The office fell into absolute silence after the staff left. Selena remained standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the city lights that now, in large part, belonged to her. Her reflection in the glass no longer showed an ambitious businesswoman, but something more imposing… a woman beginning to turn into a titan.
Adrián remained seated, silently watching her absorb the new weight the world had just placed upon her shoulders.
"That silence suits you, Selena," he said at last, his icy voice breaking the stillness. "It's the sound of the first billion. Few people can hear it without going mad from arrogance."
She turned slowly. Her eyes shone with a new intensity.
"It's not arrogance, Adrián. It's perspective. Tomorrow, when I walk into any club or boardroom in this city, the floor will vibrate differently beneath my feet."
She walked to the mahogany desk and leaned against it, bringing herself level with his gaze.
"You've offered me fifty percent. An equal partnership. But you don't give anything out of respect… you do it out of utility. What is this 'small favor' worth an additional three hundred million euros in my accounts?"
Adrián set down his teacup and leaned forward.
"I have a parasite in my mansion," he said bluntly. "A doctor named Julian Vane. He's infected my sister's mind with delusions and rebellion. Julian fancies himself a 'White Lotus,' a savior of damsels. But every man has a weakness: the need to be validated by a woman beyond his reach."
Selena arched a brow. A predatory smile curved her lips.
"You want me to remove him from your house."
"I want you to help me strip off that ugly mask," Adrián corrected. "With your beauty, it will be easy."
She let out a low laugh.
"So you do know I'm beautiful… I was beginning to grow frustrated with your indifference."
He held her gaze, unshaken.
"I know exactly how beautiful… and how dangerous you are."
"Please, Adrián. I'm harmless," she replied with a smile heavy with irony.
"Any man who tastes you would become addicted. I know that."
She tilted her head slightly.
"You haven't tasted me. How could you possibly know?"
Silence stretched between them, thick with tension. Adrián was the first to pivot the conversation with surgical precision.
"Aurora Capital needs a biotechnology and preventive health division. Offer him a contract that makes him feel like the most important man in the country. Give him an east-facing office, an unlimited budget, and above all… give him your attention."
He stood and walked around the desk until he was only inches from her.
"Be the bait, Selena. Julian is the kind of man who would drown in your shadow if you let him. I want Clara to see him as your employee. I want her to see him dazzled by your brilliance, forgetting the promises of 'protection' he made to a rich, bored girl."
Selena's laugh this time was slow, deliberate, openly malicious.
"You're asking me to play temptation… to shatter his 'saintly' image in front of your sister while he believes he's ascending to heaven holding my hand."
Adrián studied her as one would a high-risk investment—attentively, without haste.
"I'm asking you to unmask him," he said at last. "In return, you'll have fifty percent of the division and my permanent vote in the Chamber of Commerce. You'll be untouchable."
She extended her hand—not to seal the deal, but palm up, like a queen granting the privilege to kneel… or to bite.
"Sounds more like you want to use me as a weapon."
"I only use weapons capable of turning against me," he replied without hesitation.
A dangerous spark flickered in her eyes.
"So you're protecting your little sister from a bad man…" she murmured, stepping closer, invading his space with provocative ease. "Tell me… would you protect me like that? Or do you only protect what you can control?"
Adrián took her hand calmly. He did not squeeze at once. Instead, he slid his fingers between hers, closing the contact with deliberate slowness, forcing her to feel the weight of the decision.
"I don't control people, Selena," he said quietly. "I observe them… until they decide to stay."
His thumb traced the faintest movement against her skin. Not a caress. A warning.
She did not pull away. Instead, she stepped even closer, reducing the distance to something dangerously intimate.
"Men usually think they choose me," she whispered. "Then they realize I was the one who placed them exactly where I needed them."
For the first time, Adrián's smile was genuine. Dark.
"That explains why you're still here."
The silence between them thickened, charged with an invisible current neither wished to break.
Selena brushed her index finger lightly over his wrist, grazing the pulse point. Brief… blatantly invasive.
"If I'm going to devour Julian," she said softly, "I need to know something first."
He raised a brow.
"Speak."
"When this is over… will I still be your ally… or your next problem?"
Adrián leaned closer, his voice existing only for her.
"That depends on whether you try to make me your prey."
She held his gaze, breathing just a shade slower. Her smile sharpened.
"And if I try?"
"Then," he replied, "I'll have to decide whether it's worth letting myself be hunted."
For the first time, the handshake no longer felt like a business agreement. It felt like the beginning of a wager where both understood the prize… might be each other.
"Deal," Selena said.
"Deal," Adrián echoed.
Neither let go first.
Julian was in the music room, surrounded by the scent of aged wood and the steady drumming of rain against the windows. He held Clara's hands in his, looking at her with the martyr's intensity he had perfected over the years.
"Clara, you must understand—Adrián's money is stained," Julian whispered. "Every euro he earns is another chain around you. Integrity is the one thing he can't buy. Promise me you won't be dazzled by his—"
The roar of high-performance engines shattered his speech. Four black SUVs and a blood-red sports car stopped before the main staircase.
Julian approached the window… and his words died in his throat.
Selena stepped out of the sports car.
She wore a white tailored suit that embraced her figure with surgical precision. Removing her sunglasses in one slow, sovereign gesture, she looked as though the entire world were a stage prepared for her entrance.
[SYSTEM ALERT: SSS-Level Beauty Detected. Legendary Conquest Target: Selena Virelli. Status: Available.]
Heat surged through Julian.
A beauty like that should be mine, he thought—completely forgetting he was still holding Clara's hand.
"Who is she?" Clara asked, noticing how his gaze evaporated outward.
"Business… I suppose," he stammered, already adjusting his tie in the mirror with a nervousness Clara had never seen.
Minutes later, the grand hall was full.
Henri Valmont and Élise stood near the fireplace, intrigued by the unexpected visit. When the doors opened, Adrián entered with Selena, her arm resting on his with calculated naturalness.
Outwardly, her posture was flawless, her expression serene. Inwardly, something vibrated.
She had studied the Valmont dynasty for years. Competed against them. Negotiated against them. Admired—and despised—their influence. To stand now in their home, officially introduced as an ally… was a victory she had imagined too many times.
The simple act of crossing that threshold sent a current through her veins she refused to reveal.
"Father. Mother," Adrián said evenly. "Allow me to introduce Selena Virelli, the new majority partner in our Bio-Tech division. Selena, this is Henri and Élise Valmont. And this is my sister, Clara."
Selena inclined her head in an elegant, almost regal greeting.
"It's an honor to finally meet you."
Henri smiled with calculated curiosity. Élise observed her with the sharp attention of a woman who recognized another dangerous player on sight.
Clara felt the air grow heavy. Before Selena's magnetic presence and devastating confidence, she felt small… irrelevant in her own home.
Then Selena's gaze shifted… settling on Julian.
He stood in a corner, attempting relaxed intellectualism. He failed.
"And this gentleman?" Selena asked softly.
Julian stepped forward without realizing it.
Adrián smiled—the calm smile of an executioner.
"This is Dr. Julian Vane," he said, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. "A genius in preventive medicine. In fact, Selena, when you mentioned you were looking for a Medical Director for your new headquarters—with a seven-figure salary—I immediately thought of him. It would be a waste to keep such talent trapped in this mansion treating migraines."
Julian felt the floor vanish beneath him.
Seven figures?Working beside her?
"Director…?" he attempted humility, though his eyes devoured Selena. "It would be an honor to place my knowledge at the service of a vision as… magnificent as yours, Miss Virelli."
Clara paled.
"But Julian…" she said softly. "You said my treatment was your priority. That my family's money didn't matter."
He didn't look at her.
He was too focused on holding Selena's gaze, as she offered him a slight smile—beautiful… and meticulously calculated.
"Clara's health is important," he replied quickly. "But as a physician, I have a moral duty to help more people. If Miss Selena believes I can lead change on a large scale… it would be selfish to refuse."
[SYSTEM: DING! Mission Accepted: "Rise to Power with Selena." Sister Affinity: −200 (Ignored).]
Something broke inside Clara's chest. Not just pain—humiliation… and the quiet suspicion that she had never truly mattered to him.
Adrián observed from the sofa, slowly swirling his wine glass. Meilan sat beside him, watching Julian with barely concealed disdain.
"I'm glad you're so generous, Julian," Adrián murmured. "Selena is extremely demanding with her employees. I hope you can keep up with her… pace."
Selena stepped closer to Julian—close enough to invade his personal space, close enough for him to breathe in her perfume, the scent of power, success… and danger.
"Tomorrow at seven in my office, Doctor," she whispered, lightly brushing his arm. "Don't keep me waiting. I dislike lateness almost as much as I dislike a lack of ambition."
Julian nodded with near-religious fervor.
Behind him, Clara fled the hall, silent tears falling down her face. No one stopped her.
Julian didn't notice.
He was hypnotized by the immaculate white of Selena's suit… and by the illusion of a life where he would no longer be the physician of a powerful family, but the man who walked beside a titan.
Meanwhile, Selena returned to Adrián's side. For one brief moment, she allowed the contained thrill to glimmer in her eyes as she looked around the Valmont hall.
Then her expression hardened back into perfect marble.