Chapter 4

Zoey’s POV

The stinging heat on my cheek radiated straight through my jaw, blinding and fierce. My vision swam for a second before the dim lights of the grand foyer flickered on, revealing the two women standing before me.

"How dare you humiliate this family!" a voice hissed.

I blinked through the haze, staring at the woman who had just struck me. She was older, dressed in an expensive designer gown, her face contorted in rage. Just behind her stood a younger girl in a white silk dress, her eyes wide with a doe-eyed, fragile innocence. For a disorienting, terrifying moment, I just stared at them. My modern mind was blank. Who are they?

Then, like a file loading into a computer, the original Zoey’s suppressed memories violently locked in place in my mind. The sudden realization hit me like a physical blow.

Vanessa and Lily.

Vanessa was Zoey’s stepmother, and Lily was the stepsister. But the truth was far more sinister than a simple blended family. In the pages of Crimson Chains, Vanessa had been Zoey’s biological mother’s closest friend. She had used that sisterly intimacy to slowly, meticulously poison her friend over a year, taking her place in Zoey’s father’s bed and bringing her own wretched daughter into their home.

The public thought Zoey was just a spoiled, bratty villain who treated her sweet new family like trash, but the reality inside these walls was a psychological horror. Lily was a master manipulator. She acted like a helpless angel in front of society, but behind closed doors, she had spent years whispering toxic advice into Zoey’s ear.

“You should surprise Kaiser at his office, Zoey. Go to him. Touch him. He just needs to know how much you love him.”

Lily knew about Kaiser’s severe haphephobia. She had intentionally driven the original Zoey to cross his physical boundaries, knowing he would eventually snap and destroy her. Lily wanted her stepsister out of the picture so she could swoop in, marry Kaiser, and claim the Vance empire. In the novel, Lily's plan ultimately failed because Kaiser ended up falling for the story's actual female lead instead—but the damage to Zoey had already been done. The original Zoey had swallowed their abuse, acting tough to the world while letting these two snakes walk all over her in her own house.

But I wasn't the original Zoey.

"Do you have any idea what the board members are saying?" Vanessa snarled, stepping into my space, her hand raised as if she was ready to strike me a second time. "You let Kaiser embarrass you at the office, and then you get into a car with a disgusting—"

CRACK!

The sound echoed like a gunshot.

Vanessa’s head snapped violently to the side, her perfect, expensive updo collapsing as she staggered back into a nearby pillar. She clutched her burning cheek, her eyes wide with absolute shock. Behind her, Lily let out a sharp, horrified gasp, her hands flying to her mouth.

I then stepped forward, my tailored heels clicking with lethal precision on the marble, my shadow looming over her.

"If you ever lay a finger on me again," I whispered, my voice dripping with an icy, lethal venom that made both of them visibly flinch, "I won’t just slap you back. I will go directly to my father."

Vanessa’s breath hitched.

"You think you can play the dominant matriarch in my house?" I let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Let me remind you of your place, Vanessa. My father dotes on me because I carry the exact face of the only woman he ever truly loved. If I show him the bruises you just left on his late wife's daughter, he will strip you of your title, and throw you out on the street where you belong.

“Try me."

Vanessa trembled, her face pale beneath her bold makeup. She knew I was right. My father's blind devotion to his late wife was the only reason Zoey had been allowed to be so reckless in the first place.

Seeing her mother completely defeated, Lily immediately shifted into her victim persona. She stepped forward, tears pooling perfectly in her large, stupid eyes as she reached out to grab my arm.

"Zoey, please! Mom didn't mean it, she was just stressed about the family's reputation," Lily whimpered, her voice soft and sweet, trying to weave her web of manipulation again. "We just want you to be happy. You know Kaiser loves a woman who chases him. If you just go back to his penthouse tomorrow and tell him—"

"Get your filthy hands off me," I snapped, violently throwing her hand off my arm.

The force of my shove sent her stumbling back, her fake, innocent mask slipping into a brief look of pure malice before she recovered. I didn't give her another second of my time, I turned my back on them and marched up the grand staircase.

I threw open the doors to Zoey’s master bedroom and locked them firmly behind me.

When I flipped the light switch, I nearly gagged. The room was a literal shrine to madness. Every single wall was covered with pictures of Kaiser Vance. His cold, amber eyes stared down at me from a hundred different angles.

"Psycho," I muttered, shivering as I immediately began pulling the pictures off the wall, throwing them face-down into a large storage bin.

I forced myself through a hot shower to wash off the day's filth and completed a strict skin-care routine to soothe the swelling on my cheek. Clad in plain black silk pajamas, I finally climbed into the massive king-sized bed. My body was exhausted, but my mind was still wired.

My phone suddenly buzzed on the nightstand. I opened it to find an email notification from the automated HR system at Vance Global. As Kaiser's senior personal assistant, all corporate hiring data routed through me first.

Subject: Approved List of Incoming Corporate Interns – Fall 2025 for the next three months.

I opened the attached P*F list, scrolling through the names with a yawn, ready to approve the onboarding data and go to sleep. My eyes skimmed past the typical Ivy League graduates and wealthy legacy hires.

Then, my gaze froze.

Halfway down the page, a single name printed in bold black letters caught my eye.

My heart seemed to stop. A cold, suffocating wave of adrenaline surged through my veins, and my fingers went entirely numb. The phone slipped from my hand, clattering heavily onto the duvet.

No. No, no, no.