Chapter 7: The True Heir

The police soon arrived and escorted Vivian away despite her desperate cries.

"Lucas! Save me! Please!"

"I love you! I only did all of this because I love you!"

Lucas stood motionless, watching as Vivian was placed inside the police car.

He never uttered a single word.

Once the commotion settled, Harold turned to me with a guilty expression.

"Miss Lily, I know an apology can never undo today's events, but I sincerely hope you'll give us another chance."

"The engagement was arranged because our families have shared decades of trust."

"Please don't let my foolish son destroy that relationship."

Before I could respond, Lucas suddenly walked over.

He lowered his head for the first time.

"I'm sorry."

"I misjudged you."

"I believed Vivian without ever asking for your side of the story."

"I was arrogant and blinded by my own prejudice."

I looked at him quietly.

"Do you know what disappointed me the most?"

Lucas slowly shook his head.

"It wasn't that you refused our engagement."

"It was that you watched someone torture me... and chose to protect the person hurting me."

"Even if I had been an ordinary stranger, you should have stopped her."

Lucas lowered his head even further.

He had no words left to defend himself.

My mother stepped forward.

"Lily has been taught since childhood that character matters more than wealth."

"Today, your son failed that lesson completely."

Harold sighed deeply.

"You're right."

"I have no excuse."

He suddenly removed a thick folder from his assistant's briefcase and handed it to my mother.

"This contains the transfer agreement for fifteen percent of Goodwin Group's shares."

"Consider it my apology to Lily."

My mother pushed the folder back without even opening it.

"We don't need compensation."

"Money cannot erase humiliation."

"What my daughter lost today was trust."

Harold closed his eyes in regret.

He finally understood that no amount of wealth could repair what his son had broken.

Lucas slowly looked up at me.

"Is there... truly no chance left?"

I smiled faintly.

"Some mistakes deserve forgiveness."

"Others simply teach us that we chose the wrong person."

"For me, today was that lesson."

With those words, I gently held my mother's arm.

"Let's go home."

As we walked out of the boutique together, every customer instinctively moved aside to make way for us.

Not because of our wealth.

But because they finally understood who the real nobody had been all along.