Chapter 7

Liana stood on her balcony, cold wind rustling the sheer ivory curtains behind her.

She listened to the frantic, toxic rage pouring through the phone speaker, feeling remarkably untethered from the fear that used to grip her chest whenever Victor raised his voice.

She took a slow, deliberate breath, resting her hand against the marble railing.

When she spoke, the quiet, subservient pitch she had maintained for thirty-six brutal months was gone.

In its place was a smooth, crystal-clear tone, sharp as polished glass and impossibly cold.

"I haven't sabotaged anything, Victor," Liana said, her voice dropping into a deadly, unbothered calm that hit like a physical wall.

"Your business is collapsing under the weight of your own incompetence and arrogance. Our marriage is over. Do not call this number again. Moving forward, you will speak strictly to my legal representative, Cassian Carver."

Victor went completely silent on the other end, stunned into a brief, disbelieving quiet.

He opened his mouth to bark another command, but Liana tapped the red icon on her screen, cutting off his voice mid-sentence.

She casually slipped the phone back into her pocket, turning her gaze back to the sunlit estate gardens below, completely unbothered.

In the executive penthouse of Hayes Enterprises, Victor stared at the disconnected call screen in absolute, shock-induced fury.

His hands shook violently as he slammed the mobile device onto his glass desk, shattering the screen protector into a spiderweb of cracks.

"She hung up on me!" Victor roared, his face flushing dark crimson as he paced back and forth across his office.

"That penniless, useless nobody actually hung up on me!"

Miranda, who was reclining on a leather sofa sipping an iced latte, sat up, her dark brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Victor, calm down. You’re letting that bug get under your skin. She’s probably sitting on some filthy couch in a low-rent apartment, weeping into a paper cup. She’s just trying to play hard to get because she knows she’s nothing without you."

"She mentioned Cassian Carver!" Victor snapped, glaring at his mistress.

"Why the hell would a top-tier litigator like Cassian Carver even look at her case? She must have begged some low-level associate at his firm to write a scary letter!"

Victor marched over to Miranda, grabbing her by her shoulders, his eyes wild with panic.

"Find out where she’s staying, Miranda. Right now! Contact your high-society friends, check every cheap motel, every budget boarding house in the city limits. I want to know whose floor she's sleeping on so I can drag her back here!"

Miranda sneered, pulling out her golden smartphone.

"Fine, fine. I’ll ask around my social group. Nobody hides in this city without the socialites knowing about it."

For thirty minutes, Miranda sent messages across her elite group chats, asking if anyone had spotted a destitute, pale woman matching Liana’s description booking cheap lodging or seeking temporary shelter.

Instead of finding news of a homeless outcast, her high-society group chats exploded with a completely different, explosive rumor.

“Have you guys heard? The Carver family held a private press lock-in this morning!”

“The lost princess of the Carver dynasty has been found!”

“She’s living in the Carver main estate right now under maximum security! No photos have been released yet, but they say she’s making her public debut tonight!”

Miranda stared at her phone screen, her manicured nails digging into the casing. She swallowed hard, hiding the sudden spike of jealousy twisting in her gut.

She had been trying to secure an invitation to a Carver family event for years without success.

Now, a mysterious heiress was stepping out of nowhere into ultimate luxury.

"Did you find her?" Victor demanded, standing over Miranda with frantic impatience.

"Forget about Liana for a second, Victor!" Miranda lied smoothly, putting her phone away with a practiced, charming smile.

"My friends just confirmed that the Carver family is hosting the annual elite charity gala tonight at the Grand Imperial Hotel. The entire high-society board will be there—every major venture capitalist and banker in the country!"

Miranda wrapped her arms around Victor’s neck, her eyes gleaming with ambitious hunger.

"You need new investors to save Hayes Enterprises, right? Take me as your date tonight, Victor. Once we walk onto that floor, we can charm the board members, prove our company is stable, and secure new credit lines before Carver Group’s freeze goes public!"

Victor hesitated, the financial pressure pressing heavily against his chest.

"A charity gala? We don't have a formal invitation..."

"I can get us entry passes through my sponsor contacts," Miranda purred, kissing his cheek softly. "Trust me, Victor. Tonight, we rewrite the narrative."

Back at the Carver estate, the atmosphere in Liana's private suite was charged with quiet anticipation.

A team of world-renowned haute couture stylists, makeup artists, and hair curators buzzed around Liana under Dante’s strict, watchful eye.

Liana sat before a gilded vanity mirror, wearing a tailored, floor-length gown of midnight-blue silk that hugged her slender frame, exposing her collarbones with timeless, regal grace.

Her hair fell in soft, dark waves over her shoulders, and her natural, ethereal beauty shone through minimal, flawless makeup.

The heavy double doors of her dressing suite opened quietly, and Leo walked in, flanked by Cassian.

Both men wore dark, bespoke tuxedos, looking terrifyingly handsome and aristocratic.

Leo stopped behind Liana’s chair, his dark eyes softening as he looked at his sister in the mirror. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a heavy, dark-velvet display case.

With a soft click, Leo opened the box.

Dante gasped, and even the high-end stylists gasped in awe. Resting on the black velvet was the legendary Heart of the Aurora—a breathtaking, seventy-carat natural pink diamond necklace suspended on a platinum chain encrusted with flawless pink and white diamonds.

It was an irreplaceable museum piece, valued at over eighty million dollars, bought by the Carver estate decades ago.

Leo personally lifted the heavy necklace, gently draping the platinum chain over Liana’s neck.

The massive pink diamond rested perfectly against her collarbone, catching the warm light of the chandelier and casting soft, radiant pink sparks across her skin.

"Leo..." Liana whispered, resting her fingertips against the cool diamond, her eyes wide with shock.

"This is too much... I can't wear something this historic."

Leo placed his large, warm hands gently on her shoulders, leaning down to meet her gaze in the vanity mirror.

His voice was filled with deep, absolute conviction that sent a wave of warmth straight to her soul.

"Nothing in this world is too much for you, Liana," Leo said softly, looking at Cassian and Dante, who both smiled with fierce family pride.

"For three years, that pathetic trash made you hide in the dark and doubt your worth."

Leo raised his head, his eyes hardening into a brilliant, formidable gaze as he declared to his brothers:

"Tonight, the entire country will bow before the Carver princess. Let's go show the world who you really are."