“There’s something else you should know about tonight…”
The ballroom was dead silent.
You could hear the ice melting in the glasses.
Isabella snapped her fingers.
Two men in sharp dark suits stepped from the shadows.
They weren’t security.
They were lawyers.
One handed her a sleek leather folder.
Alex’s face drained of color. His arrogance was gone, replaced by a cold, creeping dread.
“You see, Alex,” Isabella’s voice echoed—smooth as velvet, sharp as glass. “When I bought half this estate, I was looking to expand my portfolio.”
She opened the folder.
“So, I started buying up debt. Bad debt. Desperate debt.”
She pulled out a single sheet of paper.
“Like the fifty million your crumbling company owes.”
Alex staggered back.
“H-how did you—”
“And remember that little bet?” Isabella smiled, her eyes gleaming. “*Fifty grand if you prove me wrong?*”
Alex swallowed hard.
“I don’t need your fifty grand,” she whispered, stepping into his space. “But your creditors? They needed a buyout. As of ten minutes ago, I don’t just own this room.”
She tapped the paper against his chest.
“I own you.”
The crowd gasped.
Alex spun frantically to his fiancée. “Sarah! Help me! Call your father!”
The woman in the silver beaded dress didn’t move to comfort him.
Instead, she calmly walked over to Isabella.
And bowed her head.
“The final contracts are signed, Ms. Laurent,” Sarah said. Her voice was entirely different. Professional. Cold.
Alex’s knees buckled. “Sarah? What is this?”
“Sarah is my lead acquisitions director,” Isabella smirked. “She’s been auditing your pathetic life for six months.”
Isabella turned back to the crowd, raising her champagne glass.
“Throw him out,” she commanded, not even looking at Alex anymore. “He’s trespassing on my property.”
The music resumed.
The elite cheered.
And Alex was dragged into the dark.