Chapter 2 The Aunt Who Owns Everything

The word "Chairwoman" echoed through the grand ballroom like a thunderclap.

For a long, agonizing moment, the only sound was the soft clinking of champagne flutes as the elite of high society froze in disbelief.

Jiang Chen stared at the lawyer, his eyes bulging. Then, slowly, his gaze shifted to me. His lips trembled, trying to form words, but nothing came out.

"Chairwoman... Su?" he finally choked out, a forced, hysterical laugh bubbling in his throat. "Are you out of your mind? She's a country girl! I found her in a rural village three years ago! She doesn't have a penny to her name. She's a nobody!"

The lawyer didn't even blink. He simply held out the thick stack of legal documents.

"Mr. Jiang, I suggest you read the fine print of the investment agreement your father signed eighteen months ago," the lawyer said, his voice dripping with icy professionalism. "The capital that saved the Jiang Corporation from bankruptcy was provided by a private offshore entity. The sole owner of that entity is Miss Su Jin. She has held 51% of your shares for over a year."

I stepped forward, my heels clicking sharply against the marble floor. I looked at my ex-husband the man who had thrown me away like trash this morning and felt absolutely nothing.

"You never asked where the money came from, Jiang Chen," I said softly. "You were too busy buying sports cars and taking your mistress on vacations with the profits."

Jiang Chen's face drained of color. He looked like a cornered animal. "No... no, this is a lie! You're a fraud!" He lunged toward me, but before he could get within three feet, a strong, iron-like arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back against a solid chest.

Huo Tingyan.

The billionaire didn't even look at his nephew. He simply glared at the security guards. "If anyone touches my fiancée, break their hands."

The guards rushed forward, grabbing Jiang Chen by the shoulders and forcing him to his knees.

"Uncle!" Jiang Chen screamed, looking up at Huo Tingyan in desperation. "Uncle, she's manipulating you! She's a liar! How could you marry my cast-off? It's a disgrace to the Huo family!"

Huo Tingyan's eyes turned to ice. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.

"Cast-off?" Huo Tingyan repeated, his voice dangerously low. He looked down at Jiang Chen as if he were looking at a bug. "You had a diamond in your hands, and you threw it into the mud. That is a failure of your judgment, not hers."

He turned to me, his hand resting possessively on the small of my back. "Besides," Huo Tingyan added, his voice loud enough for the entire room to hear, "I have been waiting three years for her to finally be rid of you."

A collective gasp swept through the crowd.

"Brother Chen..." Lin Xiaorou finally spoke, her voice a pathetic squeak. She was clutching her stomach, tears streaming down her face, looking like the ultimate victim. "Brother Chen, my stomach hurts... the baby... please, don't let them do this..."

Jiang Chen snapped out of his trance. He looked at Xiaorou, then back at me. Panic flooded his eyes. The company was gone. His uncle had betrayed him. His only leverage now was the child in his mistress's belly.

"Su Jin, please," Jiang Chen begged, his voice cracking as he kneeled on the floor. "Even if you hate me, Xiaorou is pregnant! If the company goes under, we'll have nothing! You're taking everything from an innocent child!"

I looked down at him. The man I had once loved, groveling at my feet.

I pulled a small USB drive out of my clutch and tossed it onto the floor in front of him. It skidded to a stop right at his knees.

"That is a recording of your mistress," I said, my voice ringing with cold authority. "From a month ago, at the Grand Hotel. She was having a very intimate conversation with your personal assistant."

Lin Xiaorou's crying abruptly stopped. Her face turned pale, then green.

"In it, she explains how she faked her pregnancy to trap you into marriage so she could get her hands on the Jiang family fortune," I continued, watching the color drain from Jiang Chen's face. "I suggest you get a paternity test, Jiang Chen. You are about to marry a liar who was sleeping with your staff."

Lin Xiaorou screamed, "That's a lie! She's forging it!"

But Jiang Chen didn't listen to her. He lunged at Lin Xiaorou, grabbing her by the collar. "You bitch! You told me it was mine! You said you loved me!"

The ballroom erupted into chaos. Elites scrambled out of the way as Jiang Chen and Lin Xiaorou began to fight like animals in the middle of the floor. Cameras flashed. The scandal of the century was unfolding in real-time.

"Let's go," Huo Tingyan murmured, his hand still firmly on my waist.

We slipped out of the back entrance, the sounds of Jiang Chen's destruction fading behind us.

I got into Huo Tingyan's black Maybach. The interior was quiet, smelling of expensive leather and his cologne. I let out a long breath, leaning my head back against the seat. It was over. The revenge was sweet.

"Are you satisfied?" Huo Tingyan asked, looking at me from the driver's seat.

"Very," I replied, closing my eyes. "Thank you for playing along with the 'proposal' in front of them."

"Who said I was playing?" he said softly.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. The intensity in his gaze made my heart skip a beat.

"Jin'er," he said, leaning closer. But before he could say another word, his phone rang.

Huo Tingyan frowned, glancing at the screen. He picked it up, his expression darkening as he listened to the person on the other end.

"What do you mean, the acquisition is blocked?" Huo Tingyan snapped.

A cold, hard voice spoke through the speakerphone a voice I recognized.

It was my father.

"So, Su Jin," the voice on the phone rumbled, filled with absolute fury. "You think you can steal the company, marry a Huo, and ruin your sister's life? Come back to the capital tonight, or I will use the family's power to destroy Huo Tingyan, and I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in a mental asylum. Just like your mother."

Huo Tingyan looked at me, his jaw clenched.

The line went dead.