The Unwanted Daughter
The Valen mansion stood like a silent fortress against the storm.
Rain lashed against its tall glass windows, streaking the polished marble floors with dim reflections of lightning.
Inside the grand dining hall, seventeen-year-old Elara Valen sat at the end of a table long enough to seat twenty people.
But tonight, only three seats were occupied.
Her father.
Her stepmother.
And the daughter neither of them wanted.
Marcus Valen folded his newspaper with visible irritation.
"Your teachers sent another report today," he said coldly.
Elara kept her eyes lowered.
Selene Valen lifted her wine glass and smirked.
"Apparently she spends all her time in the library again. No clubs. No social activities."
Marcus sighed.
"Do you realize how embarrassing that is for our family?"
Elara remained silent.
Because speaking never helped.
Marcus continued.
"A Valen heir should be charismatic. Influential. Capable of leading corporations."
His gaze hardened.
"You're none of those things."
Selene leaned forward.
"Honestly, Marcus… I don't even know why she's still living here."
Elara's fingers tightened around the book hidden beneath the tablecloth.
Inside the pages were complex mathematical formulas.
Equations no high school student should understand.
But Elara wasn't solving schoolwork.
She was solving patterns.
Financial patterns.
Market movements.
Human behavior encoded in numbers.
Her father saw a quiet, useless daughter.
But inside her mind…
Entire systems were forming.
Marcus suddenly slammed his hand on the table.
"Answer me when I speak to you!"
Elara slowly lifted her eyes.
They were calm.
Too calm.
"I did answer," she said softly.
Selene frowned.
"You didn't say anything."
Elara returned her gaze to the book.
"I already decided not to argue."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Marcus stood abruptly.
"You're becoming more useless by the day."
He walked out of the dining room.
Selene followed with a satisfied smile.
Soon, Elara was alone again.
She waited until their footsteps disappeared.
Then she opened the book fully.
Her laptop waited in her bedroom upstairs.
A small second-hand device she had secretly repaired.
Tonight…
She was close to finishing something.
Something no one else would understand.
And if she succeeded…
The world would change.