Jasmine's POV
"Jasmine," Vale began, his voice measured, "your mother left you something important."
My grip tightened on the envelope, nails biting into the thick paper. Important. That word almost made me laugh, except the sound came out bitter and sharp.
"Important?" I scoffed. "She left me a letter, Mr. Vale. A letter full of conditions and secrets. That's not 'important'… it's a 'trap'."
Vale didn't flinch. He never did. Sitting behind his desk, framed by shelves of legal binders and silent authority, he just steepled his fingers and waited until my anger burned itself into silence.
"It's more than a letter," he said evenly. "It's about your future. You're about to inherit Duvall Holdings."
The words hit me like a punch. I blinked at him, certain I'd misheard.
"Inherit?" My laugh was dry, humorless. "Duvall Holdings? No. You've got the wrong girl. I'm the scandal. The disgrace. The outcast. I don't inherit anything except gossip and humiliation."
Vale's gaze stayed locked on mine. "Your mother believed the opposite. She wanted you to step into this role when the time came."
"Role?" My voice cracked with disbelief. "What role? Heiress? CEO? Mr. Vale, I can barely manage myself. You expect me to run a corporation?"
He leaned back, his face unreadable. "She didn't choose lightly. She trusted you had more strength than you realize."
"Strength," I echoed, bitterness sharp in my throat. "Is that what we're calling it now? I hid. I survived because I had no choice. That isn't strength… it's desperation."
For the first time, Vale's expression softened, but his tone didn't waver. "Survival requires strength. And what you've built for yourself since leaving Crestfall… don't dismiss that. Your skills, your persistence, your ability to adapt… they matter."
I shook my head. "Skills? You mean hacking, cyber security work or my ability to tear people down from the shadows? You think that qualifies me to run a multibillion-dollar empire?"
"I think it shows intelligence. Resourcefulness. Vision. All of which Duvall Holdings needs right now."
I pushed back from the chair, heart pounding. "Resourcefulness, you say. I don't want it. Do you hear me? I didn't ask for this. I wanted out. Away. Free."
Vale leaned forward, lowering his voice until it felt like a secret pressed into the air between us. "Jasmine, this is more than an inheritance. It's your chance to reclaim your legacy. To face the people who tried to destroy you and prove them wrong."
A dry laugh escaped me. "Reclaim? Mr. Vale, I'm still the girl they laughed at. The one humiliated in front of everyone. The one thrown aside like I was nothing. How am I supposed to reclaim anything when that's all they'll ever see?"
"By standing up and taking what is yours," he said firmly. "But there's one condition."
The hairs at the back of my neck prickled. "Condition?"
Vale's voice dropped. "To claim Duvall Holdings… you'll have to work with KnightCorp."
The name detonated inside me like a time bomb.
My breath caught. "KnightCorp?" The syllables tasted like ash. "You mean… Ares's company?"
Vale nodded once, slow, deliberate. "Yes. Ares Knight is the CEO. And your paths are about to cross again."
My chest squeezed, rage and disbelief colliding. "Cross? You can't be serious. You expect me to work with him? After what he did? After everything?"
"Your mother believed an alliance with KnightCorp was essential," Vale said. "The companies are linked in ways you don't yet understand. She wanted you to be the bridge."
"A bridge?" My voice rose, sharp as glass. "Vale, he destroyed me. He made sure I was humiliated in front of everyone that mattered. And now you want me to smile and sit across a boardroom table from him?"
"You don't have to smile," Vale replied calmly. "You only have to win."
The words hit harder than I expected. Win. It sounded so clean. So possible.
"And what if he doesn't want me there?" I shot back. "What if Ares does everything in his power to sabotage me?"
"Then you fight back," Vale said simply. "You've already proven you can fight. Now you'll do it in the open."
I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. My body trembled with fury, fear, something dangerously close to excitement. "You're asking me to walk back into the lion's den."
Vale's eyes sharpened. "I'm asking you to take control. You've lived too long letting others write your story. This time, you write it. You're not just Jasmine anymore. You're Nyx. You're stronger than they know."
The name stirred something deep inside me. Nyx… the mask I'd built, the armor that kept me alive. Could that girl step into this battlefield and survive?
"But what if I fail?" My voice was low, the question almost too fragile to speak.
"Then you learn," Vale said. "You adapt. Failure doesn't end you. Quitting does."
I swallowed, throat dry. My mind spun with images of Crestfall, of whispers, of Ares's cold stare as he turned his back on me. Rage burned hot enough to devour the fear.
"And if I do this," I said slowly, "if I take this inheritance and face him… what then?"
"Then you prove to him… and to everyone that you're not the girl he left behind. You're the woman who came back stronger."
The words vibrated inside me like a war drum. My pulse thundered in my ears. I thought of every smirk, every cruel laugh, every time I'd been shoved aside. Maybe Vale was right. Maybe this was the chance I'd been waiting for.
My voice steadied. "Fine. I'll do it. I'll claim my inheritance. I'll work with KnightCorp."
Vale's expression didn't shift much, but I caught the smallest flicker of approval. "Good. That's the choice your mother hoped you'd make."
"But," I added, leaning forward, "I do it on my terms. No one else's."
"That," he said, finally allowing a faint smile, "is exactly how she wanted it."
Silence stretched for a beat. My chest rose and fell with uneven breaths as I tried to hold on to the surge of resolve sparking inside me.
"Tell me what I'm walking into," I said at last.
Vale pulled a folder from his desk, sliding it across the polished wood toward me. "This is the full breakdown of her will. The inheritance, the shares, the stipulations. And the contract binding Duvall Holdings to KnightCorp."
I didn't touch it yet. The cream-colored envelope still sat in my hand, heavy as stone. I stared at it, my reflection faint in the glossy surface of his desk.
My mother's words, Vale's revelations, Ares's shadow… they all pressed down at once, suffocating. But beneath it all, a flame had caught, flickering stubbornly to life.
I reached for the folder.
"Fine," I said. "Let's go over the details."
Mr. Vale nodded, businesslike again. "We'll need to prepare. This won't be simple. KnightCorp has its own agenda, and Ares is not a man who welcomes interference."
"Good," I muttered, flipping the folder open. "Neither am I."
For the next hour, Mr. Vale laid out the intricacies of my mother's arrangements: the shares that would transfer into my name, the clauses binding me to KnightCorp, the power plays already at work in the market. His words blurred at times, but one thought cut through every legal term and strategic warning…
This was my chance.
My chance to face the boy who broke me.
My chance to burn down every whisper that had haunted me.
My chance to rise.
By the time Vale finished, the flame inside me wasn't small anymore. It was fire.
I closed the folder with a sharp snap. "Tell me when the first meeting is."
Vale studied me carefully, as if weighing the girl I'd been against the woman sitting in front of him now.
"I'll arrange it," he said finally. "But remember, Jasmine… power comes with risk. If you want this, you'll have to fight for it every step."
I stood, sliding the folder under my arm. My voice came out steady, colder than I felt. "Then let him try to stop me."
As I walked out of Vale's office, envelope still clutched tight, one thought pulsed louder than all the rest.
Ares Knight would see me again.
And this time, I wouldn't be the one broken.