Part 2: He Dragged Me by the Hair to Beg His Mistress for Mercy at the Most Exclusive Gala in New York—Then the One Man He Could Never Defeat Crossed the Ballroom, Wrapped Me in His Coat, and Claimed Me in Front of Everyone...

By Wednesday evening, the Sterling Group’s stock was down twelve percent.

The video footage from the gala had leaked. Despite Lucas’s desperate attempts to suppress the media, a high-roller at the gala had recorded the entire incident on an encrypted phone and uploaded it to an overseas server. Within hours, millions of people had watched Lucas Sterling grab Audrey by her hair, heard his venomous demands that she kiss Naomi’s shoes, and witnessed Daniel Vance crossing the room like an avenging titan to lift her into his arms.

The public reaction was swift and merciless.

Sponsors pulled out of Naomi Cross’s charity foundations. Two luxury fashion brands canceled Naomi’s influencer contracts before lunch.

Audrey sat in Daniel’s private conference room on the 48th floor, watching the news feed on a massive wall-mounted monitor. Beside her, a stack of legal documents stood two feet tall, prepared by a team of six corporate litigators working around the clock.

"The board of directors is panicking," Marcus, Daniel’s head of corporate acquisitions, reported as he entered the room. "Lucas called an emergency shareholder meeting for tomorrow morning at ten. He wants to push through the zoning approval before the scandal drags the stock down any further."

Daniel looked up from the blueprints spread across the mahogany table. Audrey had spent the last six hours reviewing the real *Phase Two* designs, her eyes bright with a passion she had suppressed for years. Her annotations in red ink were sharp, brilliant, and undeniable.

"Does Lucas know we acquired twelve percent of Sterling Group shares through our shell companies yesterday?" Daniel asked.

"He suspects someone is buying, but he doesn't know who," Marcus replied with a grin. "He thinks it’s an overseas hedge fund."

"Let him think that," Daniel said. He turned to Audrey. "Tomorrow morning, you walk into that boardroom."

Audrey’s pencil stopped mid-stroke. She looked up, her heart leaping into her throat. "Me?"

"You are a registered shareholder through your father’s estate. Under the terms of your marriage agreement—which Lucas was foolish enough not to update after his father died—you have voting proxy over twenty-five percent of the voting equity."

"He told me that agreement was voided!"

"He lied to you, Audrey," Daniel said softly, walking over to stand behind her chair. He placed his hands on the backrest, leaning down until his presence enveloped her. "He lied about your rights, he lied about your talent, and he lied about your worth. Tomorrow, you show them the original architect of the Horizon Project. You present the flaws in his stolen plans, and you call for a vote of no confidence."

Audrey looked down at her blueprints. The intricate lines, the mathematical elegance of the arches, the soaring glass towers—it was her soul, drawn on paper. Lucas had tried to bury her alive, but he had forgotten that she was the one who held the shovel.

"I need a new dress," Audrey said quietly.