All Chapters of The Substitute Heiress : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

General POVNo one had entered Alessa’s office in three years.Silas told her that himself as he stepped aside and allowed her to walk in first. The door opened without resistance, as if it had been waiting for her hand all along. The room was larger than most offices on that floor, positioned at the corner of the building where the windows caught the city at its widest angle.“It was forbidden,” Silas said behind her. “No one used it, except for Beatrice who always come here once in a week to clean it,"Alessa moved slowly, taking it in.The desk stood exactly where it should be, angled slightly toward the windows rather than the door. Shelves lined one wall, filled with files arranged neatly in order. A small seating area sat near the far end.The place was well cleaned.This place didn't look like no one had used it in three years, It had simply been waiting.“It was her second home,” Rowan said, standing just inside the doorway. “She practically lived here.”Alessa rested her hand

Alessa’s POVLucius dropped me at the mansion long after the estate had gone quiet.The drive had been calm. He spoke easily, pointed out landmarks I didn’t recognize, joked about a restaurant we used to like and a view I was supposed to remember. There was comfort in his voice, familiarity in the way he reached for my hand at red lights, as if he had done it a thousand times before and expected my body to respond the same way now. He had told me lots of things that day, like our first official date, vacations, and other things that were supposed to excite me. But I waited for him to talk about the fight, the misunderstanding we had, but he never made mention of it. But I would wait. Maybe he didn't want to say that yet.When we pulled into the circular drive, the house was lit from within. Warm light spilled through the tall windows, outlining the structure against the dark.Lucius leaned across and kissed my cheek. “Text me when you’re inside.”“I will,” I said.He watched me walk

Alessa came back to herself slowly.Not all at once, not with panic, but with a dull awareness that something was wrong because nothing felt clear. The ceiling above her was unfamiliar. Too white, and yet smooth. The air smelled clean in a way that did not belong to apartments or galleries. Her head ached deeply, not sharp anymore, but heavy, as if something inside it had been stirred and had not yet settled.Voices reached her before she opened her eyes.“Why is she still not awake,” Chloe demanded. “You’re a doctor. Do something, don't just stand there.”“She collapsed,” the doctor replied, measured but firm. “She needs rest. Let her rest.”“That’s not an answer,” Chloe shot back. “She was fine and then she wasn’t. You don’t just stand there, and you want me to let her rest?”Alessa tried to speak and failed the first time. Her throat felt dry, her tongue slow.“Chloe,” she managed, the word barely more than breath.The room went quiet instantly.Chloe was at her side in seconds, gr

Alessa’s POVThe boardroom was already crowded when I arrived.Not just with people, but with expectations. The kind that pressed in from every direction and made the air feel thinner than it should have been. Executives were leaning toward one another, voices low, papers already shuffled into anxious piles. Someone stopped speaking the moment I entered. Another followed half a second later.I took my seat without acknowledging any of it.The questions came quickly.Someone wanted clarity on exposure. Someone else wanted reassurance on capital allocation. Another asked whether entering the tech sector so publicly was wise, given how long Vanderbilt had stayed adjacent to it instead of inside it.I answered none of them at first.Eleanor waited until the rhythm of doubt was established before speaking, exactly the way she always did.“This expansion feels rushed,” she said, her tone smooth enough to pass for concern. “Ambitious, yes. But aggressive. We are talking about sectors that ev

Third Person POVSilas Vanderbilt had been sitting in his office long enough for the ice in his glass to melt completely.He hadn’t noticed when it happened.The lights were low, just set the way he preferred them at night. Enough to see clearly without feeling exposed. The estate was quiet.Papers were spread neatly across his desk, but he wasn’t reading them. He already knew what they said. He had read them earlier, twice maybe. Numbers didn’t change just because you looked at them longer.The screens on the wall updated silently. Market movements, with internal metrics. Security feeds rotating through familiar angles. Marcus stood nearby, waiting.Silas didn’t look at him when he spoke.“How was her day?” Silas asked eventually.Marcus answered without hesitation. “She arrived early. Meetings most of the day. Left briefly in the afternoon.”Silas shifted slightly in his chair. “Where did she go?”“The gallery,” Marcus replied. “Stayed a little over two hours.”Silas nodded.“And a