Chapter 10 - The True Emperor
Six months later.
The rain poured down on the streets of Manhattan. Marcus Hayes sat on a damp park bench, pulling his thin, frayed coat tighter around himself. He had lost everything. The embezzlement charges had stripped him of his savings, his car, and his penthouse. No firm on Wall Street would hire a man blacklisted by Vanguard International. He was working the night shift at a fast-food restaurant just to afford a room in a terrible part of Queens.
A sleek, black Maybach pulled up to the curb. The tinted window slowly rolled down.
Marcus looked up, his eyes hollow. Clara sat in the backseat, looking like royalty.
He scrambled off the bench, rushing to the window. "Clara! Please! I've lost everything. I'm sorry. I was blind. I was stupid. Please, just give me a second chance. I love you!"
Clara looked at him, not with anger, but with absolute indifference. The woman who had once baked him cookies in a cramped apartment was entirely gone. In her place was the Emperor's daughter.
"You don't love me, Marcus," Clara said softly, the rain bouncing off the window glass. "You love this car. You love the power. But the tragic thing is, you could have had it all. Not because of my money, but because I was willing to give you my whole heart."
"Clara, I..."
"I didn't take your fortune, Marcus," Clara interrupted, her eyes cold and final. "I just stopped letting you borrow mine."
She pressed a button, and the tinted window rolled up, cutting off his desperate pleas.
"Take me home," Clara told the driver.
May you like
As the Maybach glided seamlessly into the Manhattan traffic, leaving Marcus standing alone in the gutter, Clara Vanguard poured herself a glass of perfectly aged scotch. She opened her tablet, checked the soaring stock prices of Vanguard International, and smiled.
The crown was heavy, but it fit her perfectly.
