Chapter 2
Inside the sleek leather interior of the black SUV, Ethan Vance chuckled softly, tapping his Italian leather shoes against the floor mat.
His light grey suit jacket was immaculate, and his burgundy open-collar shirt exuded the careless arrogance of a man who believed he owned the world.
In the back seat, fifty-five-year-old Eleanor Vance adjusted her deep purple blouse, wearing a smug, triumphant smile that reached her cold blue eyes.
"You handled that absolute peasant with textbook precision, Ethan," Eleanor praised, her voice dripping with venomous satisfaction.
"A girl from a modest suburban background had no business carrying the Vance family name anyway."
Ethan leaned back against the headrest, smoothing down his short dark hair with casual confidence.
"She thought having my baby would lock down my inheritance permanently," Ethan scoffed dismissively.
"Mother, my corporate partners at Vanguard Capital would have stripped my executive voting shares if I brought a penniless charity case into our high-society circle."
Eleanor nodded approvingly, gazing out the tinted window as the vehicle turned onto Fifth Avenue toward their sprawling Manhattan penthouse.
"Once the hospital records show she discharged herself without financial backing, we can file for abandonment and full custody," Eleanor plotted coldly.
"By tomorrow morning, she will be completely erased from our social registry."
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Neither of them had the faintest inkling that Arthur Sterling’s elite private jet was already taxiing down the runway in Westchester County.
Nor did they know that a multi-million-dollar federal injunction was already being printed on heavy bond paper in downtown Manhattan.
