Chapter 1

“So, Stephen. You plan to tear up our vow?”

I pulled out a handkerchief. Wiped a single crimson drop from my fingertip. Slowly.

Victoria scoffed.

She tossed her wavy blonde hair, looking down at me.

“Yvette, please get a grip. This isn’t ‘tearing up.’”

“It’s ‘optimizing the business structure.’ We’re cutting out worthless parasites.”

With that, she slammed a new contract down in front of me.

“I’ve seen the company’s early corporate structure.”

“Besides that shady ‘honorary’ title, you have no role in this company. No decision-making power.”

“The Blackwood family has been more than generous, keeping you for this long. We’ve done enough.”

The moment she finished, the Wall Street suits at the main table started whispering.

I didn’t need my enhanced hearing to catch the gossip.

In just one year, this fiancée from some old New York money had cemented her image as an iron-fisted queen.

“Victoria’s right. What global corporation tolerates a ghost who does nothing but collect the biggest check?”

“Exactly. Stephen’s been running us ragged this past year, and we brought in 30 billion.”

“And most of the profit goes into the pocket of some useless freeloader? Why?”

I ignored the buzzing.

My eyes scanned the contract. Coldly.

The tribute section. My sixty percent was slashed. To one-tenth of one percent.

There was even a new clause at the bottom. Demanding I unconditionally surrender all my hidden privileges.

I looked up. At Stephen, who had been playing deaf this whole time.

“Is this what you want?”

Stephen was swirling the crystal glass in his hand.

At my question, he finally looked up at me.

His ice-blue eyes held the pity and annoyance unique to the successful.

“Yvette, Victoria’s blunt, but she’s right.”

“The Blackwood Group is in a critical expansion phase with NASDAQ. Every cent has to count.”

He put down his glass, his voice dripping with elite superiority.

“I took charge a year ago. I multiplied our value thirtyfold. That 30 billion? My team and I earned that.”

“And you? What do you do? Hide on the top floor, out of the sun. Mess with your weird red drinks.”

Stephen leaned back in his high-backed chair.

“I’m not my father. I don’t care about ancient debts.”

“Times have changed, Yvette. Contribution is power. You can’t just coast on my ancestors’ charity forever.”

I stared at his handsome, ambitious face.

For a moment, it blurred. Overlaid with another face, filthy and covered in blood.

Six hundred years ago, on a snow-swept European battlefield.

A young soldier named William, bleeding, kneeling at my feet. His voice trembled as he made his vow.

“A gift from the Queen of Eternal Night. William will never forget.”

“From this day on, I am your servant. The lion’s share of every coin I earn is yours.”

I was just bored back then. I gave him a new life with a drop of my blood and a chest of gold.

But that stupidly loyal man fought his way up, building a business that became a global conglomerate, all the way to North America.

Before he died, William made his son swear a blood oath. The Blackwood family must serve me with their lives, for all generations.

Six hundred years. A blink of an eye.

William’s bloodline ran for twelve generations. Down to Stephen.

A flaw in the bloodline. He didn't just grow an ego. He grew the audacity to bite the hand that feeds him.

“Are you zoning out?”

Victoria tapped her nails on the table, annoyed at my silence.

“Don’t think you can play dead and get out of this.”

She crossed her arms, striking a power pose.

“Stephen’s soft. He’s leaving you a tenth of a percent. That’s still millions a year.”

“Enough for a parasite who lives off the past to live like a decent human being.”

“Just sign it. Let’s all walk away from this with some dignity.”

I picked up the Montblanc pen from the table. Twirled it between my fingers.

Then, with a snap, I threw it back down.

“And if I don’t?”

Victoria froze. She clearly didn’t expect me to fight back.

The fake smile on her face shattered.

“Yvette, are you deaf?”

“Do you really think the Blackwood Group will go bankrupt without you?”

“You think Stephen can’t have Wall Street freeze all your offshore accounts tomorrow with one phone call?”

Her voice rose, sharp and shrill, drawing more eyes from across the room.

I looked at her, red-faced and furious. I just felt… bored.

It was all mine to begin with. But these people, in their greed, acted like I was the one stealing from them.

“Go ahead. Freeze them.”

I stood up gracefully, done wasting my time on this ignorant little girl.

“I’m not signing this garbage.”

I looked Stephen straight in the eye.

“You think that 30 billion was all you.”

“So let’s see just how long your ‘brilliant’ abilities last on their own.”

Without another look, I turned and walked toward the ballroom doors.

Victoria’s vicious sneer followed me.

“Putting on a show? Without the Blackwood fortune, let’s see how long an old relic who can’t even read a balance sheet lasts before you’re starving on the street!”