Chapter 24: Unveiling the Haute Couture Crown
One year later.
The Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week reached its grand climax at the Grand Palais. This year’s theme was Resilience and Empire, organized under the personal patronage of Sinclair Consortium.
Inside the VIP dressing room, Natalie stood before a tall gilded mirror. She wore an breathtaking gown woven from rare silver silk thread and encrusted with black diamonds that sparkled like stars in a midnight sky.
Lucas Vance knocked gently on the door before stepping in.
“Chairwoman Natalie, the international judges and fashion houses are all seated. The opening runway show is ready to begin.”
Natalie looked at Lucas in the mirror and smiled softly. “Lucas, thank you for your unwavering loyalty over this past year. You’ve proven to be an invaluable partner to Sinclair.”
Lucas bowed slightly, his eyes filled with respect and deep admiration. “Working alongside you, Chairwoman, has been the greatest honor of my career. My sister and Ethan Carter thought money and vanity were power, but you showed the world what true power looks like.”
“True power,” Natalie murmured, softly adjusting her diamond bracelet, “is the ability to stay kind when you have everything, and the courage to take back what’s yours when they betray you.”
As the orchestral music began to swell outside, the massive velvet curtains opened.
Natalie walked onto the runway. Thousands of flashbulbs exploded across the venue, and the audience rose to their feet in a thunderous standing ovation.
Suggested stories
Thomas “Tom” Miller (48), a master bespoke tailor in historic downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, spent three grueling months hand-stitching an exquisite silk-wool bridal suit and cathedral ensemble for his stepdaughter, Sabrina (23). Tom raised Sabrina as his own flesh and blood since she was one yea…
Read storyIn the affluent enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut, widower Arthur Vance—CEO of Vance Precision Industries—fights to keep his household together following the tragic death of his wife Clara eighteen months ago. In his grief and demanding executive schedule, Arthur married Elena, an elegant society fi…
Read story“If You’re So Smart, Then Translate It!” — The Mafia Boss Mocked the Waitress, Then Froze in Shock.Lydia Hart is a 24-year-old computational linguistics doctoral candidate at Columbia University, secretly moonlighting as a VIP waitress at The Obsidian—an unmarked elite underground supper club in Man…
Read storyReed Ashford, thirty-eight, is the undisputed sovereign of the Ashford syndicate, controlling the ports, shipping corridors, and luxury nightlife of the Eastern Seaboard. Feared for his icy calm and absolute authority, Reed has never raised his voice in fifteen years of rule. But behind fortified wa…
Read storyTwo years after clawing her way out of an emotionally abusive, financially controlling marriage to mid-level commercial developer Nathan Brooks, thirty-two-year-old Vivienne Vance has rebuilt her dignity from scratch. Operating Vance Studio, a boutique architectural interior design firm in Chicago’s…
Read storyKendrick Ashford (36) is the undisputed Don of the East Coast Ashford Syndicate and CEO of Ashford Global Enterprises. Feared for his cold lethality and iron-fisted rule, Kendrick lives only for his five-year-old daughter, Penny, who has remained completely mute since witnessing the brutal assassina…
Read story