The Heiress They Chose To Lose Chapter 05
Damian didn’t seem to care that the entire East Coast elite was watching him.
Despite being the man in control of the Whitmore family, he bent slightly toward me with helpless indulgence written all over his face.
“Was running away from home fun?”
“You ignored every call and every message. Mrs. Harrington has been driving us insane for days.”
As he spoke, he removed his expensive charcoal overcoat and draped it naturally over my shoulders.
Adrian Harrington approached next.
The businessman famous for being cold and ruthless picked up a glass of warm water from a passing server’s tray himself.
He leaned slightly forward and offered it to me with both hands.
His eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were impossibly gentle.
“Elena.”
His voice was low and rich.
“There’s a limit to how far you should take this whole ‘experiencing ordinary life’ thing.”
“Harrington’s quarterly financial report is still sitting on your desk waiting for your signature.”
“If you don’t come back soon, the old men on the board are going to start throwing themselves into the Hudson.”
The effect was explosive.
The ballroom might as well have been hit by a bomb.
The collective gasp from the crowd swept through the room like a storm.
Alexander’s face went white.
He stared at me like he had never seen me before.
Victoria’s champagne glass slipped from her fingers and landed with a dull crash against the carpet.
Julian’s pupils widened violently.
He took an unconscious step toward me before forcing himself to stop.
“Mr. Harrington… Mr. Whitmore…”
Alexander fought to control himself, but his voice still shook.
“Have you… mistaken her for someone else?”
He clung desperately to rationality.
“She’s a cousin from my mother’s side. She grew up in foster care. We only brought her into the city recently—”
“A cousin?”
Damian straightened slowly.
He turned toward Alexander.
His expression was the kind usually reserved for someone already dead.
“Alexander, did your latest investment failure damage your brain, or were you born blind?”
A dangerous smile touched Damian’s mouth.
“Elena is the woman I personally answer to.”
“She holds joint control of the Whitmore family investment fund.”
“And you’re calling her some random cousin?”
Adrian straightened too.
He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.
His voice was calm, but the pressure behind it seemed heavy enough to crush the entire room.
“Alexander.”
“Elena is a core beneficiary of the Harrington Family Foundation and holds twelve percent of its voting rights.”
“She sits at the heart of our decision-making structure.”
“And in the Sterling household, she isn’t even worth a glass of water?”
“You stick her beside the catering area and expect her to sit there breathing kitchen fumes?”
The words hit the Sterling family like thunder.
Claire’s knees buckled.
If Julian hadn’t instinctively caught her arm, she would have collapsed.
“No… That’s impossible…”
Her lips trembled as tears poured down her cheeks.
“Her name is Elena Ward. She’s just some foster-care nobody—”
“Shut your mouth!”
Damian spun toward her.
The killing chill in his eyes made Claire swallow the rest of the sentence.
He strode directly to her and stared at the violet bangle around her wrist.
“I thought something looked wrong the second I saw that.”
His voice turned glacial.
“That imperial violet bangle was personally selected by Mrs. Harrington as Elena’s eighteenth-birthday gift.”
“So how exactly did it end up on someone like you?”
Claire screamed and immediately hid behind Julian.
“She… Elena traded it to me!”
“I gave her my Cartier bracelet for it!”
“Traded?”
Damian laughed in disbelief.
He looked back at me, exasperated.
“Elena, this is the biological family you insisted on coming back to meet?”
“They’re fighting over things you wouldn’t even bother locking in a safe.”
“What exactly were you hoping to find here?”
I pulled his coat more securely around myself and stood.
Then I looked at the Sterling family.
Every face had been twisted by shock and fear.
“Nothing.”
I walked over to Damian and met Alexander’s bloodshot eyes.
Regret had already begun to settle into them.
“I just wanted to see for myself.”
“What are those so-called old-money manners really worth once you strip away the family name?”
I smiled faintly.
“Turns out it’s a joke.”