Chapter 277
No.1
Thorne removed his hand from the door. In a single,fluid motion, he took Elisa's cold,trembling hand in his. His grip was firm, resolute, and offered no room for argument. He turned her around to face the ballroom.
He led her away from the shadows of the exit and directly toward the center of the room,toward the head table,toward the spectacle.
The crowd, sensing a new and more powerful player had entered the game, instinctively parted for them, creating a clear path.
Allena, who had just begun to lower herself to one knee, saw them coming. Her movement faltered,her body freezing in an awkward, half-crouched position.
Thorne didn't stop until he was standing directly in front of the manager holding the silver tray. He glanced down at the Cartier rings, his expression one of profound disdain.
No.2
"Poor taste," he said. His voice, low and dismissive,was picked up by the nearby microphone and broadcast throughout the entire, now silent,
ballroom.
The air went still. Allena's face, which had been flushed with triumph, turned a pasty,sickly white.
Before anyone could process what was happening,Thorne reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and produced a small, square box covered in dark blue velvet.
He turned to face Elisa. And in front of August, in front of Allena, in front of the entire international business community, L. Thorne dropped gracefully to one knee.
No.3
He opened the box.
A gasp, sharp and collective, swept through the room. Inside, nestled on a bed of white satin,was a pink diamond. It was flawless, easily over ten carats, and it captured the light from the chandeliers, exploding into a thousand points of blinding,brilliant fire.
"Elisa" Thorne said, his voice deep and resonant,his eyes locked on hers. He was performing, but the intensity was utterly convincing. "I'm done waiting."
"Marry me. Let me be the one to protect you,always."
The room didn't just buzz. it aetonaleu.
No.4
L. Thorne! The reclusive, untouchable billionaire,head of a dynasty that dwarfed the Chambers empire, was proposing. And he was proposing to Aethel's mysterious chief architect.
Elisa was stunned into silence. Her mind went blank. This was his plan? This was how he intended to end the farce? By escalating it into a nuclear event?
She looked down at him, at the hard, determined set of his jaw, and she read the message in his eyes.Play along.
Allena was forgotten. She was a statue, a clown frozen mid-act, the now-cheap-looking Cartier rings still in her hand.
August shot to his feet, knocking his chair over with a loud crash. His face was a mask of disbelief and pure, possessive fury. His gray eyes were fixed on Thorne, burning with a hatred so intense it was almost visible.
No.5
In that frozen moment of tension, Alastair, Aethel's CEO,burst from the crowd.
"My God! Thorne, you kept this quiet!" he yelled,his voice booming with feigned shock and delight.
He began to applaud, loud and enthusiasucany."Say yes,Elisa! Say yes!"
The Aethel executive team, understanding their cue, immediately joined in. The sound of their cheers and applause was a tidal wave, completely overwhelming the dying embers of Allena's moment. The narrative had been hijacked. The stage she had so carefully built was now the backdrop for a far grander show.
"It's fake! They're not together!" Allena shrieked,her voice thin and hysterical.
No.6
But no one was listening. Her voice was swallowed by the roar of the crowd. She was irrelevant.
Elisa took a deep breath. This was it. This was the perfect weapon. A way to humiliate Allena and August so completely, so publicly, that they would never recover.①
She slowly, deliberately, extended her left hand.
"Yes," she said, her voice clear and steady, ringing through the microphone."I will."
A slow, victorious smile spread across Thorne's lips. He took the priceless pink diamond and slid it,with perfect precision, onto Elisa's ring finger.