The air in the opulent Vance manor was thick with unspoken accusations and simmering rage.
E.g. ：Coronation Chaos: Magical Crown Rejects Princess, Chooses Royal Maid – A Fantasy Prophecy Unveiled!
- 1、The Vance Dynasty
- 2、A Fortune Divided, Or Undermined?
- 3、Eleanor's Gambit
- 4、The Brother's Shadow
- 5、The Day of Reckoning
- 6、Richard's Final Confession
- 7、The True Inheritance
Victoria Vance, resplendent in black but with a face contorted by fury, stalked towards the distraught young woman.
Sophia stood frozen, her elegant dress a stark contrast to her raw vulnerability.
Victoria grabbed Sophia’s small leather travel bag, containing the last vestiges of her personal belongings.
She hurled it violently towards the grand oak double doors, her voice a piercing shriek.
“Your father chose me, not you! He always did!”
The words echoed through the stunned silence of the assembled guests, a declaration of bitter triumph.
Sophia flinched, her eyes welling with tears, her heart visibly fracturing under the public humiliation.
It was a scene orchestrated for maximum damage, a final, public excoriation of her stepdaughter.
Just as Victoria turned to relish Sophia’s devastation, a new presence commanded the room.
Eleanor Vance, Richard’s first wife, entered with a quiet dignity, accompanied by the family’s long-standing counsel, Jonathan Davies.
In Eleanor’s hand, clutched almost reverently, was an aged, ivory envelope, its seal unbroken.
Her gaze, steady and unflinching, met Victoria’s wild, triumphant eyes.
“Richard knew you would say that,” Eleanor stated, her voice a low, chilling counterpoint to Victoria’s outburst.
The temperature in the room plummeted further, if that were possible.
Victoria’s triumphant smirk faltered, replaced by a flicker of confusion, then suspicion.
Jonathan, grim-faced, carefully took the letter from Eleanor.
His movements were precise, almost ritualistic, as he positioned himself under the crystal chandelier.
The camera seemed to zoom, moving with an almost eerie slowness over Jonathan’s shoulder.
Richard Vance’s distinctive, elegant handwriting filled the parchment.
Every eye in the room, including Sophia’s tear-filled gaze, fixed on the unfolding drama.
Jonathan cleared his throat, the sound amplified in the profound silence.
He began to read aloud, his voice steady but tinged with a tremor of gravity.
“Eleanor, protect our daughter if Victoria ever tries to claim the estate.”
Victoria’s face froze mid-sneer, a mask of disbelief and dawning horror.
Her breath hitched, her carefully constructed narrative crumbling around her.
Jonathan, without a pause, reached the next page, his eyes scanning ahead, a shadow of deeper revelation crossing his features.
The hard cut to black in the video marked the point of no return for everyone present.
The Vance Dynasty
Richard Vance had built an empire from code and ambition.
Vance Innovations was a titan in the burgeoning world of artificial intelligence.
His sudden, mysterious death a month prior had plunged the family into a maelstrom of grief and greed.
Eleanor, his first wife, embodied the quiet grace of old money, a pillar of society and Sophia’s devoted mother.
Victoria, his second wife, was a whirlwind of ambition and simmering resentment, always feeling she was in Eleanor’s shadow.
Sophia, Richard’s only acknowledged daughter, was a talented artist, oblivious to the cutthroat corporate world her father had mastered.
Now, with Richard gone, the reading of his will had ignited a powder keg of familial strife.
The estate, valued in the billions, was largely tied to the groundbreaking AI patent known as "Project Chimera."
A Fortune Divided, Or Undermined?
Richard’s official will, read by Jonathan days earlier, had been a shock to Victoria.
It bequeathed the vast majority of Vance Innovations, specifically Project Chimera, directly to Sophia.
Victoria was left with a generous but comparatively modest trust.
This, to Victoria, was an unforgivable slight, a final, posthumous betrayal by a man she believed had never truly loved her.
She had always harbored a deep-seated bitterness over Richard’s past affection for Eleanor and Sophia.
But Victoria also carried a secret, a piece of leverage she believed entitled her to a much larger share.
Years ago, during their tumultuous marriage, Richard had confided in her about a scandal.
He had revealed how he had acquired the initial concepts for Project Chimera.
It involved his younger brother, a brilliant but troubled scientist named Arthur Vance.
Richard had implied he had "rescued" Arthur's fragmented research after his brother's tragic disappearance.
He had promised Victoria a significant stake in Project Chimera’s future profits for her discretion.
Her fury stemmed from the belief that Richard had reneged on this solemn agreement.
She saw Eleanor and Sophia as co-conspirators, manipulating Richard’s final wishes.
Victoria was convinced Richard’s will was either forged or he had been coerced in his final days.
She had been relentlessly challenging the will in probate court, claiming fraud and undue influence.
Eleanor's Gambit
Eleanor had watched Victoria’s campaign with a steely resolve.
She knew Victoria’s anger was genuine, but her understanding of the truth was fatally flawed.
Eleanor understood Richard’s complex mind better than anyone.
She knew his final actions would be deliberate, calculated, and aimed at a greater purpose.
The letter she held was Richard’s ultimate chess move, hidden until the precise moment of maximum impact.
It wasn't merely a clarification; it was a detonation.
She had waited, enduring Victoria’s public slander and legal challenges.
She waited for the moment when Victoria’s public humiliation of Sophia reached its peak.
This was the moment Richard had foreseen.
This was the moment to reveal the truth, not just for Sophia, but for the very future of Vance Innovations.
The Brother's Shadow
Richard Vance had not been the sole genius behind Project Chimera.
That honor belonged to his younger brother, Dr. Arthur Vance.
Arthur was a reclusive prodigy, a visionary in AI research years ahead of his time.
He was also deeply paranoid, convinced powerful corporations were trying to steal his work.
Tragically, Arthur had vanished without a trace fifteen years ago, presumed dead.
He left behind a barely developed AI, a mountain of research, and a newborn daughter.
That daughter was Sophia.
Richard and Eleanor, unable to have children of their own, adopted Sophia.
To protect Arthur’s legacy and his infant daughter, Richard had claimed Arthur’s research as his own.
