Ethan Vance stood motionless before the window, swirling a glass of 30-year-old single malt scotch.
The liquid caught the ambient amber lighting of the room, looking very much like liquid gold.
On the leather sofa behind him sat a pristine, tailor-made charcoal tuxedo.
It was meant for a wedding that was supposed to happen in exactly four hours.
Instead, it looked like a shroud for a dead dream.
”The digital forensics team finished auditing the offshore accounts, Mr.
Vance,” a quiet, dignified voice spoke from the shadows of the room.
Arthur, Ethan’s head of security and butler for the last fifteen years, stepped forward.
He held a sleek, encrypted tablet.
His face, usually an unreadable mask of professional calm, carried a heavy shadow of sympathy.
Ethan didn’t turn around.
His voice was dangerously quiet.
“And?”
”It’s confirmed, sir,” Arthur said, his tone tight.
“Miss Victoria signed a non-disclosure and intellectual property transfer agreement with Omnicorp Industries last Tuesday.
The contract activates the moment your marriage certificate is filed with the state.
She was paid a non-refundable retainer of twenty million dollars, with a promise of five percent equity in Omnicorp once she delivers the encryption keys to your new logistics software.”
Ethan took a slow, deliberate sip of his scotch.
The alcohol burned his throat, but it couldn’t touch the icy numbness spreading through his chest.
Victoria.
The woman he had spent two years with.
The woman he had flown to Paris just to buy her favorite flowers.
The woman who, just last night, had looked into his eyes and whispered that he was her entire world.
Her world, Ethan thought bitterly, has a dollar sign attached to it.
”Twenty million,” Ethan murmured, a cold laugh escaping his lips.
“I bought her an engagement ring worth three million.
I guess I was just a bad investment compared to Omnicorp’s offer.”
”I am deeply sorry, sir,” Arthur said, bowing his head.
“The press is already gathering outside the grand cathedral.
Over four hundred elite guests are arriving.
How do you wish to handle the cancellation?”
Ethan finally turned around.
At thirty-two, he possessed a striking, commanding presence, sharp jawline, piercing dark eyes, and a posture that commanded rooms without saying a word.
But today, the exhaustion of a man who had realized he was entirely alone in the world showed in his eyes.
”Cancel it?” Ethan walked over to his massive mahogany desk and set the glass down with a sharp click.
“No, Arthur.
Don’t cancel it yet.
Send Victoria a copy of the forensics report.
Attach a wire transfer receipt of exactly twenty million and one dollars to her personal account.
Tell her the extra dollar is for her acting performance.
Then, tell my legal team to freeze every asset associated with her family’s boutique firm.”
”Consider it done.” Arthur’s fingers flew across the tablet.
“And the media?”
”Tell them the wedding is off due to a breach of contract,” Ethan said coldly.
“Let them speculate.
I don’t care.”
He walked back to the window, looking down at the streets below.
Down there, through the heavy rain, he could see the headlights of thousands of ordinary cars.
People rushing home from ordinary jobs, heading to cramped apartments, probably worrying about rent, groceries, or gas.
And yet, Ethan envied them.
”Arthur,” Ethan said suddenly, his voice changing, losing its razor-sharp corporate edge.
“When my father died and left me this empire, he told me that wealth is a wall.
It keeps the bad things out, but it also locks you in a golden cage.
I never understood him until today.”
”Mr.
Vance…”
”Every woman I have ever dated, every friend I have ever made since I took over Vance International, has looked at me and seen a bank account.
They see the private jets.
They see the penthouse.
They see the power.
No one sees Ethan.”
Ethan unbuttoned his silk shirt collar, ripping the top button off in a sudden burst of frustration.
It rolled across the polished hardwood floor.
”I’m done, Arthur.
I am officially done with this masquerade.”
Arthur looked up, alarmed.
“Sir, what are you implying?
You cannot step down from the board.
The stocks.”
”I’m not stepping down.
I’ll run the company from the shadows.
You will be my only point of contact,” Ethan said, a radical, wild idea suddenly taking root in his mind.
The sheer absurdity of it made his heart beat fast with excitement for the first time in years.
“I am going to leave this penthouse.
I am going to leave the suits, the cars, and the billions.”
”And go where, sir?”
”To the bottom,” Ethan whispered, a genuine smile finally breaking through his bleak expression.
“I am going to find a woman who looks at me when I have absolutely nothing, and still chooses to stay.
I’m going to become a nobody, Arthur.
A broke, struggling laborer.
A man who lives hand-to-mouth.”
Arthur stared at him, utterly dumbfounded.
“Sir…
you wouldn’t survive a week in the slums.
You don’t even know how to use a public laundromat.”
Ethan chuckled, walking over to a hidden wall safe behind the mahogany paneling.
He swung the heavy steel door open, utterly ignoring the gleaming stacks of bearer bonds, rare diamonds, and gold bars that could buy a small country.
Instead, his fingers brushed past the wealth he had grown to despise and pulled out a dusty, faded canvas backpack he hadn’t used since his college days, a relic from a time before the crown of the Vance empire had crushed his spirit.
He threw it over his broad shoulder, the stark contrast between his thousands-of-dollars tailored suit and the frayed straps highlighting the desperate rebellion taking root in his chest.
”Then I guess it’s time for me to learn what it actually means to breathe,” Ethan said, a rare, genuine smile finally breaking through his hardened corporate mask.
He turned to Arthur, his most trusted confidant, whose eyes swam with a mixture of deep worry and profound respect.
“Prepare the paperwork for my indefinite absence.
Erase my digital footprint for the next few months, lock down the penthouse, and let the board of directors scramble.
Tomorrow, the untouchable billionaire Ethan Vance disappears into the fog.
And Lucas begins