The Almighty Commander of Pyreking

Chapter 7

The glass doors of the hotel lobby slammed shut behind Chloe as she stumbled out, Her gown brushed against the floor, but she didn't care. She sprinted down the driveway as her frantic gaze searched the parking lot.

Her breath came in painful gasps. Her eyes welled with hot tears as she reached the isolated corner.

Tristan was sitting calmly. He wasn't panicking, nor was he gloating.

Chloe pulled the car door open, her hands trembling so violently she could barely grip the handle.

"Tristan!" she choked out, her voice breaking into a tearful sob.

Tristan stopped his movement. Slowly, he lowered his hand and turned his head to look at her.

Chloe collapsed against the side of the open door, l She buried her face in her trembling hands, weeping tears of shame, and guilt.

"It was a fake." Chloe sobbed uncontrollably. "The jade seal, it was fake, just like you said. Lord Bruce blacklisted us. He seized our company assets. The house, my father's insurance, everything is gone. We are bankrupt!"

Tristan didn't interrupt her. He reached over, grabbed a small box of paper tissues from the glove compartment, and held it out to her.

Chloe lifted her tear face, looking at him with confusion and pain.

"How did you know?" she asked, her voice faint and raspy. "How did you know about the tool marks and the chemical dye? And if you knew we were walking straight into hell, why didn't you force us to listen to you? Why didn't you stop my mother?"

Tristan looked down at her with concern in his eyes. He let out a low sigh that seemed to carry the weight of many years.

"I tried to protect your mother, Chloe," Tristan said softly, his voice steady. "I warned her at the house. I warned you before you stepped into the car. But her eyes were too full of gold to see the edge of the cliff. When a person is determined to leap into a fire, even a chain of iron cannot hold them back."

Chloe lowered her head, the truth of his words cutting through her heart like a cold knife. He had tried.

He had endured her mother's slaps and insults, yet he had spoken the truth. It was their own pride and arrogance that had blinded them.

<<<<

"Let Go Of Me! Get Your Filthy Hands Off Me!"

A scream shattered near the side exit of the hotel.

Two hotel security guards were roughly dragging Vivian Ellis down the steps. Her hair had come loose and stuck out in messy tangles around her sweaty face. Her expensive dress was torn at the shoulder, and her shoes were gone, so her bare feet scraped along the pavement.

The guards tossed her onto the pavement like a sack of trash.

"Stay off the property, lady," one of the guards spat coldly before turning back toward the building.

Vivian lay on the ground, gasping for air, her mind shattered by the sudden collapse of her entire existence.

In less than an hour, she had fallen from the peak of high-society ambition into the deepest pit of ruinous debt.

She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Her eyes scanned the parking lot until they locked straight onto Tristan sitting in the open driver's seat.

Instead of realizing her blind greed had ruined her family, a wave of hatred surged through her broken mind.

"You!" Vivian shrieked, pointing a finger at Tristan as she scrambled to her feet like a lunatic. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU CURSED PEASANT!"

Chloe stood up in shock. "Mother, stop it!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, Chloe!" Vivian roared, stumbling forward with Shame and rage. She slammed her hands against the hood of the car, her voice cracking with wild hysteria.

"Our family was fine before you entered our house! You brought your bad luck and your cursed presence into our lives! The moment you stepped through our door, everything went to hell!"

She hit the hood again and again, screaming until her chest heaved violently. "You jinxed the auction! You put a curse on that jade seal! You sat out here praying for our destruction! You worthless dog, you ruined my life!"

Tristan sat inside the car, watching her movements in silence. He simply watched the pathetic display of a woman consumed by her own inner monsters.

"Step aside, old woman."

A cold voice interrupted the madness.

Trevor Rhodes marched out from the side entrance, flanked by four private bodyguards in suit jackets.

Trevor’s face was flushed red with rage. his tie was loosened, and his eyes were dark with vicious intent.

Although Trevor had managed to distance himself inside the suite by blaming Vivian, he knew the truth: Lord Bruce had blacklisted the Rhodes financial group as well. His father would strip him of his inheritance by morning if news of this disaster leaked out to the board.

Trevor needed a scapegoat, he needed someone powerless to take the blame, someone he could crush to satisfy his anger and rewrite the narrative for the press.

Trevor strode straight up to the driver's side door, stopping two feet from Tristan.

His bodyguards quickly spread out, blocking Chloe and surrounding the car.

"You sat out here knowing the whole time, didn't you?" Trevor snarled, "You set us up! You planted doubts in Chloe's head to ruin our focus! You garbage-drinking trash, you think you can sit there and look at me with those cold eyes?"

"Get out of the car, Tristan!" Trevor shouted, clenching his fists as his bodyguards stepped closer, cracking their knuckles. "I'm going to break every bone in your body tonight! I'll make you admit on camera that you sold us fake information!”