Crown of Vengeance: Ruining the Intern

The night before our wedding, Sebastian slid a legal document across the table. Six years together.

And this was his final offer. "Peyton is pregnant with my baby," his voice held zero inflection, flat and detached. "She's moving into this house.

You'll pack your things and take the other estate." The oxygen evaporated from the room.

I dug my fingernails into my palms until the skin split, desperately trying to anchor my shattered reality. "When?" The single word scraped out of my chest, raw and brittle. "Your birthday dinner." Sebastian leaned back, completely unbothered. "I had too much to drink and stepped outside for some air.

I ran into Peyton. Someone had spiked her drink." He didn't blink. He didn't look away. "She was completely out of it.

She threw herself at me, and I just—lost control." He paused, letting the absolute devastation of his words settle in the space between us. "Honestly?

The second I really saw her, I finally understood what a soulmate actually is." A wave of violent nausea crashed into my stomach. "Marrying you… it's just a transaction to keep our families off our backs," he continued, stripping away my entire world with clinical precision. "You look the part.

You check all the boxes for a corporate wife. We can coexist just fine." He finally met my gaze.

His eyes were cold glass, entirely devoid of a single ounce of remorse. "Look, if you still want to walk down the aisle tomorrow, the official title of my wife is yours.

She's not going to fight you for the social status." He tapped the contract. "If you want out, you get both estates and the commercial properties downtown.

Consider it a severance package." Chapter 1 Sebastian dropped the ultimatum on the table. Cold. Calculated. Just another corporate acquisition. I bit the inside of my cheek.

My hands closed into tight fists. Peyton was an intern at my firm.

She had practically begged for an invite to my birthday dinner, playing the eager card, swearing she just wanted to network and learn the ropes.

Instead, she spent the entire night throwing herself at my business partner. Bruce was pissed.

Before he left, he scrubbed a vicious smear of lipstick off his collar and shot me a dark look. "That little intern of yours is a walking red flag, Celeste.

You might want to screen your hires better." She overheard him. Seconds later, Peyton was making a massive scene.

She collapsed right at my feet in the middle of the venue, sobbing hysterically. "Bruce tried to force himself on me!

I swear!" she shrieked, clutching the fabric of my dress. "He's just gaslighting you because I told him no!" The shrill noise drew stares from every corner of the room.

A brutal migraine throbbed behind my temples. I just told her to go home. Instead, she ran off in tears.

And somehow, she ended up stumbling into a private VIP room next door, where a group of random guys pulled her inside and spiked her drink.

That was exactly when Sebastian found her. Seeing the absolute silence and the broken look in my eyes, Sebastian’s patience snapped.

He let out a sharp, irritated breath. "Have you made a decision?" He checked his watch. "Are we getting married tomorrow or not?

If you can live with the arrangement, pack your bags and move out tonight." His voice held zero warmth. He was just delivering an eviction notice. Six years.

A flawless merger of two legacy families. Everyone in our circle thought Sebastian and I were the ultimate power couple.

I actually believed walking down the aisle with him was a done deal. The natural next step. Until he shattered it all. "Celeste?" Sebastian frowned.

He took a step forward, raising his hand to wipe a tear I hadn't even realized fell.

I flinched back, dodging his fingers like they burned. "Sebastian, I just want to know one thing." I stared up at him.

My eyes burned. "These past six years… did you ever actually love me?" "I did," he answered without a single second of hesitation.

Chapter 2 He sank back into the sofa, crossing his long legs. "Before Peyton, it was just you." His thumb brushed the screen of his phone.

The lock screen lit up—a selfie of Peyton sticking her tongue out.

The icy detachment in his eyes melted into something sickeningly soft. "But after meeting her… I realized you don't just get one great love in a lifetime." He didn't even look at me. "I love you.

But I love her more. And now she's pregnant—" "Enough." The word ripped out of me. I grabbed the vase off the console table. Hurled it. It shattered against the hardwood.

Shards exploded across the room. Sebastian flinched. The color drained from his face.

He stared at the wreckage, then let out a long, exhausted breath. "Break whatever you need to," he said, his voice flat. "Get it out of your system.

Then sign the papers." He turned toward the door. My fingers closed around a heavy glass bowl. I launched it.

It smashed against the doorframe, inches from his face. "What did you promise me?!" My hands shook. I had built my entire life on being untouchable.

The perfect, composed executive who never let anything bleed through. Now I was screaming.

I swallowed hard. "You swore to me," I gasped, my voice completely wrecked. "You looked me in the eye and swore you cut her off after that night! How is she pregnant?

Why are you blowing up my entire life over a walking red flag?" Sebastian’s jaw clenched. "Are you done throwing a tantrum, Celeste?" he snapped. "I told you, I planned to end it.

But things happen. It was an accident." He paused. "She's having my baby." No protection. Just blind, reckless impulse. But he didn't know.

He had no idea what that night actually cost me. I had called him for hours. Panic had turned my blood to ice when the news broke about a massive pileup on the interstate.

The reports described a driver matching his exact description. The same make and model of his car. I lost my mind.

I drove straight to the crash site, shaking so hard I could barely grip the steering wheel, only to be shoved back by police barricades.

I dialed his number one hundred and nine times. One hundred and nine. His phone was probably buried under his clothes on the floor, buzzing endlessly.

While I was standing on the side of a highway having a fullblown panic attack, they were tangled in the sheets.

The sun was coming up by the time I collapsed onto a bench at the precinct, completely drained. Then my screen lit up. A casual text from Sebastian. [ Crashed early last night.

My bad. ] A split second later, a video notification popped up.

It was from Peyton. "Hey Celeste, I'm so sorry!" Her voice practically dripped with fake innocence. "That spiked drink really messed me up.

I just woke up and my body is incredibly sore…" She giggled, adjusting the camera angle. "My boyfriend is making me take a sick day." And there it was.

Right in the background of her little video. Sebastian’s face. Sleeping on the pillow next to her. My entire world stopped. The floor dropped out from under me.

A deafening ringing filled my ears. Chapter 3 I marched straight into the corporate headquarters and cracked my palm across Peyton’s cheek.

Twice. "Networking to learn the ropes?" I snapped at her. "Seducing my fiancé was your only goal for that dinner, wasn't it?" Peyton stumbled back, clutching her stinging face.

Tears welled up instantly as she played the perfect, fragile victim. "Celeste, how could you accuse me of that? I was drugged!

I'm a victim here… Sebastian just saw I was suffering and helped me out." She choked out a pathetic sob. "You're a woman, Celeste.

Do you seriously have zero empathy?" She escalated the scene right in the middle of the bullpen.

She wailed that she couldn't show her face in the office anymore, threatening to jump off the roof just to prove her innocence. Perfect timing. Sebastian stepped off the elevator.

He shoved past me, physically shielding her behind his back, and leveled a lethal glare in my direction. "What the hell is wrong with you, Celeste?" His voice echoed through the deadsilent floor. "You're the CEO.

You're bullying a twentysomething intern in front of the entire company. How do you sleep at night?

I told you, I was the one who initiated things that night to help her out." Three sentences. He confirmed every single rumor.

He turned me into the ultimate punchline of my own company. I let out a bitter laugh. "Wow, Sebastian. Just… wow." I went nuclear.

Before the day ended, I severed every single joint venture between our family and his. My father, Marshall, was waiting for me at his estate.

The screaming started before I even took off my coat. "Look at the mess you've made, Celeste! You're a grown woman!

You don't tank billiondollar acquisitions over a stupid breakup!" He slammed his fist on his desk. "I actually thought you had my killer instinct.

I groomed you to take over the board, and you pull this stunt? You embarrassed me!" He dragged me into an emergency, closeddoor meeting with the family lawyers.

He publicly stripped my voting rights and froze my trust fund on the spot. A brutal, corporate execution. The end result? The merger was quietly reinstated by morning.

My outrage meant absolutely nothing. Sebastian knew this. He knew walking down the aisle was my only leverage left to reclaim my position in the family.

He bet everything on me caving to the pressure. Back in the present, he stared at the shattered glass on our living room floor.

A soft, patronizing sigh escaped his lips. "Don't be naive, Celeste. Sleep on it, then sign the papers. We can still be exactly what we were.

Why ruin a good thing?" His phone buzzed. He didn't even hesitate to answer. "Hey, Peyton," he murmured, his tone shifting into something sickeningly soft. "Shh, don't panic.

I'm heading over right now—" He turned on his heel. His footsteps faded down the hall, brisk and eager. I forced my eyes up.

A pale, hollow ghost stared back at me in the reflection of the floortoceiling windows. A bitter, jagged smile twisted my lips. Peyton. An intern.

She didn't just crash a birthday dinner. She hijacked my marriage. She systematically dismantled my entire reality.

Chapter 4 Sebastian walked out that door and vanished for an entire week. By Wednesday, the whispers hit the boardroom. He had dropped millions on a sprawling estate in the hills.

A gilded cage for his new obsession. "Celeste… Sebastian marched into the lobby this morning.

He blatantly threatened retaliation against the company if we terminate Peyton." My assistant shifted her weight, terrified. "Do we still process her termination?" "Give me a minute." I closed my eyes.

My fingers clamped around the quarterly report, crushing the thick paper into a jagged ball before launching it into the trash. Six years. Trashed.

I had spent my entire life clawing to the top, dominating every room I walked into. I refused to let a twentysomething intern rip my life apart.

Canceling the wedding would tank our stock and fracture the family empire. I wasn't going down without a fight. I grabbed my phone. [ We need to talk. ] [ Noon.

Your office, ] he replied instantly. Right before noon, a sharp commotion pierced the glass walls of my office. My assistant burst through the door, chest heaving. "It's Peyton.

She's claiming she's going into anaphylactic shock from the catered lunch.

She's telling everyone you did it on purpose." "The corporate catering didn't even include shellfish," I snapped, striding toward the bullpen.

The elevator doors chimed and slid open. Sebastian stepped out. We both zeroed in on the center of the room.

Peyton was slumped against a junior designer, sobbing hysterically. "She knew I was allergic," Peyton wheezed, clutching her throat. "She forced me to eat it…" Sebastian’s jaw locked.

He leveled a lethal glare at me. "What the hell did you do, Celeste?" I stared at the unfamiliar takeout container sitting on Peyton’s desk. "That is not from our vendor." Peyton threw herself into Sebastian’s chest. "She knows about us!

She's punishing me! My throat… I can't breathe!" Panic flashed across Sebastian’s face. He scooped her up in his arms. "Call 911!" he roared.

Outside the ER, the sterile hospital smell hit my face. Sebastian stormed out of the sliding doors. He brushed right past my shoulder.

He didn't even look at me. "Sebastian." The name tore out of my throat, raw and trembling. He froze.

When he pivoted to face me, the absolute disgust in his eyes paralyzed me. "I haven't even decided how to make you pay for this, and you have the nerve to show up here?" His voice was a low, dangerous threat. "It wasn't me—" "Save the bullshit," he snarled, cutting me off. "You play dirty in the boardroom, Celeste.

You know the golden rule. You cross a line, you face the consequences." His bodyguards closed in. A wall of solid muscle cutting off my exit.

All the blood drained from my face. "Sebastian, use your brain," I gritted out. "Why the hell would I personally order her seafood?" He didn't hear a word. "You couldn't fire her.

You're obsessed with the fact that she's having my baby. So you stooped to this sick, twisted level to torture her," he snarled. "You almost killed her, Celeste.

You're going to face the consequences." He stepped into my space.

Before I could react, his heavy hand clamped down on my shoulder, physically forcing me down into the hard plastic waiting room chair.

He leaned over me, pressing his hand against the back of my neck, practically shoving my face toward the floor in front of his security team. "Peyton might just be an intern, but she's a human being," he sneered. "I don't care if you're the future Mrs. or not.

You need to learn how to act like one. Apologize to her. Right now." My stomach twisted. I bit down on my lower lip. Hard.

Warm copper flooded my tongue. "In your dreams, Sebastian." I forced my chin up, glaring straight into his dead eyes. "You want out of this engagement so badly? Fine.

It's done." His fingers shifted, grabbing my jaw like a vise. "I don't need your permission to get what I want." He signaled his security.

They dragged me down to the hospital's basement loading dock. He ordered them to lock me out in the freezing, sleetcovered alleyway.

A twohour timeout to "reflect." "She's carrying my child.

Consider this a warning," his voice echoed through the metal door before it slammed shut. "She might be an intern on your payroll, but you need to understand exactly what she means to me.

Do not ever touch her again." Two hours later, security finally unbolted the door. The winter air had sliced straight through my thin blazer. Violent shivers racked my spine.

My teeth clicked together uncontrollably. Sebastian had dismissed my driver. My car was gone. My numb fingers fumbled with my screen to order an Uber.

An Instagram notification popped up. Peyton's story. [ Huge thanks to my CEO for handmaking me a bento box today! So spoiled… Baby and I say thank you, Daddy! ] The screen blurred.

He made the lunch. He fed her the allergen. And they framed me for it. I gripped the phone. The plastic case groaned under the pressure.

Sebastian hadn't officially called off the wedding. But there was no way in hell I was going to just swallow this massive humiliation.

They wanted to play dirty and make me sick to my stomach? I could play the exact same game. That night, Sebastian tracked my location to a VIP lounge downtown.

I was in a backless silk slip dress, grinding on the dance floor. Three gorgeous, twentysomething male models had me completely boxed in. Murder radiated from Sebastian’s face.

He stormed the floor, grabbing my wrist and ripping me out of the crowd. "Are you out of your mind, Celeste? Wake the hell up." He snatched a glass of ice water off a passing tray.

He threw it straight into my face. The icy shock hit my skin. I just threw my head back and laughed.

I grabbed the lapels of his designer jacket, pulling him in close, intentionally provoking him. "You said it yourself, right?" I mocked, my voice dripping with venom. "We're just a transaction.

A fake marriage.

So what's the big deal if I order a few boy toys for the night?" The vein in his neck throbbed. "Wow," he spat, his voice pure acid. "If you're so bold, then just stay here with your little escorts." He violently shoved my hands off him and stormed out of the club.

I watched his broad shoulders disappear into the neon lights. A hollow ache bloomed in my chest. It’s fine, I forced myself to breathe. Just survive this. Everything will pass.

Chapter 6 I headed back to the office that night, booting up my laptop to run the latest financial audits.

The heavy glass doors violently crashed open. "I figured you were still busy grinding on your little boy toys," Sebastian sneered, stalking into the room. "Didn't expect you to be hiding out here.

Did you honestly think I’d just let it slide? That you could pull a stunt like that to get back at Peyton and I wouldn't find out?" My mind blanked.

I wrenched my arm out of his grip. "Sebastian, what the hell are you talking about?" He slammed a glossy photograph onto my desk. "A group of guys cornered Peyton this afternoon.

If my security hadn't tracked her location in time, they would have assaulted her. She would have lost the baby." He leaned over the desk, invading my space. "Go ahead, Celeste.

Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't orchestrate this." I shook my head, my mind spinning. "I didn't—" "Shut up!" he barked, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "The guys confessed.

They explicitly named you as their employer.

How long are you going to keep gaslighting me?" He closed the distance, his fingers snapping around my chin. "I used to think you were decent.

How did you turn into this toxic bitch?" "If you hadn't spiked her drink at your little birthday dinner…" "If you hadn't deliberately sent her into that VIP room full of men…" "I never would have touched her." He smirked, a cruel, satisfied twist of his lips. "So really, this is just karma finally catching up to you." My skull rang.

The room spun. I stared at him. "What are you talking about? I… I drugged her?" Is that the narrative Peyton sold him? I froze, completely paralyzed. Everything clicked into place.

The sudden shift in his demeanor. The absolute disgust in his eyes over the past week. He actually believed I roofied my own intern. He thought I set her up.

He had been actively hating me this entire time.

A hollow ringing drowned out the room. "Still playing the victim, Celeste?" He scoffed. "If I didn't step in to clean up your mess, I never would have had to sleep with her to get her through that high.

I guess I should thank you for playing matchmaker." He released my chin, shoving me backward. "Choke on your guilt.

It's time you figure out exactly what it feels like to lose everything." My heels gave out. My knees slammed into the cold tile.

I watched his tailored suit disappear through the doorway, my brain misfiring as it tried to process that final, lethal threat.

My phone vibrated aggressively across my nightstand at 6:00 AM. "Celeste, it's a disaster!" My assistant shrieked through the speaker. "Someone leaked the confidential projections for your entire subsidiary!

The stock is tanking. Marshall is screaming for your head on a platter. He wants you in the boardroom right now." "What?!" My stomach violently dropped. Sebastian.

Since the engagement, we had completely integrated our portfolios. He had unrestricted access to my proprietary data. I had literally handed him the keys to my empire.

He actually torched my career. For Peyton. Chapter 7 I would rather burn a hundred million dollars than spend the rest of my life tied to a man like him. I wanted out.

No matter the cost. I pulled up Sebastian’s contact. [ We need to meet. We are officially terminating this engagement. ] Silence. Hours passed.

Deep into the night, my screen finally lit up. [ Tomorrow. Be here. ] He dropped a pinned location. I drove out to the industrial park the next afternoon without a second thought.

But when I pulled into the deserted lot, Sebastian's sleek Aston Martin was nowhere in sight. Instead, Peyton strolled out from the shadows of an empty warehouse.

She was flanked by three massive, roughlooking men. "Peyton?

What are you doing here?" I narrowed my eyes, scanning the empty lot. "Where is Sebastian?" She smirked, adjusting the collar of her leather jacket. "He's busy.

He sent me to handle this. You're actually insane, Celeste. Showing up here all by yourself? Did you really not think this through?" "What does that mean?" My pulse spiked.

Peyton didn't answer. She just gave a lazy wave of her hand. The men lunged. Metal flashed in the periphery of my vision. A switchblade. A cold blade sliced my cheek.

My vision blurred for a second. Hot, thick liquid immediately spilled down my jaw, dripping onto the collar of my silk blouse.

They ruined my face. "Peyton, what the hell are you doing?!" I choked out, clutching my bleeding cheek. She shoved my shoulder hard, forcing me to stumble back.

She looked down at me with pure, unadulterated triumph. "So what if you have the perfect pedigree, Celeste?

So what if you're the untouchable heiress?" She sneered. "You still lost to me. Look at you. You look like a pathetic stray dog. Let me fill you in on a little secret.

I leaked your proprietary data." "Word on the street is Marshall despises incompetence. You tanked a massive deal over a man.

Do you seriously think your daddy is going to hand you the keys to the empire now?" Her smile twisted into something vile and venomous. "Plus, your perfect face is gone.

Sebastian is never going to marry a scarred, ruined liability. But honestly? You brought this on yourself. You're too naive. You blindly trust everything you hear.

It's time you learned how much losing actually hurts." She signaled the men to finish the job. Tires screeched violently against the asphalt.

Four blackedout SUVs swarmed the lot, completely cutting off every exit. A dozen heavily armed private security contractors poured out, instantly boxing Peyton and her thugs in.

Peyton stumbled back. All the color instantly drained from her face. "What is this