He could still remember the shame of it, standing in the director's office while she'd berated him. The way the other kids had looked at him afterward, like he was something dirty. The older boys smirking in the background, pleased with how cleverly they'd deflected blame."What happened?" Seraphina asked, and Zachary was startled to see how invested she was in the story. Her hands had clenched into fists, and that righteous anger was burning brighter in her eyes."I was punished," Zachary said simply. "Forced to do extra chores for months, isolated from the other kids, treated like a little criminal. The older boys never faced any consequences because no one even suspected them. And I learned a valuable lesson about how the world actually works.""That's horrible," Seraphina practically hissed, and she sounded so genuinely offended on behalf of his younger self that something warm bloomed in Zachary's chest. "Those boys should have been caught. Should have been punished. Someone s

The doors closed behind them with a soft click of finality."Good riddance," Seraphina said under her breath, so quietly Zachary almost missed it.He found himself smiling despite everything. "Not a fan?" He teased."Of people who have only ever been thorn in your side, Young Lord? No, I'm not particularly a fan." She sniffed.Fair point.The last of the legitimate guests were filtering out now, offering polite goodbyes and thanks for a lovely evening that had definitely not involved multiple confrontations, displays of overwhelming power, and veiled threats from mysterious strangers. The social masks remained firmly in place right up until they crossed the threshold and returned to their own complicated lives.Finally, blessedly, the ballroom was empty except for staff and security.Seraphina pulled out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as she sent what looked like a dozen messages simultaneously. "Security sweep teams are doing final checks of all rooms," she reported

The morning sun pierced through the gaps in Zachary's curtains with all the subtlety of a brass band at a funeral. He groaned, rolling over and burying his face in the pillow, trying to recapture the blessed oblivion of sleep.No such luck.His phone buzzed insistently on the nightstand, dragging him fully into consciousness whether he wanted to be there or not. He fumbled for it blindly, squinting at the too-bright screen.A message from Seraphina, timestamped at 6:47 AM: "Good morning, Young Lord. Something urgent has come up. I need to fly to Singapore for a meeting with one of our subsidiary partners. Won't be back until this evening. The communication device analysis will have to wait. The ball is secure in my office safe. Code is your birthday backwards. Don't do anything reckless while I'm gone. —S.K."Zachary stared at the message for a long moment, processing through the fog of barely-awake brain function. Disappointment settled in his chest like a stone. He'd been looking

Zachary took pity on her. She was clearly one of those people who found direct interaction with anyone remotely important absolutely terrifying. He'd met a lot of them in his year as nominal chairman, before his father had shipped him off to Sanctuary Island."It's fine," he assured her. "I'm actually looking for my father. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"The woman nodded, still looking like she wanted to be literally anywhere else. "His Majesty left the country. For business matters overseas."The words hit Zachary like a bucket of cold water."He what?" He couldn't quite keep the edge of anger out of his voice. "When? When did he leave?"The woman flinched. "The... the same day you returned to the city, sir. Right after your meeting with him, His Majesty departed for the airport.""Are you fucking kidding me?"The woman's face went pale, and Zachary immediately felt bad. This wasn't her fault. She was just the messenger.But seriously?"I just got back," he sa

Zachary's car hummed through the streets of Silverwood City, the evening traffic thick but not yet gridlocked. He'd been driving almost on autopilot, his mind still churning through the events of the day; the mysterious communication sphere, his father's abrupt departure, the cryptic letter, the branch family members who had appeared like ghosts from a past he hadn't known existed.But as the buildings grew older, the streets narrower, the neon signs flickering with the particular tired glow of establishments that had seen better decades, something in his chest began to loosen. The familiar scent of fried dough and cheap spices drifted through his open window, and Zachary felt himself smile for the first time in hours.'Almost there,' he thought, pulling into a side street he knew by heart.The parking spot was exactly where it had always been; a small gap between a rusted dumpster and a fire hydrant that the city had somehow never gotten around to painting. He'd squeezed his bicyc