Soon after, a project under Cassius's management was investigated for cutting corners and a suspected leak of corporate assets.

Just as Damian was preparing to strike, the authorities arrested the handful of loyal subordinates he had left.

His power base within the company was completely annihilated.

He returned home, a broken man, only to find Seraphina preening.

"Darling, did Cassius's project really get investigated?" she asked, her eyes gleaming. "This could be our chance to—"

"It's over, Seraphina."

She blinked. "What do you mean, 'over'?"

"I mean it's over!" He slammed his fist on the table, rattling the expensive china she'd bought with embezzled funds. "My people are in custody. The audit found everything. The offshore accounts, the phantom consultants, all of it."

The color drained from her face.

"But — the investigation was into Cassius's project. How did they—"

"Don't you see? That investigation was bait." Damian's voice cracked. "They dangled a weakness in Cassius's division like a piece of meat, and I lunged for it. And while I was focused on attacking him, the real auditors were tearing apart my books."

Seraphina's hands trembled.

"The accounts in my name..."

"Frozen. All of them."

The investigation into Cassius's project had been exactly what I'd designed it to be: a decoy.

We had identified a minor compliance issue in one of Cassius's subsidiaries — nothing serious, a paperwork oversight that could be resolved in a day.

But we leaked it strategically, making it look like a major scandal about to break.

Damian, desperate for any ammunition against Cassius, had thrown all his resources into exploiting the supposed weakness. He'd called in favors, mobilized his remaining allies, and even tipped off a journalist.

While he was distracted, the annual audit proceeded exactly as planned.

The auditor — a meticulous woman named Director Chen, who had Grandpa Orson's absolute trust — uncovered the full extent of Damian's financial misconduct.

Two million in embezzled funds. Fraudulent expense reports. An offshore account network designed to siphon money from the Mantel Group into Seraphina's personal holdings.

When Director Chen presented her findings to Grandpa Orson, the old man sat in silence for a full ten minutes.

Then he picked up the phone and made three calls.

The first was to the family lawyer.

The second was to the head of the Mantel Group's board of directors.

The third was to Damian.

"Come to my office," was all he said. "Now."

What happened in that office, I learned later from Cassius, who had been asked to attend as a witness.

Grandpa Orson had laid out every document, every transaction, every lie — arranged in chronological order on his massive oak desk.

Damian had tried denial first. Then deflection. Then begging.

None of it worked.

"You are no longer a member of the Mantel Group's executive team," Grandpa Orson had said, his voice flat and final.

"Your shares will be held in trust, managed by the board, until such time as you demonstrate — through action, not words — that you are worthy of them."

"Grandfather, please—"

"And Seraphina Vance is no longer welcome in this family. The engagement — if there ever was one — is dissolved."

Damian had collapsed into a chair, all the fight drained from him.

"Was it worth it?" Grandpa Orson had asked quietly. "Choosing her over Avery. Choosing greed over honor. Was any of it worth it?"

Damian had no answer.

That evening, Seraphina showed up at my door.

Gone was the designer wardrobe, the perfect makeup, the practiced sweetness. She stood in the rain, mascara running down her cheeks, looking exactly like what she was: a woman whose gamble had failed.

"Help me," she whispered. "You're my sister. You have to help me."

I looked at her for a long moment.

"I was your sister at that engagement party too," I said. "When you stood beside the man you stole and smiled."

"I'm sorry—"

"No, you're not. You're scared. There's a difference."

I started to close the door.

"Avery, please! They're going to press charges. I could go to prison!"

I paused.

Despite everything — the betrayal, the humiliation, the calculated cruelty — she was still the girl I'd grown up with. The girl who used to braid my hair and tell me ghost stories.

Before she became someone else.

"I'll speak to Grandpa Orson," I said finally. "But not for you. For our father, who doesn't deserve to watch another daughter destroy herself."

She broke down completely, sliding to her knees on the wet doorstep.

I closed the door and leaned against it, my heart heavier than I'd expected.

Cassius found me there minutes later.

He didn't say anything. He just sat beside me on the floor, his shoulder warm against mine, and waited until I was ready to speak.

"I don't feel like I won," I said quietly.

"That's because this was never about winning," he replied. "It was about surviving. And you survived."

I rested my head against his shoulder.

"We survived."