Damon Qin didn't get nervous.
He made billion-yuan mergers collapse with a signature. He could shut down a scandal with a look. But today, as he sat in his office with one hand on his scotch glass and the other scrolling through the tabloid headlines, he was nervous.
Because there she was.
Liana Zhou, cold-eyed and glorious, on every screen in the city. Her red dress. Her sharp smile. The headline:
> "Mistress or Murderess? Rumors Swirl After Zhou Heiress's Return"
And below it—a leaked audio file.
Shen Ruoyi's voice, clear as crystal and twice as brittle:
> "Make it look like an accident."
Scene shift: Qin Corp Lobby – Late Morning
The elevator doors parted like curtains. Liana stepped out.
No assistant. No entourage. Just a single folder in hand and that signature smirk—the kind that told you she already knew how this day would end, and it wasn't in your favor.
The receptionist stood up too fast. "M-Miss Zhou—should I call—?"
"No need," Liana said. "He's expecting me."
Technically, he wasn't. But that never stopped her before.
Scene shift: Damon's Office
He looked up as she entered, slowly, like she was inspecting a battlefield.
"You leaked it," he said without preamble.
"I leaked oxygen too, and yet here you are—still breathing."
His jaw ticked. "That was dangerous. She's still protected."
"Not for long."
Liana dropped the folder onto his desk. "But I didn't come here for your ex-mistress. I came for you."
"Oh?" he asked, voice cooler than it felt.
"I want an office here."
He blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I'm going to be your wife. That comes with responsibilities. I'd hate to just sit at home twiddling my knives."
He studied her carefully. "You want to work at my company?"
"I want to work at our company," she corrected, "and I want full access to the department heads."
"That's not how this works."
"No," she said, folding her arms, "that's how it used to work. When I was soft. Obedient. Dead."
The word hit him like a slap, even though she smiled when she said it.
"You're not the same," he said, quieter now.
She stepped closer, slow and deliberate, her heels clicking on the marble like gunshots.
"Say it again."
"You're not the same Liana Zhou I married."
"No," she said. "That woman is dead. I buried her the day you called her a placeholder."
He flinched. Didn't show it. But she saw it.
Flashback Scene: Liana's Memory – A Decade Ago
It was raining the day she signed the original marriage contract.
He didn't even look at her. Just flipped the pen and said, "Don't embarrass me."
She smiled back then. Meek. Grateful.
That version of Liana? Pathetic.
Return to Present – Damon's Office
He looked at her now like a man trying to identify a ghost in broad daylight.
"You've changed," he said for the fourth time since her return.
"And you haven't," she replied. "Still underestimating the woman in front of you."
He leaned back, arms crossed. "What do you really want, Liana?"
She leaned forward, matching him inch for inch.
"To sit across from you every day… and smile while I take everything you think is yours."
Scene shift: Qin Corp Executive Lounge – Minutes Later
Damon watched her leave his office through the tinted glass, her steps unhurried, like she was already part of the building's foundation.
Elijah, his assistant, stood beside him.
"She's dangerous," Elijah murmured.
"I know," Damon said. "But I can't stop watching her."
Scene shift: Liana's New Office – End of Day
Small. Temporary. But functional.
She set down a single framed photo: her and her father, before Qin Corp swallowed her family's company whole.
Below that, she taped a note to the underside of the desk drawer:
> "Step One: Sit beside him. Step Two: Own the chair. Step Three: Take the crown."
Her phone buzzed.
Text from Shen Ruoyi:
> You think you've won? Watch your back, bitch
Liana smiled and replied with a single photo.
A screenshot of the leaked headline.
Then blocked her.
Across the city, in a shadowed office, a voice said:
"She's moving faster than expected. Activate the contingency."
Liana may have entered the lion's den.
But they had no idea the lion had already been skinned and was wearing high heels.