CHAPTER 151: THE BEGINNING

Inside the elevator,

Breathing uneven, gaze hateful, Dahlia stayed quiet until the doors slid shut. Then, she snapped.

"You made me apologize!" she yelled, spinning toward Seraphina, her voice echoing off the steel walls, her face red with fury. "I didn’t even say anything that wasn’t true! I didn’t lie. She is just a florist girl. Why the hell do I have to apologize for that?"

Seraphina didn’t even blink. ’Florist girl?’ If Aveline called a florist girl for being the owner of an event management company, then what makes Dahlia?

She reached forward and pressed two buttons on the panel, 15th floor and ground.

Dahlia continued, her voice piercing Seraphina’s ears, "You told Mom and Dad to block my cards? Are you fucking serious?" she hissed, stepping closer. "Do it again, Sister Sera. Just try. I won’t stay quiet next time..."

Seraphina finally turned her head, eyes flat. "Go home." She said without getting angry.

The elevator dinged. She stepped out on the 15th floor without looking back.

Dahlia exploded. "You’re unbelievable!" she yelled. "Just because Dad listens to you doesn’t mean you get to pull this crap on me!" Her voice echoed down the hallway.

Several employees poked their heads out from cubicles, startled. A few stood halfway out of their chairs to look at them.

"If you block my cards again, I swear..." Dahlia’s voice climbed higher, venomous and shrill, "... I’ll make sure you regret it. I’m not your damn puppet!"

The doors finally shut on her rant, cutting it off mid-threat.

Seraphina didn’t look back. She kept walking, unfazed, her heels tapping steadily against the floor as the stunned silence behind her began to settle again.

....

In Nicholas’s Office,

Nicholas’s office had always been designed to intimidate. Deep mahogany walls, tall bookshelves, and sleek black furniture that mirrored nothing but power.

Two senior managers stood near the desk, in the middle of the discussion, but stopped the moment Seraphina entered the office without a knock.

"Mrs. Lancaster." They greeted her with nods.

Nicholas was standing near the window with a cup of coffee, suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up. He turned when he heard them, and his expression didn’t change.

He signaled the managers to leave as he reached the desk to place his coffee cup down.

The managers left quickly. The glass door closed behind them with a soft click.

"Seraphina!?" Nicholas approached her.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she flung her handbag onto the couch violently. It landed with a loud thump, knocking over a cushion.

She exhaled, finally. Her chest was rising, then falling slower than before.

He blinked in shock. It was the first time he had ever seen her show her anger. He quickly walked over and placed a hand on her arm. "What happened?"

"She handled it," Seraphina said bitterly.

He tilted his head. He had a meeting with an international client. Hence, he wasn’t able to join his wife or trouble his younger brother by meeting Henry or Aveline Laurent. So he guessed, "Aveline Laurent!?"

"Yes. She didn’t even raise her voice. Didn’t play the victim either. Just... shut everything down like she was defusing a bomb." Her voice slowly began to gain composure.

Nicholas’s brows lifted slightly. "And that’s a bad thing?"

"She wasn’t supposed to shut it down," She snapped, "She was supposed to react. Get emotional. Lose her temper. I wanted Dad to take her side, Alaric to fight back, Henry Laurent to question my presence and accuse me."

Nicholas kept his voice calm. "You wanted this to be a mess!?" He couldn’t understand it.

Wouldn’t it be a mess for her to solve?

"Yes," Seraphina admitted. "The louder the better. If Aveline really is just a pretty mask, she should’ve cracked under pressure, under my act."

"And she didn’t," Nicholas murmured, realizing Aveline outsmarted Seraphina.

But it didn’t shock him, considering how Aveline got out of Damien’s clutch and Damien was behind the bars.

"No," Seraphina muttered. "She didn’t. She absorbed it. And then she made it look like she was the bigger person. Even Dad looked at her like she descended from heaven."

She sank onto the couch beside her bag, the anger cooling into frustration. "Dad and Mom would never risk breaking the family apart. That would’ve left Alaric with only two choices. Either stay with the family or stay with Aveline."

If Alaric had left the family, everything Lancaster’s owned would have belonged to Nicholas. If he had left Aveline, he would have lost the huge support system.

None of it happened.

Nicholas sat next to her, resting his arm on the backrest. "You underestimated her, Sera."

"I don’t know if she’s good or just incredibly calculating," Seraphina admitted, voice low. "But either way, she’s hard to pin down. Impossible to rattle. And now..."

She looked at him. "Now, separating them won’t be easy. Might be impossible." It tasted bitter on her tongue

Nicholas leaned back, his jaw tight, watching her carefully.

"You don’t need to beat her," he said quietly. "You just need to stop trying to control her and let her see that their relationship isn’t worthwhile."

Seraphina didn’t respond. For the first time, she wasn’t sure the right move against a person.

After a long pause thick with unspoken tension, Seraphina finally asked, "Did your men steal the hard drive?"

Her aim wasn’t Aveline but the relationship between Alaric and Aveline.

Because if the Laurents, or Aveline herself, were supporting Alaric, then the blow Nicholas intended to deliver wouldn’t be sufficient.

Now, she needed to know how much time she had to tear apart Alaric and Aveline.

Nicholas’s smirk widened at her question. Without a word, he walked to his desk, pulled open the bottom drawer, and retrieved a small, matte-black hard drive.

He held it up as he crossed the room and handed it to her like a trophy. "His future is right here," he said, eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "I got it this morning."

Seraphina nodded once, cool and controlled. "Good. Find a small company that is already registered. Start the release preparation. Quietly."

Then she mentioned details, "The software should be under a new name. There should be no ties to us. Send it to the tech influencers, only the ones with reach and credibility. Ask them to hold their content."

Her voice was calm, each word sharp and intentional. "Their videos should go live the day of the second product launch event. If we’re even a day early, he’ll cancel the event. We won’t give him that chance."

Nicholas was clearly impressed. "Ruthless," he muttered, and then grinned. "I’ll get on it right away. I already have a few shell companies in mind, this’ll be live in days."

He was energized, sabotaging Alaric was giving him the thrill.

Seraphina watched him go, her expression unreadable. She didn’t believe in brute force, only timing, leverage, and the art of staying one move ahead.

And this time, they had all three against Alaric.

But his relationship with Aveline?

.....

In Edward’s office,

Once Seraphina and Dahlia stepped out, the room fell into a heavy silence. The three men, Edward, Henry, and Alaric, turned to Aveline, each seeking answers, or at least some clarity.

Aveline drew in a breath. She could be honest with her father and Alaric. But Edward?

He was the patriarch of the Lancaster family. Seraphina was his daughter-in-law, and blunt accusations, no matter how justified, could seem like discord sown into his family.

So she kept her suspicions and kept her voice measured. "Whether Mrs. Lancaster did it intentionally or not, it could be a sister’s wish to have her younger sister near."

However, she didn’t completely rule out Seraphina’s actions. "Whether the scene was poorly staged or a mere coincidence, if we keep picking at it, we won’t just dig up answers, we’ll scratch wounds."

Her eyes briefly flicked to Alaric. "And I don’t want to complicate Alaric’s relationship with his family. With or without a sincere apology, we’ve handled the situation."

Her tone was calm, but the restraint behind her words was an undercurrent everyone felt.

Edward smiled, not just at her diplomacy, but at his son’s judgment. He had wondered what Aveline was like beneath her quiet elegance. And now he saw it. She wasn’t rash. She was strategic.

Still, his voice carried the authority of a Lancaster. "I appreciate that you thought about our family. Now, it’s our duty to handle the Astor situation with care. And to give you and the Laurents the proper respect and answers. That’s a responsibility we’ll uphold."

Henry gave a short, approving nod, the kind that held weight in business. He accepted Aveline’s choice, for now. But inwardly, he had already made a decision, he would speak with her alone that evening.

He stood up, looking at Edward, "I think this is just the beginning." Unlike Aveline, who sought to douse the flames, he didn’t bother with subtlety.

Then he turned to his daughter and met her eyes. "No matter what, Lina, you’ll have me beside you."

The room stilled. It wasn’t just a father’s assurance, it was a line drawn in the sand. Henry was letting Edward know exactly where he stood. If Aveline stayed on Alaric’s side, he would support them. But if that changed, he could stand against them too.

Aveline caught the weight behind the words and chose to ease the tension. "I know, Dad. Don’t worry." Her voice was soft, but steady.

As a father of a daughter, Edward read between the lines. It was protection and love for his daughter that fueled Henry.

And beneath his composed expression, Edward made a mental note.

A beginning...

It very well could be. Especially with the board breathing down his neck, demanding Alaric take up a formal seat at Lancaster Global, the very battle Isabella had fought tooth and nail to delay for years.