Ridiculed into Wealth

Chapter9: The Woman in White

The gala shimmered like a mirage above the skyline — forty-three stories up, perched at the crown of the Reign Hotel, where the elite gathered to devour each other politely.

Soft jazz floated through the champagne-laced air. Men in crisp Armani exchanged sharp pleasantries. Women in diamond-dusted gowns whispered rumors behind champagne flutes.

It was less a party than a war of masks.

And Liam Hawthorne walked in alone.

His suit was tailored black, shirt unbuttoned just enough to signal rebellion. No tie. No cufflinks. Just that calm, lethal air he now wore better than any fabric.

He didn’t plan to stay long. Just make his presence known. Collect a few strategic greetings. Remind them all that he was no longer the boy from nowhere, but the man who had gutted Montgomery Group in broad daylight.

Then leave.

That was the plan.

Until he saw her.

White satin flowed like smoke around her legs. Her heels struck the marble with calculated poise. Her black hair was twisted into a perfect bun — severe, elegant, dangerous. Her lips were painted crimson, precise like a blade. She didn’t smile. She didn’t pause.

She scanned the room like a tactician assessing terrain.

And then… walked straight toward him.

The crowd seemed to part as she moved, drawn into her gravity. Liam straightened slightly, curiosity piqued. No hesitation. No flirtation. Just intent.

She on the other hand, had spotted him the moment he entered the Reign ballroom.

No entourage. No fanfare. Just presence — like smoke with a spine.

Finally, she thought.

He moved differently from the others. No nervous pacing, no sycophantic smiles, no forced laughter. Just observation. Calculation. Stillness.

Stillness was rare in rooms like this.

Most men here were desperate to be seen. Liam Hawthorne? He didn’t give a damn if anyone saw him. That was how Ava knew he was dangerous.

He had the face of someone who’d been underestimated for too long — and was done playing fair.

She’d followed his rise quietly. The Montgomery Group cracks. The Evermark coup. The speed, precision, silence. He didn’t go for glory. He went for leverage.

And he did it without bleeding loudly in the papers.

The city thought he came from nowhere.

They were wrong.

Ghosts always come from somewhere. That’s what makes them deadly.

Ava adjusted the cuff of her glove and walked straight toward him. No flirting. No soft entry.

She didn’t need to test the water.

She wanted to know if he would hold.

She stopped in front of him.

“Liam Hawthorne,” she said. “I’ve been waiting to meet the ghost who stole half the city.”

He looked at her with a flicker of interest. Not awe. Not ego. Just assessment — like he was measuring her in real time.

Good.

He tilted his head, expression unreadable.

“Depends who’s asking.”

She extended a hand, her nails black and clean.

“Ava Langston. CEO of Marrow & Slate.”

Liam’s brow lifted slightly.

He’d heard the name. One of the youngest tech-industry disruptors in Manhattan. Private defense contracts, biotech patents, and rumored connections to groups most CEOs didn’t dare speak of.

She was the kind of woman who didn’t just break glass ceilings — she set them on fire and rebuilt the skyline.

“You just took Evermark from Montgomery,” she said. “That made you my favorite kind of man. "

She leaned in, eyes glinting.

“Dangerous.”

Liam allowed the faintest of smirks.

“And here I thought the gala would be boring.”

Ava didn’t smile. She simply handed him a silver-edged card.

“Call me. I don’t do business with fools. And I don’t sleep with weak men.”

Let him decide which one he was.

She walked away, already certain he would call.

Not because he wanted her.

Because he needed an equal.

Most men in this city carried teeth — but no instinct.

Liam? He had the look of a man who’d been stepped on, discarded, and came back with fire in his veins. She recognized that. It mirrored the warpath she had walked herself.

The broken ones build empires. The arrogant ones lose them.

And somewhere deep in her chest, a rare flicker of something almost dangerous sparked.

Curiosity.

She didn’t want to own Liam Hawthorne.

She wanted to build something with him.

Or burn everything around him to see what survived.

Either way…

He wouldn’t be walking out of her orbit.

Not now.

Not after tonight.

Liam stood there for a moment, her card in his hand, the warmth of her voice still lingering like smoke.

He didn’t look back at her retreating figure.

But something inside him stirred.

Not lust. Not ambition.

Intrigue.

Real, unfamiliar, magnetic intrigue.

Across the room, unseen by most, Natalie Montgomery watched.

She’d arrived late. She wasn’t even supposed to be there. But she needed to see it for herself — to see him.

And now she wished she hadn’t.

Because the woman in white wasn’t just beautiful.

She was powerful.

The kind of woman Natalie used to mock. The kind she now couldn’t compete with.

Ava didn’t flirt. She didn’t posture. She gave Liam no opening — she gave him a command.

And Liam hadn’t resisted.

He hadn’t looked uncomfortable or nervous.

He’d looked… intrigued.

Natalie’s stomach twisted.

She knew that look. It used to be reserved for her.

Before the cold mornings. Before the slammed doors and silences. Before she laughed at his dreams and kissed another man’s ambition.

Her drink trembled in her hand. Her heels suddenly felt too tight.

Someone greeted her, but she didn’t respond.

Her eyes remained fixed on Liam — who still hadn’t moved.

He was staring down at Ava’s card now, thumbing the edge like it was a key to something unexpected.

Natalie looked away, swallowing the lump rising in her throat.

This wasn’t jealousy.

It was irrelevance.

Liam finally pocketed the card and turned toward the balcony.

He needed air.

Needed a moment to process that encounter — her confidence, her timing, the absolute precision of it all.

She hadn’t come to the gala to chase opportunity.

She’d come to choose it.

And she had chosen him.

That thought stuck with him more than he expected.

The door to the balcony closed softly behind him. The wind cut sharp across the terrace, but Liam welcomed it.

He stood at the edge, city lights stretching out like an empire he was learning how to rule.

Behind him, through the glass, the crowd moved in glittering currents.

And somewhere inside that room, Ava Langston was already onto her next conversation.

And Natalie?

She remained near the bar, forgotten and unseen — like a ghost from the life Liam had already buried.