“Fiancé?” Sebastian scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain. “If you hadn’t used that new energy project to pressure Uncle, do you really think Vivienne would’ve agreed to marry someone like you?”
He took a slow step forward, looking me over like something stuck to his shoe. “You—always out in the sun, covered in dirt—you’re not even fit to carry Vivienne’s shoes.”
Isolde turned sharply, her eyes flashing with provocation, like she was daring me to strike back.
I clenched my fists, suppressing the anger rising in my chest. I tried, one last time, to reason.
“You’re Sebastian, right? Is that who Vivienne truly wants? Because if you knew what I—”
“Shut up.” He cut me off with a flick of his hand, his tone laced with annoyance. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what you do. All I care about is one thing—”
He pointed at Isolde. “Kneel. Apologize to Isolde.”
I stared at him, speechless for a moment—then I laughed. A cold, bitter laugh that echoed in the corridor.
He didn’t even know the Hale family had begged Vivienne to marry me. And now he expected me to kneel?
“Mr. Quinn,” I said flatly, “Miss Hale and I may not know each other well, but she doesn’t hate me. I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with her—maybe you have feelings for her. But I’m her legitimate fiancé. If you want to take her from me, you’ll need a better reason than arrogance.”
“A reason?” he scoffed. “I’ll give you one—because you’re nothing. And people like you don’t get to marry up.”
“So I deserve a beating just for existing?” I muttered.
Isolde jumped in before he could respond, a wicked smile tugging at her lips. “Oh, please. It’s not you who’s marrying her—it’s her who has to marry you. She’s already on the way, isn’t she? If she backs out now, will you get on your knees and beg her to stay?”
The spectators murmured. One laughed. I caught fragments—“lucky orphan,” “free mansion,” “the Hale family’s charity case.”
Isolde’s voice rang out again, mocking. “His family should thank the heavens for eight generations just for this match. There’s no way he’d have the guts to break it off.”
The two siblings looked at me like I was a beggar trying to steal from royalty.
I smiled coldly. “The Hale family? You think they’re royalty? That every man is dying to marry their daughter?”
I turned to Sebastian, who was casually wiping his leather shoe—the one that had ground into the back of my hand.
“You don’t want her to marry me?” I asked, voice low and tight. “Fine. Then cancel the engagement. But you want the project authorization too?”
He looked up.
“If you hand it over now,” he said, “we can make this painless.”
At that moment, Vivienne finally arrived.
She paused when she saw me—bloodied, dusty, humiliated. Her expression shifted into a practiced softness, her eyes just slightly red.
“Malric,” she said, her voice gentle, “don’t blame Sebastian. He’s doing this for my sake…”
I cut her off. My voice was cold and dry—like the wind in the Sonoran Desert.
“I’m not asking about him,” I said. “I’m asking you. Do you want to marry him, or me?”
Before she could answer, Isolde jumped in gleefully. “She doesn’t want to marry you! She wants my brother! Just agree to cancel the engagement and be done with it.”
“Don’t be so shameless, Malric Lennox,” Sebastian sneered, pulling out a checkbook. He scribbled something and tore the page with a flourish. “Here—five million. Take it and disappear.”
He pressed the check into my chest.
“You think I don’t know what’s going on?” he said. “Your little project is close to completion, but without the Quinn family’s materials, you can’t finish it.”
I looked down at the check, then back at him—and suddenly smiled.
So that was it.
No wonder the Hale family had been so desperate to tie me down. It wasn’t about marriage. It was about control. About access to the classified controlled nuclear fusion project I led. And the Quinn family? Just pawns in the Hale family’s bigger game.
For years, both families had grown fat on the back of the last major technology initiative I spearheaded. The rare metals they hoarded were useful—but only temporarily. Once the new core stabilizer was perfected, they’d be obsolete.
And if that technology went to another investor? The Hale and Quinn families would crash overnight.
Technology evolves fast. Faster than greed can react.
I crumpled the check slowly and met his eyes.
“Sebastian,” I said, voice sharp as ice, “you’re too naïve. When this project succeeds, it won’t just be worth more than your five million—it’ll rewrite the industry.”
I stepped closer, tossing the check to the floor between us.
“As for your materials?” I gave him a faint smile. “Just stepping stones. Nothing more.”
