Chapter 41Kris returned to the main hall where her parents and grandmother were gathered around a large table, discussing the transition of power and the evening's arrangements."He left?" Elena asked when she saw Kris's expression.Kris nodded, trying to keep the disappointment from her face. "He went back to be with his aunt. She's still recovering."Marcus leaned back in his chair, letting out a long breath. "That's... unfortunate. I really wanted to thank him properly. To offer him our hospitality.""Perhaps it's for the best," Elena said thoughtfully. "He's done so much for us already. We shouldn't impose on his time with his family. There will be other opportunities.""Will there?" Kris asked quietly.Her mother smiled gently. "I think so. Someone like Commander Lancaster—he doesn't strike me as the type to simply disappear. Not with—"A loud knock interrupted her. One of the family guards burst through the door, his face pale and urgent."Forgive the interruption," he gasped,

Chapter 43Natasha stood in the sterile hospital room, her eyes fixed on Jasmine's broken form. Her mind was piecing together the puzzle, connecting the dots between the auction, the wedding, and the bloody message left behind like a signature.Adrian Lancaster. The name echoed in her thoughts, quiet and insistent."The bloodline of Frederick Lancaster is formidable indeed," Natasha said coldly to herself, a bitter smile playing at her lips. "That boy who barely managed to escape back then has now grown to possess quite the abilities. Effortlessly crippling the local elite fighters of Greenville."She remembered that teenage boy ten years ago. Seventeen years old, desperate, powerless. Hollow-eyed and trembling the one time she had briefly seen him, clinging to his younger sister like she was the only thing keeping him anchored to the earth. His father's affair with her had been profitable—Frederick Lancaster had been weak, malleable, easy to manipulate. He had been the kind of man wh

Here's the chapter with just ~400 words added:Chapter 45Madison's hand was raised, ready to strike, when Kris moved.She stepped directly in front of Celeste, her posture straight, her expression calm but commanding. The movement was so deliberate, so confident, that Madison actually hesitated. Her hand hung in the air for a moment, caught between intention and execution, before she slowly lowered it as though the decision had been entirely her own."How dare you?" Kris's voice wasn't loud, but it carried authority that made several students in the hallway stop and stare. "How dare you raise a hand against a student? Do you not see that I, a teacher, am standing right here?"Madison's eyes narrowed. For a moment, uncertainty flickered across her face. Then she looked at her friends, saw them watching, waiting to see if she'd back down, and her expression hardened into a sneer.She lowered her hand slowly and let out a scornful laugh. "Oh, you're adorable. You must be new here." Her

Chapter 47Kris's composure finally snapped."That's enough!" Her voice cracked with fury, losing the careful control she'd maintained throughout the entire confrontation. "You have no idea what you're talking about! That token is real! I am a Kardashian! I am…""You're a fraud," Madison interrupted coolly, clearly enjoying having the upper hand again, savoring the shift in dynamic. "And everyone here knows it.""She's telling the truth!" Celeste pushed forward, her face flushed with anger and frustration, her voice raw. "You have no right to say those things about her! Kris really is a member of the Kardashian family! She's…""Shut her up," Madison said dismissively, waving her hand at Celeste like she was swatting away something insignificant.Two of Madison's friends immediately grabbed Celeste's arms, pulling her back against the lockers. One of them clamped a hand over Celeste's mouth when she tried to keep protesting, muffling her words into nothing."Let her go!" Kris started f

Chapter 49The silence that had fallen over the courtyard held for a long moment after Tom's bow. Then, slowly, it began to fill with the restless murmur of students processing what they had just witnessed — the whispers building on each other, trading confusion for something closer to awe.Madison stood where she had been left, one hand still pressed to her cheek, staring at Tom's back with the expression of someone whose entire understanding of a situation had just been rearranged without their permission.Then she found her voice."What are you doing?"It came out louder than she intended, raw at the edges, stripped of its earlier polish. The crowd stirred at the sound of it, heads turning back toward her. Madison didn't care. The careful social calculus she normally applied to every word and gesture had short-circuited entirely, overridden by something that felt dangerously close to panic.Tom turned to face her slowly. His expression was composed, faintly cool, the kind of look t