Chapter 141

After seven grueling days, Isabella finally emerged from the prosecutor's office, her designer dress wrinkled beyond recognition and her signature perfume replaced by the stench of stale coffee and sweat.

Her flawless makeup had melted away, revealing dark circles that aged her ten years overnight. Streaks of silver peeked through her usually perfectly dyed chestnut locks.

She avoided the paparazzi like the plague. The thought of Nathaniel seeing her in this state made her blood run cold. Twenty-five years of carefully crafted perfection couldn't unravel in one unguarded moment.

Olivia whisked her to an exclusive spa under the radar. A steaming shower, fresh couture, meticulous hair coloring, and subtle makeup later, the polished socialite reemerged.

"You should visit Arabella before facing Father." Olivia adjusted her mother's diamond earrings. "She's family, after all. That suicide stunt deserves our...concern."

Isabella smirked while reapplying her signature red lipstick. "Of course, darling. Your father expects nothing less than compassion from me."

Olivia shuddered. "She actually slit her wrists! The bathroom looked like a crime scene."

"Please." Isabella snapped her compact shut. "She had staff checking every fifteen minutes. That girl wouldn't risk chipping a nail for real."

Olivia gasped. "You orchestrated this?"

Isabella pressed a manicured finger to her lips. The same calculated "suicide attempt" had secured her place in the Vanderbilt dynasty decades ago.

And Thaddeus' history with depression? Perfect leverage. Make him relive his darkest days, and he'd come crawling back to Arabella, his savior.

"Better Arabella than that Ashbourne witch," Isabella hissed, her Botox-stiff face twisting with rage. Those interrogation rooms had stripped her bare - all Evadne's doing.

"We'll make her pay," Olivia vowed. "The Ashbournes might rule Skyrim, but Emsworth bows to the Vanderbilts."

At the hospital, hearing Nathaniel and Thaddeus were present, Isabella transformed. Tears welled on command as she flung open the door.

"Arabella! My precious girl!" She crushed the startled patient in a dramatic embrace, sobbing loudly enough for the hallway to hear. "Why must fate punish our family so cruelly?"

Arabella caught on instantly, wailing like a banshee. Their histrionics turned the private room into a Greek tragedy.

Thaddeus stood motionless by the window, his expression glacial. Arabella's stomach dropped. Where was the man who once wiped her tears? The warmth in his eyes had vanished, stolen by Evadne's spell.

Nathaniel's voice cut through the theatrics. "Isabella. Thaddeus. Conference room. Now."

In the sterile meeting space, Isabella dabbed fake tears. "I thought I'd never see you again, Nathaniel. Those interrogators...they treated me like a common criminal!"

Nathaniel's jaw tightened at her憔悴 appearance, but the mountain of crises left no room for comfort.

The wall TV flickered to life, broadcasting Cassius Kingsley shaking hands with Westguard executives. Thaddeus' grip shattered his coffee cup, dark liquid spreading like blood across the table.

Nathaniel's face turned to stone. Their stolen project, now Evadne's triumph.

Isabella seized the moment. "Evadne destroys our family, steals our business, and tries to imprison me! After all we've done for her!" Her voice cracked artfully. "Three years we treated her like daughter!"

Thaddeus' laugh was arctic. "Is treating someone 'like daughter' forcing them to cook your meals, Isabella?"

"She volunteered!" Isabella's veneer slipped. "No one held a gun to her head!"

Nathaniel finally spoke, his words detonating like grenades. "Effective immediately, Thaddeus assumes presidency and vice-chairmanship."

Isabella's perfect complexion blanched. "What? Why?"

Thaddeus answered for his silent father. "A CEO under criminal investigation? The board won't risk that scandal. We'd be laughingstocks."

"Evadne framed me!" Isabella shrieked, vision blurring with panic. "Earl confessed! It's his crime!"

Thaddeus left without another word, his dismissal more crushing than any insult.

Isabella clutched Nathaniel's arm, her nails drawing blood through his suit. "You promised me that position! Twenty-five years I've waited!"

Nathaniel peeled her off with terrifying calm. "The board decides, not me. And Isabella..." His gaze pierced her soul. "Are you truly innocent?"

Her mask shattered. That look - he knew. He knew everything.

Twenty-five years of scheming, wasted. The throne she'd killed for, now forever out of reach.