The news of the alliance between two top-tier dynasties sent shockwaves through the business world.
But on the night of our engagement party, I walked backstage and caught my fiancé, Liam Blackwood, and the “poor student” he’d been sponsoring, in a kiss so passionate it had drawn blood from their lips.
“Vicky, it’s not what you think.”
Liam fumbled with his shirt buttons, a deep flush creeping up his neck, his ears blazing crimson.
I watched, my eyes cold, as the girl beside him frantically tried to cover herself, then let out a scoff.
“What excuse are you going to cook up now? Do you think I’m blind? Or just stupid?”
I ripped the engagement ring from my finger and flung it at his feet, my voice laced with venom.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Every power player and socialite in the city is watching this engagement party tonight.”
“Either you go through with the ceremony as per our agreement, or… the Blackwood family will be facing bankruptcy!”
He clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding, before reluctantly bending down to pick up the ring. He squeezed out a single, resentful word: “Fine.”
The ceremony began. Liam walked onto the stage in a noticeably wrinkled suit.
Under the gaze of thousands, he strode past me, completely ignoring me, and handed the ring directly to the girl behind him, who was feigning innocence and helplessness.
“Victoria Sterling, the woman I’ve always loved is Holly.”
“Even if you destroy the entire Blackwood family, I will *never* marry a gold-digger who schemes her way to the top!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the entire hall erupted.
A chorus of mockery and the relentless clicking of camera shutters threatened to rip the roof off.
And I, Victoria Sterling, became the biggest joke in the room.
Watching him lean down and kiss his one true love, my heart died.
Since you betrayed me first, don’t blame me for showing no mercy!
“Ms. Sterling, the company’s stock price has plummeted by 30%.”
My assistant, Alex, reported, head bowed, voice trembling.
I stared at my phone screen. The top five trending topics on Ins were all dominated by the engagement party fiasco.
Under the hashtag #HeirDefiesArrangedMarriageForLove, the comments were a furious deluge.
“Oh, so she has a few bucks, big deal? He clearly has true love, but she forced him into marriage. Shameless bitch, she deserved to be dumped!”
“Good job, Mr. Blackwood! Let that manipulative bitch know what karma feels like!”
“Sterling Corp should just collapse. This trash company doesn’t deserve to exist!”
Page after page, every single comment was an accusation against me, calling me a monster.
I calmly scrolled through them until Liam Blackwood’s latest statement popped up.
[Finally free. From now on, I’ll be running towards a new future with the woman I love most.]
The accompanying photo was a close-up of him and Holly Thorne, their fingers intertwined.
That engagement ring, which should have been ours, was now gleaming on someone else’s hand.
I stared at those words for a long time, then a laugh escaped my lips.
“Notify the legal department. Immediately initiate the highest level of clawback clauses. Terminate all collaborations with Blackwood Industries!”
Alex’s hand visibly trembled, his voice a slight tremor.
“Ms. Sterling, shouldn’t we issue a statement first to explain? The entire internet is crucifying us right now…”
“What’s there to explain?”
I cut him off, slamming my phone onto the desk.
“There’s no need to entangle myself further with a man who breaks his word like this.”
I rubbed my throbbing temples, sinking deeper into the plush sofa.
Memories flashed before my eyes.
Five years ago, the Blackwood family was on the brink of bankruptcy. At an auction, Liam made a desperate bid, hoping to save their last ancestral estate.
Everyone in the room was just waiting to watch him fail.
Only I saw the unconcealed defiance in his eyes. I stepped in, bought the estate, and gifted it to him, free of charge.
He had nothing then. He saw me as his last hope, kneeling at my feet, pledging:
“Victoria Sterling, if you help the Blackwood family, I’ll do anything for you.”
I chuckled softly, helping him up. “Alright, but you’ll have to marry me.”
He gritted his teeth in anger, yet his eyes sparkled with a desperate light.
To help Blackwood Industries through its crisis, I pushed myself to the limit at countless business dinners, once even ending up with a stomach hemorrhage.
He stayed by my hospital bed, his eyes red-rimmed, telling me, “Victoria Sterling, don’t ever do that again.”
Looking at his eyes, so full of me, I felt it was all worth it.
I thought we were each other’s destined salvation.
I used Sterling Corp’s resources and network to help him rebuild his commercial empire.
I taught him how to be a competent businessman.
Blackwood Industries transformed from a struggling small company into a top-tier multinational corporation.
But our relationship, too, began to sour.
He started resisting intimacy, rejecting my plans, even yearning for the “purity” of the past.
That so-called poor student, Holly Thorne, appeared at precisely that moment.
He projected all his obsession with the past onto this girl.
A month before the engagement party, I had warned him directly:
“Liam Blackwood, the importance of this alliance doesn’t need explaining. I expect you to maintain appropriate boundaries.”
He fiddled with his teacup, dismissing me offhandedly.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it. I just treat Holly like a little sister.”
“Her family is struggling, what’s wrong with me helping her out?”
I lowered my voice, reminding him:
“She’s an adult. She can work for herself now.”
He suddenly smashed his teacup. “That’s different! When did you become so cold-blooded?”
“You’re just a soulless corporate shark now, obsessed with profit! Holly is so much purer than you!”
It was then that I realized he was no longer the lost and desperate heir who had once needed me.
He was now desperate to break free from my control.
I chose to compromise, treating him merely as a strategic partner for the alliance.
As long as he cooperated, everything would remain the same.
But I forgot how easily hearts change, especially men’s.
The office door was suddenly flung open.
Liam Blackwood burst in, radiating a dangerous aura, with Holly Thorne trailing carefully behind him.
I glanced at him, my voice cold. “Something wrong?”
Seeing my demeanor, he pulled a document from his bag and slammed it onto my desk.
“Let’s call off the engagement.”
He coolly pulled Holly down to sit beside him. “Let’s part ways amicably, with some dignity.”
I let out a cold laugh. “Liam Blackwood, do you even have the right to say that?”
“Where was your dignity yesterday when you publicly humiliated the Sterling family at the engagement party?”
I stood up, my fingertips pressed against the conference table, my eyes glinting with icy contempt.
“You didn’t just ruin an engagement party; you destroyed three years of strategic partnership between two families.”
“You threw away five years of business development in this city. Are you really so clueless?!”
He sneered, a mocking curl on his lips, leaning back into the sofa with an arrogant posture.
“Of course I’m not clueless.”
“Your eyes are always on profit! You even calculate and plan our engagement party for gain!”
Holly tugged at his sleeve, her voice barely a whisper.
“Ms. Sterling, please don’t blame Liam. It’s all my fault.”
“I just couldn’t control my feelings…”
“Shut up!”
I snapped, cutting her off sharply. “You don’t have a say in this room!”
Holly’s face turned pale, and she immediately fell silent.
This scene completely enraged Liam. He shot up, pointing at me, and spat:
“Victoria Sterling, that’s enough!”
“Don’t think that just because you helped me, you can control me forever!”
“I’m telling you, every single day I spent with you was suffocating! You helped the Blackwood family, you socialized and drank for deals, but it was all just to solidify *your* business empire!”
“And I was just your most obedient pawn!”
Every word was a knife, twisting in my heart.
I took a deep breath, meeting his eyes.
“So, in your eyes, from the moment I bought that ancestral estate, I was just using you?”
“When I used my private jet to fly in top global specialists for your mother’s medical consultation, that was also an act?”
“Liam Blackwood, do you even have a heart?”
His eyes flickered, a momentary panic in their depths.
I smiled, but my eyes were bloodshot.
“Liam Blackwood, I’m asking you one last time.”
“Did you—”
“Yes, I did!”
He interrupted me, his face a mask of angry defiance.
“Satisfied?”
“Do you really need to hear such an over-the-top answer to stop?”
With that, he defiantly took Holly’s hand, his other hand resting on her stomach.
“However, things are different now.”
“Holly is pregnant with my child. I have to take responsibility for them.”
The sudden truth hit me like a sledgehammer.
It turned out I was just one more pawn in this pathetic cheating couple’s game.
The next day, Liam Blackwood wasted no time in holding a press conference.
I sat in my office, watching the news footage expressionlessly.
Liam’s eyes were bloodshot, his face pale, looking utterly haggard.
Holly sat quietly beside him, looking as if she had suffered the greatest injustice.
“First, I want to sincerely apologize to all friends concerned about this matter.”
His voice was deliberately choked with emotion.
“For five years, I’ve been repaying a past kindness, forced to endure the Sterling family’s whims day in and day out!”
“My life was carelessly decided by a single contract.”
His voice remained hoarse throughout, his demeanor sorrowful.
Only when he spoke of Holly did a faint smile touch his lips. “Only Holly truly cares about what *I* want.”
He turned his face away, his Adam’s apple bobbing twice.
“I admit, Victoria Sterling is indeed an outstanding businesswoman. Blackwood Industries wouldn’t be where it is today without her help.”
But the very next second, his words turned sharp:
“However, she questioned every client I met, every restaurant I chose.”
“Even the evening gowns I wore to galas, the watches on my wrist, were all pre-arranged by her.”
“I felt like a puppet without a mind of my own, my entire life lived in the shadow of one woman.”
Holly, sensing her cue, appropriately clutched his arm, sobbing, her face a picture of sorrow, and pleaded to the camera:
“Liam just wants to live for himself. I couldn’t bear to see him suffer so much.”
“Ms. Sterling… I’m sorry. Please, I beg you, show us mercy and let us go.”
The flashbulbs below flared, and reporters frantically pressed their shutters.
The live stream’s comments exploded, curses filling the entire screen:
[OMG! This wealthy heir had it so bad, he was practically a kept man!]
[Victoria Sterling, that control freak, go to hell! This kind of bullying, obsessive psycho woman deserves to rot!]
[Support Mr. Blackwood’s rebellion! True love can conquer all!]
Finally, Liam Blackwood announced the establishment of a new company, completely severing ties with Sterling Corp.
“I will rebuild a company my own way.”
“This path will surely be difficult, but with Holly, and… our child.”
“I won’t feel the slightest bit of hardship.”
The press conference ended, and the entire internet was in an uproar.
Everyone loves to kick a person when they’re down, and I became the target of public condemnation.
Sterling Corp’s headquarters’ phones were bombarded by media calls, and several long-term partners subtly hinted at terminating contracts.
They were all terrified of being associated with a negative enterprise.
I stared at Liam Blackwood’s hypocritical face on the screen, feeling nothing but nausea.
A chilling hatred churned within me.
I raised my hand, wiping away the cold dampness on my face, and pressed the phone button.
“Notify the legal department, meeting in five minutes.”
Alex hesitated, his voice tinged with uncertainty. “Ms. Sterling… is there really no room for reconciliation?”
I snorted, my voice terrifyingly calm.
“What’s done is done.”
“I’m going to make that pathetic cheating couple’s reputation utterly ruined!”
“Ms. Sterling.”
Sarah, the Legal Director, entered with her elite team. I slammed the prepared documents onto the conference table.
“Within thirty minutes, publicly release these three documents on all media platforms.”
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