(Yichen's POV)
Board meetings were never supposed to excite me.They were cages—stale, suffocating spaces filled with the scent of cheap cologne, overpriced suits, and people who mistook politeness for power.
But that day was different.
Every line of strategy, every document, every discussion about shareholders or mergers felt like noise. A distraction from the thing that truly mattered.
My brother.Liang Yiran.
The golden boy. The heir in every sense but the one that counted.
I was done waiting. Done standing in the shadows while he got everything handed to him. Today, I would make a fuss. Today, I would take back what was mine.
I sat at the long, polished table, listening to my colleagues drone on about profits, market expansions, and mergers. Their voices were distant, like echoes in a tunnel. But my mind was elsewhere—on ten years Yiran had left her waiting. Ten years of empty promises. Ten years of pretending that forever was optional.
And now? Now he was engaged.
My fist tightened beneath the table. The pen between my fingers almost snapped. I forced myself to stay still—still and composed, cold, detached, professional. But the fire in my chest refused to quiet. It climbed higher, curling around my ribs, threatening to burn through every layer of control I'd built over the years.
I hated losing control.
The engagement wasn't just a headline.It was a provocation. A mockery.Yiran had promised her nothing, yet he was willing to give someone else everything.
How could he do that?How could anyone treat a heart so carelessly?
My jaw tensed; I could feel my teeth grind.
Across the room, whispers began to stir.
"Did you hear? Yichen's back.""The second son is here."
Their voices rippled through the space, low and uncertain.
I sat there—alone, no one beside me—yet their gazes found me anyway. The second son. The one who never smiled. The one who'd learned to bury storms behind a perfect suit and a colder stare.
I didn't look. I didn't need to. My presence alone was enough to silence the room. But the words landed like a physical blow.
Second son.
My mother. Her devotion. Everything she had built. Everything stolen from her.And now, ten years later, the world thought it could erase me.
I heard the faint click of the door before he entered. My father finally decided to grace the room with his presence.
I rose. Straightened my back. Every movement deliberate. I could feel every pair of eyes on me, yet I did not flinch.
"I'm back from the US," I said, my voice low, even, yet sharp enough to cut through the ambient tension. "Ready to work with all of you… and to eventually run the company as it should be."
The room froze.
Shock rippled across the faces of executives, shareholders, and colleagues alike.
"Take over the company?""Isn't that Yiran's role?""He wants to replace his brother…"
Every comment was noise. I didn't care. I had a plan, and nothing—no whispers, no stares, no doubts—would stop me.
Then came my father's laugh. Bitter. Sharp. Entirely too loud. Silence fell.
"What did you just say?" he demanded, eyes narrowing into slits of fury.
"I'm planning to be the new CEO," I repeated. Even now, I did not hesitate, did not falter. My words landed like hammers on stone.
The reaction was immediate. He rose, stormed toward the door, and flung it open so violently that the wood seemed to shiver. His face was a storm, red and dangerous.
I didn't expect him to agree quietly. But I also hadn't expected him to get this mad. My secretary, Zhou Yue, had whispered that his favorite coffee shop had closed recently—apparently, he'd been on edge since.
"This company is not your playground, Yichen!" he roared, his voice echoing across the floor, reverberating off the walls.
I met his fury evenly, calmly, without a hint of fear. "I'm not here to play, Father. I'm here to claim what's mine. Liang Group was founded by both of you. You took her work and erased her name."
Shock registered in the room, faces turning pale. His outrage, however, did not diminish.
"You have no experience. No stability. You're not even married! How can a man who can't commit to a relationship commit to a company?"
A smirk threatened to cross my face. Inside, I was already celebrating. This was perfect—the perfect excuse to achieve my second main goal: giving Hua the life she deserved.
Externally, I remained cold. Unreadable. Composed. The employees in the open space were all watching, every pair of eyes fixed on the escalating drama, every ear listening to my every word.
I allowed myself a small glance to the side. There she was. Hua. Watching. Her eyes were wide, careful, and alert. I made sure she could hear my next sentence.
"Then I'll get married."
The room went silent again. A thin, charged silence that crackled like electricity.
My father laughed—bitter, sharp, offended. He had believed, like everyone else, that I was a loner, a man who preferred solitude, who hated people, who avoided company. Maybe they were partly right. Perhaps I did prefer control, solitude, the quiet certainty of self-reliance. But I didn't envy them for their assumptions.
Inside, I was celebrating. Strategizing. Planning. Every move had been anticipated, and now I held the upper hand.
Because make no mistake—my father had just handed me victory on a silver platter.
And she had seen it.
Hua's expression softened just slightly, recognition passing through her gaze. She understood, perhaps better than anyone, the scale of the game we had just begun.
The room remained tense. Employees and executives murmured among themselves, whispers growing louder. But I didn't care. I didn't need anyone else's approval. Every move from this point onward was calculated. Every word, every glance, every plan was mine to execute.
I had returned.I had declared myself.And I would not stop until I took everything that was rightfully mine.
But beneath all that coldness, all that fire—something else moved.A thought. A whisper. A face.
Hua, standing in the corner, unaware of how deeply she was already caught in my design. The woman my brother had neglected. The woman whose laugh still echoed in my memory, uninvited and unforgotten.
I didn't just want victory anymore.I wanted justice. I wanted her smile to be mine.
My father could keep his throne for now.Because when the time came, I wouldn't just take the company.
I'd take back everything Yiran ever stole—his crown, his legacy,and her heart.