All Chapters of The True Heiress, His Worst Nightmare: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The tension in the hall reached a breaking point.For a moment after Curtis’s outburst, no one moved. The guards stood ready, Mr. Woods remained composed, and the guests watched with growing curiosity. It had gone beyond a simple confrontation now. This was no longer about pride or anger. It was about power, truth, and something deeper that none of them fully understood yet.Then Rosa’s sharp voice cut through the silence.“You must’ve slept with the manager so he’d help you,” she said, her tone dripping with accusation and disgust.A wave of murmurs passed through the crowd. Some guests exchanged glances, while others leaned in slightly, eager to hear what would come next.“Tessa,” Lauren added, stepping forward with that same carefully crafted innocent expression, “even if you’re divorced, you shouldn’t be so promiscuous.”Curtis let out a dry scoff, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Tessa.“Tessa, are you that desperate?” he asked, his voice filled with disdain.The words hung i

The moment Jason’s words settled in the air, it felt like the entire hall had been struck silent by force. The guests who had been whispering moments ago now watched openly, their curiosity no longer hidden. This was no longer a private dispute. It had become a public unraveling.Lauren stared at Jason like she had misheard him.“Jason, what did you say?” she snapped, her voice sharp, her eyes searching his face for any sign that he was joking.Jason didn’t look away.“I said, apologize to Tessa,” he repeated calmly, his gaze steady as it dropped slightly to meet hers.There was no hesitation in his tone. No softness either. Just a quiet authority that made it clear he meant every word.Curtis stepped forward immediately, his brows furrowed in confusion.“Mr. Dean, are you mistaken?” he said, trying to keep his composure, though the strain was obvious. “Tessa is the one who should apologize to Lauren.”Jason turned his head slightly toward him, then calmly reached up to adjust his g

The morning came with a strange calm.After everything that had happened the previous night, Tessa had expected to wake up feeling heavy, maybe even restless, her mind still pulling at the loose threads of all that had unravelled. But instead, there was a quiet stillness in her chest. Not peace exactly; she wasn't sure she remembered what that felt like but something close enough to let her breathe without that constant tightness pressing against her ribs.The Dean mansion was different in the daytime.Sunlight streamed in through the wide glass windows, casting a warm glow across the polished floors and high ceilings. The space felt alive yet controlled, as though every detail had been carefully arranged to create comfort without surrendering its elegance. It was the kind of home that had been lived in with intention, and the difference between that and what she had come from was not lost on her.Tessa sat at the long dining table, her posture straight but relaxed, a plate of bre

Curtis's mocking voice still lingered in the air, but this time, Tessa didn't ignore it.She turned slowly to face him, her expression calm, almost indifferent, the kind of composure that isn't performed but simply arrived at after surviving enough. Her eyes, however, held something sharper; something that hadn't been there before, something that had been quietly sharpening itself over the past few days without her realizing it.There was no hesitation. No attempt to soften what was coming."It's not you, that's for sure," she said plainly.Her voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. It carried cleanly through the space between them, precise and unhurried."I don't have a habit of eating rotten food."The insult landed without ceremony.A few people nearby stiffened slightly, gazes dropping to plates or glasses, pretending they hadn't heard while clearly having heard every word. The tension that had been building quietly between them pushed forward now, no longer content to stay be

The tension in the room had shifted completely.What started as a normal auction had now turned into something far more personal. The air was thick, not with excitement, but with rivalry. Every gaze in the room had subtly shifted toward one direction; Tessa, Curtis, and Lauren.No one was pretending anymore.Everyone was watching.“Tessa,” Lauren said, breaking the silence with a light scoff, though her voice carried a sharp edge. “It’s 80 million, not 8 thousand. You’d better not run out of money and ask Curtis for it later.”Her lips curved into a small, confident smile as she leaned back slightly, crossing one leg over the other. The jab was meant to humiliate, to remind Tessa of where she once stood.But Tessa didn’t react the way she expected.Instead, she smiled.It was that same quiet confidence that had been unsettling Lauren since the moment she walked into the room.“Don’t worry,” Curtis whispered to Lauren, leaning closer to her, his voice low but firm. “I won’t give her a