Chapter 2 - The Vanguard Heir
Chloe felt the blood drain entirely from her face.
She stared at the boy in the faded leather jacket, unable to comprehend what she had just heard.
No one knew about the repo order on the Bentley.
Not even her closest friends knew the true extent of the Kensington financial disaster.
She quickly recovered her composure, plastering on a mask of icy disdain.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Chloe said, her voice dripping with venom.
The boy just smiled, a dangerous glint in his green eyes.
"My name is Asher," he said loudly enough for the surrounding crowd to hear.
"And I'm going to love it here."
Preston grabbed Asher by the shoulder, his knuckles turning white.
"Don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you," Preston barked.
Before anyone could blink, Asher grabbed Preston's wrist, twisting it just enough to make the golden boy drop to his knees in pain.
"Do not touch me," Asher warned, his tone suddenly devoid of any amusement.
The security guards finally rushed forward, breaking up the confrontation.
Whispers erupted across the courtyard like wildfire.
Someone had just humiliated the heir to the Vanguard empire.
Throughout the morning classes, Chloe couldn't focus on anything.
She discreetly checked her phone under the desk, terrified that Asher had leaked her secret to the school's gossip forums.
But the forums were only talking about him.
Rumors were swirling that Asher was a scholarship student, a charity case forced upon the academy by the board of directors.
During the lunch period, Chloe decided she needed to eliminate the threat immediately.
She marched up to the headmaster's office, preparing a speech about feeling unsafe around the new delinquent.
She pushed the heavy oak door open without knocking.
The headmaster was not sitting at his desk.
He was standing respectfully by the window, pouring a cup of tea for a man in a sharp black suit.
Sitting in the leather visitor's chair was Asher, eating an apple.
"Ah, Miss Kensington," the man in the suit said, turning around.
It was Marcus Thorne, the legendary, ruthless corporate raider who had just bought the majority of the city's debt.
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"I was just telling the headmaster about my new ward," Marcus continued.
"Asher has full access to the Thorne family accounts, which, coincidentally, now include the mortgage on your family's estate."
