A Queen's Scorched Earth Plan

I am the only daughter of Antonia Jessi, the former chairman of the Jessi Group, and the publicly acknowledged fiancée of the group’s new CEO, Darius Basinger.

On the eve of our engagement party, I excitedly took out the Patek Philippe watch I had commissioned three months ago, a gift to celebrate his promotion to CEO.

But inside the safe in Darius’s study, I found a legal document authorizing my ousting from the company, along with a stack of private photos from my kidnapping five years ago.

In the blank space of one of the documents, I saw his handwritten note.

"Brand image compromised. Unfit to be the matriarch of the Jessi family."

I snatched the documents and rushed out to confront him. But he was idly toying with the sapphire necklace that should have been mine—the symbol of the family matriarch.

"Although you are my fiancée, you are already tainted, Nathalia. The matriarch of the Jessi Group must have a flawless resume. But you, you carry the filthy mark of those thugs. Every time I think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach."

"If a man has a checkered past in business, it's considered a badge of honor. But if a woman was once the victim of a crime, she is a flawed product, fit only to be discarded."

I found Darius's logic laughably absurd.

"I was kidnapped five years ago to shield you from those men!"

Darius just let out a cold laugh. "I never asked you to play the hero. In any case, I will never marry a tainted woman who's been touched by street thugs."

At the party the next day, in front of all of New York's high society, Darius leaked the photos from my kidnapping to the media.

In that moment, I didn't shed a single tear. After all, Darius had no idea the woman he was casting aside like trash held the power to buy his entire future.

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1

At the engagement party, the giant screen in the ballroom lit up.

The screen, which should have been playing a romantic montage of me and the new CEO, Darius Basinger, suddenly flickered to a series of high-definition, compromising photos.

The photos were from my captivity five years ago, a nightmare from when I had saved Darius from a group of kidnappers.

But now, the caption beneath the photos read: "Nathalia Jessi's promiscuous private life. A woman with a damaged reputation has no right to be the matriarch of the Jessi family!"

The hundreds of guests below fell into a deathly silence, which then erupted into a cacophony of murmurs.

"My God!"

"What an utter disgrace!"

"A tainted woman like her doesn't deserve to be part of the Jessi family!"

Darius, wearing a bespoke suit, looked down at me with condescension in his eyes.

"Everyone, although Nathalia Jessi is my fiancée, I cannot accept a woman who has tarnished our family's reputation as my wife."

"For the sake of the Jessi Group's image, I hereby announce that I am breaking off my engagement with Nathalia Jessi and stripping her of all positions within the company!"

The crowd went wild.

"Darius is right!"

"For the reputation of our group!"

Before I could react, two security guards rushed forward and roughly seized my arms.

A woman emerged from behind Darius—Aila Carly.

She was wearing the haute couture gown that should have been mine, a triumphant smile gracing her lips. Looking at her delicate face, I remembered that winter three years ago.

I had found her shivering on a street corner.

She had been kicked out of her home by her family, so thin she was nothing but skin and bones, her face a mask of timidity.

I took her in, paid for her tuition, gave her my own clothes, and even let her stay in the guest room next to mine.

She once told me, "Nathalia, you're like the sister I never had. I'll never forget what you've done for me."

But now, she stood before me, gazing down with that same condescending air.

"Nathalia, you're not the matriarch of the Jessi family anymore. You have no need for a necklace that symbolizes a status you no longer possess."

With a sharp snap, the clasp broke.

The sapphire necklace my mother had left me was yanked from my neck and clattered onto the cold marble floor. I felt like a marionette whose fine clothes had been ripped away, leaving me exposed.

Aila burst out laughing, then whispered in a voice only we could hear, "Nathalia, thank you for your pity back then. But now, your apartment is mine, and your man is mine."

"Stop!"

An enraged roar cut through the crowd.

My father, the former chairman Antonia Jessi, rushed over, dragging his disabled leg—an old injury from a corporate battle where he’d risked everything to protect the company.

He roared, "Darius, you're lying! Nathalia was kidnapped to save you! How can you repay her kindness with such betrayal?"

Darius didn't even glance at him. With a wave of his hand, several burly security guards struck my father in the stomach, then dragged the former chairman—a man who had dedicated his life to the group—out like he was nothing more than trash.

"I've had enough of you, you stubborn old fool! If it weren't for you, my father wouldn't have died!"

"Throw these two disgraceful people out! And from today, freeze all their assets."

Darius wrapped his arm around Aila's waist and turned to look at me, his eyes brimming with disgust.

"Let them rot in some rundown apartment in Queens and see how long they survive."

...

The cheap apartment was drafty. A damp carpet clung to the floor and the corners reeked of mildew.

The rough handling had aggravated my father’s old injury, and the sheer rage of it all triggered a stroke. Now, he was burning with fever, rambling deliriously, his words a tangled mess of my name and apologies.

"Water… water…" he moaned, his voice weak.

I searched my pockets and found only a few crumpled twenty-dollar bills.

I rushed to the Group's private hospital.

At the entrance, two of Aila's bodyguards blocked my path.