The hotel suite was a silent palace of cream and gold, but Aurora felt only its hollow chill. Downstairs, the muffled noise of the ruined engagement party still vibrated through the floorboards, but she ignored it completely.
She dragged a heavy leather suitcase from the walk-in closet, letting it hit the carpet with a dull thud.
She didn't touch the designer gowns hanging on the rack, nor the jewel-encrusted shoes purchased with Beaumont money. Her hands moved with terrifying precision, packing only the essentials she had bought herself: worn denim, plain cotton t-shirts, and a gray cashmere sweater.
Finally, she reached into the nightstand and pulled out a single silver frame. Inside was a faded photograph of a younger Aurora laughing beside a kind-faced old man—Dr. Alistair Finch, her late medical mentor during her ten missing years.
To the Beaumonts and the rest of high society, Aurora was nothing but a D-list actress—a feral, uncultured girl dragged out of the backwoods who didn't belong in their world. They had absolutely no idea that the man in the photograph was a legendary surgical pioneer, or that Aurora was his sole protégé, the only living person who possessed his exclusive, groundbreaking medical techniques.
He was the only person who had ever truly cared for her.
She tucked the photo safely between the layers of clothes, sealing her true past away.
The heavy oak door was violently thrown open, slamming against the wall with a loud crack.
Collin Foley stood on the threshold. His tuxedo jacket was rumpled, his tie loosened, his eyes burning with suppressed rage. He looked at the open suitcase as if it were a personal insult.
"What kind of tantrum are you playing now, Aurora?" Collin demanded, striding into the room, his heavy footsteps thudding against the rug. "The press is circling the entrance like vultures! Your father is furious! Zip that suitcase up and come downstairs right now."
Aurora didn't even flinch. She folded a plain black shirt, her hands completely steady.
Her utter silence infuriated him more than any screaming match.
Collin grabbed her wrist, his grip tightening until her skin paled. "Listen to me! The alliance between the Foley Group and Beaumont Enterprises is worth billions. I need those thirty percent shares from your trust! Go downstairs, apologize to Ivy for making a scene, and we can still salvage this evening."
Aurora finally lifted her head. The gentle adoration that had once filled her green eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, echoing void.
Without a word, she twisted her wrist with a swift, subtle leverage. Collin's fingers slipped off her skin instantly, his hand numbed by the sudden pressure.
Collin blinked, staring at his tingling hand in shock.
"Apologize to Ivy?" Aurora repeated, her lips curving into a humorless smile. "So that's all I am to you, Collin? A signature to secure your corporate merger?"
Collin's eyes darted away for a fraction of a second before hardening again. "Don't be so dramatic! Ivy is your sister! She's fragile, and she felt guilty about taking your place. What's the big deal in letting her have her way for once to keep the peace?"
"She is not my sister," Aurora corrected him, her voice flat and glacial. "And you are no longer my fiancé."
Before Collin could roar at her, his phone vibrated violently in his pocket. He pulled it out, and the glowing screen lit up with the name: Ivy.
He answered it before the first ring even finished.
"Collin..." Ivy's choked, tearful voice drifted through the speaker, pitched loud enough for Aurora to hear every word. "The reporters are asking such horrible questions... my brothers are yelling... I'm so scared... Can you please come take me home?"
The transformation was instantaneous.
The rage on Collin's face melted into a mask of besotted tenderness. "Don't cry, honey," he cooed into the receiver, his tone dripping with a gentle warmth he had never once offered Aurora. "I'm coming right now. Wait for me in the private lobby, alright?"
He hung up, completely forgetting his anger. He adjusted his gold cufflinks, looking at Aurora with cool dismissiveness.
"Cool off," Collin said, stepping back toward the door. "Think about your future. When you're ready to be sensible and apologize to my family and Ivy, give me a call."
He didn't wait for a reply. He spun on his heel and rushed down the hallway, his hurried footsteps echoing toward the elevator.
Aurora watched his retreating back, her expression completely unbothered.
She walked calmly over to the vanity table. Sitting beside the mirror was the empty velvet ring box that had held her engagement ring before she threw it on the grass downstairs.
She picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Aurora! Thank God!" Her agent, Tessa Hayes, answered on the very first ring, her voice frantic. "The livestream cut out right after you clapped! The internet is exploding! Did Collin really ditch you on stage?!"
"He did," Aurora replied, her voice smooth as silk. "I need you to post a statement from my official Twitter account right now."
Tessa gasped. "What statement?"
Aurora dictated the words, each one a perfectly calculated nail in the coffin of her old life:
"It takes a special kind of love for a man to abandon his own engagement stage to hold another woman. Since Collin Foley and my adopted sister, Ivy Beaumont, clearly share a bond that goes far beyond sibling affection behind closed doors, I’ve decided to stop getting in their way. Wishing the happy couple the best. I am officially single."
Silence stretched over the line for two seconds, followed by Tessa's loud, hysterical gasp. "Oh my god, the shade! YES! I'm posting it right now! It's going to burn Manhattan to the ground!"
Aurora ended the call.
She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and walked out the side door, using the private service corridor to avoid the reporters in the main lobby.
As she passed a tall metal trash can near the exit, her hand opened. The empty velvet ring box dropped silently into the garbage.
The moment her boots stepped past the heavy iron gates into the biting night air, her phone vibrated with a breaking news alert:
[EXCLUSIVE: Aurora Beaumont Drops Cheating Bombshell—Tags Ex-Fiancé and Adopted Sister in Explosive Breakup Tweet!]
