The tension in the Laurent estate was suffocating. A thick silence hung in the air, suffused with the weight of expectation, accusation, and fear. Anastasia felt the pressing gazes of her mother, Genevieve, Charles Dupont, and even Hugo Laurent, their sharp stares demanding an answer.
"Who did you offend, Anastasia?" Genevieve's voice was crisp, cutting through the silence like a whip. "Who have you angered enough to make Charles lose millions overnight?"
Anastasia swallowed hard, her throat dry. Her heart pounded against her ribs, threatening to escape. She parted her lips to speak, but before she could form the words—
"Dante Alexander Montgomery."
The name rang through the room like a gunshot.
A gasp. A heartbeat. Then—
SMACK!
The sharp sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed through the grand hall as Caroline staggered back, her cheek blooming red from the force of the slap.
"You—!" Charles Dupont's face twisted in sheer fury as he glared at his daughter, his nostrils flaring. His hand trembled from the force of the strike, but his rage was far from satisfied.
"You mean to tell me that you ruined a perfectly good blind date—" he seethed, his voice dropping into something far more dangerous. "—and the man you ruined it with was Dante Alexander Montgomery?"
His rage pulsed like a living thing, his breathing heavy as he advanced on Caroline once more.
"How could you be so foolish?!" Charles thundered, gripping his daughter by the arm. "Do you even realize what you've done? Dante Montgomery isn't just any man—he's a goddamn king in this city! And you—you let your best friend ruin a date with him?! Do you have any idea what kind of disaster you've brought upon us?!"
"Father, stop it!" Caroline wrenched herself from his grasp, her eyes burning with unshed tears. "I told you I didn't want to go on the blind date ! You left me with no other choice!"
Charles turned sharply, his burning gaze locking onto Anastasia, and she could feel the venom in his eyes.
"You." His voice was low, almost too calm, which made it all the more terrifying. "You have two hours."
Anastasia stiffened. "Two hours for what?"
"Two hours to fix this." His tone was final, devoid of any room for negotiation. "Or else I'm pulling every single financial support I've ever given the Laurent Corporation. If I'm going down because of your stupidity, I'm taking you all with me."
With that, he grabbed Caroline's wrist roughly and stormed out of the Laurent estate, dragging her along without a single glance back.
The heavy silence that followed was unbearable.
Genevieve exhaled sharply before turning toward Anastasia. But unlike Charles's explosive anger, hers was cold, sharp, and terrifyingly controlled.
She walked to the couch and sat down, pressing her temples with her fingers before she lifted her piercing gaze to her daughter.
"That name," she whispered. "Dante Alexander Montgomery…"
Anastasia clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.
"This isn't just about the blind date, is it?" Genevieve continued, her voice eerily calm. "Even if you did sabotage the date, there's no way it would lead to this. Losing millions—billions—overnight? That's not a simple retaliation. That's personal."
Her mother's gaze sharpened, slicing into her like a blade. "What did you do, Anastasia?"
Anastasia's throat tightened.
Her mother was right. This wasn't just about Caroline's ruined date. Dante wasn't the type to destroy lives over something so petty.
But a breakup?
A breakup that had bruised his ego, humiliated him?
That was a different story.
Anastasia had always known Dante to be ruthless in business. But to go this far…?
Was he really that petty?
She refused to believe it.
But the evidence was clear—he was tearing apart her family's empire piece by piece. And he wasn't stopping.
Her silence was enough of an answer.
Genevieve sighed, rubbing her temples as exhaustion settled into her features. "Merde," she muttered under her breath before lifting her gaze once more.
"Fix this," she ordered, her voice heavy with warning. "Before everything crumbles. Do you know how long I have fought to keep this company afloat? Do you think it has been easy holding up the Laurent name while our business is already slipping down the hill? I have been working tirelessly so you could finish Harvard. And now that you're back, you're destroying everything."
Anastasia flinched at the words.
"Contact Dante," Genevieve said firmly. "Talk to him. Apologize. Do whatever it takes to make sure this stops before it's too late."
Before Anastasia could respond, another figure stepped forward.
Hugo.
But this time, the older man wasn't his usual dramatic, theatrical self. Instead, his expression was grave—serious in a way she rarely saw.
"Anastasia," he said softly, "think this through. Talk to Dante. If you've offended him, you should apologize and end this before everything your father and your grandfather had ever worked for crumbles."
His words were heavier than they should have been.
Anastasia had known Hugo her whole life. He was her maternal grandfather a business tycoon who has handed everything to his greedy son , her mother's trusted only family .And he had never spoken to her like this before.
For the first time, fear clawed at her chest.
Even Hugo was shaken.
"I'm sorry, ma chérie," Hugo sighed. "I should've done something earlier. Maybe if I had, we wouldn't be here right now. But I am an old man—I do not have the power to stop someone like Dante Alexander Montgomery."
He hesitated before speaking again.
"But I will try," he finally said. "I will try to contact the Montgomery family—to speak to the old man himself. If there is anyone who can reason with Dante, it would be him."
Anastasia's heart twisted at his words.
Hugo was offering to go above and beyond for her, but even he wasn't sure if it would work.
Because at the end of the day, there was only one person who could stop this.
Dante.
And she was the only one who could face him.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for her phone.
She had two hours.
Two hours to save her family.
Two hours before everything collapsed.
And she didn't know exactly where she had to go.