The Heiress Who Proposed to a Homeless Man to Escape Her Family's Darkest Secret
Previously: When wealthy Amelia proposed to Marcus on a rainy street, she thought she was buying safety. But the moment his eyes fell on the diamond ring, a terrifying truth began to surface.
The Ghost of the Vance Empire
Amelia stared at Marcus, her heart hammering against her ribs. The G-Wagon’s doors flew open, and three burly men in tactical gear stepped out, their eyes locked onto Amelia. But Marcus was no longer cowering. He stood up slowly, his posture suddenly rigid, radiating an authority that seemed entirely foreign to his ragged clothes. He stepped in front of Amelia, shielding her from the approaching men.
"Get back, Amelia," Marcus commanded, his voice suddenly deep and steady, devoid of the hesitation he had shown just moments before.
The lead henchman, a scarred man named Viktor whom Amelia recognized as her stepbrother Julian’s personal enforcer, sneered. "Step aside, vagrant. The lady is coming with us. Julian wants his bride-to-be." But Marcus did not move. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his tattered jacket and pulled out a small, tarnished silver key shaped like a phoenix. He held it up in the glare of the G-Wagon's headlights.
Viktor stopped dead in his tracks. The sneer faded from his face, replaced by a pale, breathless shock. "It can't be," Viktor whispered, his hand trembling near his holster. "You... you're supposed to be at the bottom of the Hudson River. You're dead."
Amelia looked from the key to the ring still clutched in her hands. She turned the band to the light and read the tiny, elegant inscription inside: Marcus Vance, 2018. Her breath caught in her throat. Marcus Vance was her uncle—the brilliant founder of Vance Enterprises who had supposedly perished in a tragic car accident ten years ago, leaving the empire to her corrupt stepbrother, Julian. The trauma of the crash had caused Marcus to lose his memory, wandering the streets as a ghost, while Julian ruled his stolen kingdom. The ring, an heirloom Marcus had designed himself, had just unlocked a decade of buried memories.
”The ring, an heirloom Marcus had designed himself, had just unlocked a decade of buried memories.