All Chapters of My Fiancé Humiliated the Wrong Heiress: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I didn’t answer Adrian right away.The pastry chef was still waiting for my opinion on the revised dessert. I took another bite and told him to reduce the raspberry coulis before dinner service.Mia stepped off the stage, her face arranged into the kind of pity people reserved for the guilty.“The company is practically bleeding out because of you, and you’re still critiquing cake?”Laughter moved through the ballroom.“She showed up twenty-three times and probably spent half of them planning parties.”“Anyone else would’ve been fired months ago.”I looked at the screen.Mia had removed the emails, meeting notes, and letters of intent attached to every photograph. She had shown only the hours I hadn’t spent behind a desk.“Turn off the presentation,” I said.She arched a brow. “Afraid of what else people might see?”“This is a formal reception, not your personal livestream. Pull up the complete transaction record, and we’ll go through it line by line before the investors arrive.”She l

I had barely turned toward the exit when Mia glanced at Adrian.He gave a slight nod.Two security guards stepped in front of me.“You’re not leaving yet.”Mia placed a document on the table. The heading read Project Withdrawal and Continuing Cooperation Agreement.Two pages were enough to make me laugh.The agreement required me to admit that I had stolen Mia’s credit, resign as Director of Business Development, transfer my voting proxy to Adrian, and continue managing the company’s investors and strategic partners for three years.I also had to keep my personal guarantees in place and remain silent about how the relationships had been secured.In exchange, Cross Meridian would refrain from suing me for “reputational damage.”They wanted my silence, my contacts, and my financial backing after taking away my title.Adrian’s electronic signature was already at the bottom.He hadn’t made a bad decision under pressure. He had approved this agreement before Mia ever walked onto the stage.

Lorenzo Russo, the Moretti family's general counsel, entered first."Take your hands off my daughter."The security guards released me as if I'd burned them. Mia stumbled back, her eyes darting from my father to the six partner representatives who were now standing.The chairman of Harbor Crown Shipping approached first. "Mr. Moretti."One by one, the other executives greeted him as well. The employees who had been laughing with Mia minutes ago went dead silent.No one in Chicago's shipping or hospitality world mistook Vittorio Moretti for a retired hotel owner. His companies held legitimate contracts, paid taxes, and appeared in financial papers. The power surrounding him lived in the details people were careful not to print: which unions took his calls, which ports never delayed his cargo, and how quickly a room changed when he entered it.He hadn't come with a gun or a shouted threat. He didn't need either one."Your daughter?" Mia forced out a brittle laugh. "There must be some mis

Mia stared at the screen. "Those are legitimate market-consulting fees."The head of the external audit team left the back row and took control of the presentation. "Northstar Advisory is registered to a suburban residence and has reported no full-time employees in two years. Its owner, Daniel Foster, is your father. Correct?"The blood drained from her face. "He has industry experience. I recommended a qualified vendor. That's not a crime.""A competitive analysis of this scope normally costs no more than forty thousand dollars. Northstar billed Cross Meridian two hundred seventy thousand. Its European investor background report copied six pages from public websites and cost another four hundred ten thousand."The next invoice claimed Northstar had interviewed thirty-two institutional investors. The audit team had contacted every name on the list. Nineteen denied speaking to anyone from Northstar, eight addresses didn't exist, and five names belonged to people who had retired years ea

"This is all your fault!"Mia seized a pair of steel ice tongs from the bar and came at me.She didn't make it two steps. One of my father's guards caught her wrist and pinned her against the table before the tongs could touch me."Let go of me!" she screamed. "Elena destroyed my career. She has a family name, money, and power. Of course she gets to stand there and judge everyone else."I stopped in front of her. "Your career ended when you forged signatures and stole company money, not when you found out my last name was Moretti.""You have everything. I crawled out of an apartment where the heat barely worked. I couldn't afford to lose.""Wanting to win isn't wrong."I glanced at the altered financial model on the screen. "But you don't get to call theft ambition and lies fairness. You don't get to step on someone, then demand that she keep carrying your risk."One of the department heads who had laughed the loudest approached me with his hands open. "Ms. Bellini, Ms. Moretti, we wer