An Arrogant Fiancée Violently Kicked A Poor Street Vendor's Cart onto The Ground, Unaware Her Billionaire Groom Would Step Out And Call Him Papa
Chapter 1: The Splintered Corn on the Cobblestone
The air outside the massive iron gates of the Vanguard Estate was heavy with the cloying, sweet scent of manicured white roses and the crisp, salty breeze blowing in from the private coastline. The cobblestone driveway, laid by hand with imported European stone, stretched out like an endless gray carpet toward a sprawling, multi-million-dollar neoclassical mansion. It was a kingdom built entirely on the concept of absolute luxury, exclusivity, and untouchable prestige. Inside those gates, appearance was everything, and poverty was considered an unforgivable stain.
"Get this disgusting trash away from my house! Security, why is this subhuman parasite blocking my driveway?!"
The vicious words echoed sharply against the stone pillars, cutting through the serene afternoon like a serrated blade. They belonged to Rebecca Sterling—the fiercely ambitious, high-society fiancée of the reclusive billionaire tech mogul, Gabriel Vanguard. Clad in a flawless, custom-tailored white designer cocktail dress that cost more than an ordinary family earned in a year, Rebecca stood with her chin tilted up at an arrogant, superior angle. Her heavily manicured hands rested on her hips, her eyes flashing with a predatory, narcissistic malice as she glared down at the old man before her.
With a sudden, violent kick of her expensive designer heel, Rebecca slammed her foot into the side of a rusted, wooden street vendor's cart.
The impact was immediate and destructive. The fragile wooden axle snapped with a sickening groan, causing the entire cart to tilt wildly and crash violently onto the cold, hard cobblestones. Dozens of hot, freshly roasted ears of sweet corn, small containers of butter, and handmade paper bags spilled out in a chaotic, messy wave, rolling across the pristine driveway like debris from an explosion.
Rebecca didn't offer a hand to help. She didn't blink. Instead, she adjusted the diamonds glittering around her neck, a cold, triumphant smirk touching the edges of her lips. She genuinely believed she was simply clearing away a dirty, homeless nuisance who was actively ruining the aesthetic of her wealthy fiancé's sprawling empire. She assumed the old man with the smudged face, calloused hands, and faded straw hat was a nobody—a faceless peasant she could easily trample over without facing a single consequence.
Kneeling on the cold cobblestones, desperately trying to gather his scattered, dirt-covered corn with trembling fingers, was Mateo. His face was weathered by decades of brutal, unyielding labor, his simple cotton clothes stained with charcoal and sweat.
But Mateo was not a homeless parasite. He was a father who had silently worked his entire life in absolute poverty, skipping meals and destroying his health in the agricultural fields, for one singular purpose: to fund his son’s education and build the foundation of the very empire that now stood before them. He had kept his identity completely hidden from the media, preferring to live a simple, humble life so his son could shine in the high-society world without being weighed down by a poor father's past.
Rebecca stood proudly in her white dress, blinded by her gold-digging greed and feeling completely untouchable in her elitism. She knew that Gabriel was scheduled to arrive home from an international corporate summit at any moment, and she wanted the driveway to look flawless for his arrival.
"Look at you, crawling on the ground like an insect," Rebecca sneered, deliberately stepping on a piece of roasted corn right beside Mateo's hand, crushing it into a yellow paste against the cobblestone. "If you aren't gone by the time my fiancé gets here, I'll ensure the police lock you away where you will never see the sun again."
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Mateo wept silently on the ground, his dignity stripped away by a woman who valued a pristine driveway more than human life.
Suddenly, a low, powerful growl broke through the quiet estate. A sleek, matte-black luxury sedan with tinted windows swerved around the corner of the gated community, pulling up to the driveway with a definitive, authoritative screech of its tires. Gabriel Vanguard had arrived.
