Chapter 2 - The Boy Who Stopped the World
The sweeping glass atrium went so silent that the clinking of a single champagne flute sounded like a gunshot.
Victoria Vance stood paralyzed on the marble steps. Her smile, which had been perfectly crafted for the cameras just seconds ago, froze into a brittle mask. Below her, the crowd of corporate titans and senators parted like the Red Sea. Nobody wanted to be standing too close to the mud-stained anomaly that had just ruined the most important night of the decade.
Julian Vance didn’t flinch. Despite his ragged clothes, the oversized jacket that hung off his small frame, and the dirt smudged across his cheek, he stood with a posture that was eerily familiar. His shoulders were squared. His chin was tilted up. His piercing blue eyes—the exact shade of the late Harrison Vance’s—locked directly onto Victoria.
"Security," Victoria finally snapped, her voice like cracking ice. "Get this street rat out of my house. Now."
Two hulking guards in black suits lunged forward, their hands outstretched to grab the boy's collar.
"Don't touch me," Julian warned. His voice was soft, yet it carried an authority that made the seasoned guards hesitate for a fraction of a second. He reached into his filthy pocket and pulled out a heavy, tarnished object, holding it high in the air.
It was a bespoke silver pocket watch. It wasn't just any watch. It was engraved with the Vance family crest, a roaring lion intertwined with a compass. Every single board member in the room recognized it. It was the legendary timepiece Harrison Vance had sworn never to take off. The watch he supposedly lost in a boating accident ten years ago.
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"My grandfather told me to wait until you thought you had won," Julian said, his voice ringing through the silent hall. "He said you were always blind when you were greedy, Aunt Victoria."
Victoria’s face drained of color. The crystal chandelier seemed to dim as a ripple of frantic whispers broke out among the elite guests. The boy hadn't just claimed the mansion. He had declared war.
