing. "I want him to see exactly what Mark Thorne is willing to throw away. It'll make him realize that if Mark could do this to his wife, he'll do it to his business partners. It makes Mark a liability."
I didn't wait for permission. I pushed past the heavy oak doors of the library.
The room smelled of old paper, expensive tobacco, and something dangerous. Sitting in a leather wingback chair was a man who looked like he belonged on the cover of a dark romance novel. His suit was charcoal gray, his hair was dark and perfectly styled, and his eyes a piercing, icy blue lifted from a file to rest on me.
Lucian Thorne didn't move. He didn't even blink. He just watched me as I stood there, dripping water onto his expensive Persian rug.
"Aria Vance," he said, his voice a deep, melodic baritone that sent a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. "Or should I call you Mrs. Thorne?"
"Aria Vance will do fine," I said, walking toward him. "Mrs. Thorne died an hour ago."
Lucian stood up. He was tall towering over me and his presence seemed to suck the air out of the room. He walked around the desk, his gaze lingering on the red marks on my wrists where I had gripped the steering wheel too tight.
"Mark is a fool," Lucian said quietly, his voice like velvet over steel. "I knew he was a thief, but I didn't know he was a blind man. To have a diamond and treat it like a pebble..."
He reached out, his thumb grazing my cheek, wiping away a smudge of mascara. His touch was electric, making my breath hitch.
"I hear you want to destroy him," he whispered, leaning closer until I could smell the faint scent of cedarwood on his skin. "But why should I help you? I can take his company without your help."
I looked up at him, refusing to flinch. "Because you can take the company, Lucian. But I can take his dignity. I know every secret, every offshore account, and every lie he told to get to the top. You want the money. I want the blood. Partner with me, and I'll give you both on a silver platter."
Lucian's lips curved into a predatory smirk. He reached for a bottle of wine on the table and poured a single glass, handing it to me.
"A partnership, then," he said. "But be warned, Aria. I don't play fair. And once we start this fire, there's no putting it out until everything Mark Thorne loves is ash."
I took the glass, my fingers brushing his. "Good. I've always liked the smell of smoke."
At that moment, my phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from Mark.
Mark: "Don't bother coming back for your things. I've already had the locks changed. Sarah is moving in tonight. Enjoy the rain, you pathetic loser."
I showed the screen to Lucian.
Lucian didn't even look at the phone. He looked at me. "Would you like to send a reply?"
"No," I said, dropping the phone into the dregs of my wine glass. "I don't talk to ghosts. I only bury them."
Lucian laughed, a low, dark sound that echoed through the library. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Princess Vance. Let's get to work."