He spat the last word like it was poison. "Love! As if that matters! As if personal feelings have any place in strategic family alliances!"Vivian tried a different approach. "Perhaps Mia was just upset about the arranged marriage being moved up. We did accelerate the timeline without consulting her. Maybe if we give her some time to adjust—""Time?" Tom laughed bitterly. "Time for what? Time to get more attached to this Alex Carter? Time to convince herself she doesn't have to obey family directives? Time to further damage our relationship with the Greenes?"He stood up abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. "No. No more time. No more patience. No more allowing Mia to believe she has autonomy in this matter."Tom began pacing, his anger making him restless. "I've already received three calls from the Greene family. Three! Simone's grandfather, his father, and one of their board members. All of them furious about tonight's incident. All of them questioning whether Mia

"Concern?" Patriarch Greene laughed bitterly. "This goes far beyond concern, Tom. This is about respect. About family honor. About whether the Vinda family can be trusted to uphold their commitments."He paused, letting that sink in. "My grandson went to that auction specifically to court your daughter. To present her with The Last Eye as a symbol of our families' union. And what happened? She allowed another man to outmaneuver him. To force him into a devastating financial loss. To humiliate him so thoroughly that videos of his breakdown are already spreading across social media!"Tom closed his eyes, feeling the full weight of the disaster settling on his shoulders. "Patriarch Greene, please, let me explain—""Explain what?" the Patriarch demanded. "Explain how you've raised a daughter so lacking in filial duty that she prioritizes her own romantic feelings over family alliance? Explain how the Vinda family apparently has no control over a twenty-something girl's behavior?"The cont

After leaving the auction house, Mia directed Jace to drive them to the Velvet Phoenix—one of the city's most exclusive private clubs. The kind of establishment that didn't advertise, didn't have a visible sign, and absolutely didn't accept walk-in guests.Membership was by invitation only, limited to the city's elite—business magnates, political figures, celebrities who valued discretion. The annual fees alone exceeded what most people earned in a year.But Mia had been a member since she turned twenty-one, a gift from her family meant to help her network and establish connections in high society.Tonight, though, she just wanted it for privacy. For a place where she and Alex could decompress after the intensity of the auction, where they wouldn't be bothered by crowds or cameras or the prying eyes of people eager for gossip.They approached the understated entrance—just a black door with a small bronze phoenix emblem—and Mia presented her membership card to the suited guard statione

Mia's voice was shaking as she tried to explain the gravity of the situation to Alex, her words coming out in a rushed, desperate whisper."Alex, these men—they're not regular security. They're the Elite Force of the Vinda family. The absolute best. The most dangerous. Each one is a former special forces operative, trained in combat, extraction, assassination if necessary."She glanced at the guards surrounding them, her face pale. "And there are ten of them here. Ten. That's... that's almost unprecedented. My grandfather only deploys the full Elite Force for the most critical situations."Her grip on Alex's arm tightened. "Which means my grandfather—Tom Vinda, the patriarch—is absolutely furious about what happened at the auction. Furious enough to send his secret weapon. The force that handles problems the family can't solve through normal channels."The lead guard allowed Mia to finish her explanation, his expression showing neither confirmation nor denial. Just patient waiting, li

Alex's hand remained firmly clasped around Mia's, his grip steady and reassuring despite the ten armed men surrounding them. "I'm not letting them take you, Mia. There are other ways to negotiate this. Other solutions that don't involve you surrendering to your family's control."Mia sighed deeply, her shoulders sagging with the weight of resignation and guilt. She gently tried to extract her hand from Alex's grip, though he didn't release it."Alex, please," Mia said, her voice soft but firm. "This is all my fault. Everything that happened tonight—rejecting Simone, the bidding war, the public humiliation he suffered—it all traces back to me. To my decisions. To my inability to just... comply with what my family wanted."She looked at him with eyes that showed both gratitude and sorrow. "It's only right that I pay for my choices. That I face the consequences instead of dragging you into this whole complicated mess. The Vinda family politics, the Greene alliance, my grandfather's fury—