The First Crack In The Crown
Country: Eldoria
Adrian
The car hummed steadily beneath my hands as it rolled along the long driveway leading to the Vale estate.
Beside me, Eloria sat quietly in the passenger seat.
The fading sunlight slipped through the windshield and spilled across her hair, catching the strands in a soft golden glow.
Normally, I would have noticed it immediately…
would have said something teasing, something light enough to pull that amused smile from her lips.
But today, I said nothing.
My hands were locked around the steering wheel, fingers tightening and loosening in slow, restless motions. My jaw felt stiff from clenching it too long.
My mind refused to slow down.
Everything that had happened in the last few hours kept replaying itself over and over again like a broken recording.
The restaurant.
The recordings.
And my name spread across the internet like wildfire.
I exhaled slowly through my nose as the gates of the estate appeared ahead, tall iron bars opening automatically as the car approached.
The Vale estate was my parents’ domain.
My father’s empire within the empire he had already built.
Growing up here had meant living beneath his shadow every single day…learning early that nothing in this house existed without his approval.
These days I kept my distance.
But today wasn’t about comfort.
Today was about damage.
The car rolled up the curved driveway toward the front of the mansion, the building rising ahead like a monument carved from stone and arrogance. The tall columns, the wide steps, the polished windows reflecting the dying light of the evening sun.
Power.
Wealth.
Legacy.
Everything my father valued more than anything else.
I brought the car to a stop and turned off the engine.
For a moment neither Eloria or I moved.
Eloria shifted slightly beside me.
Then her hand reached out and brushed my arm gently.
“You okay?” she asked quietly.
Her voice was soft, cautious.
I let out a short laugh under my breath, though there was nothing amused about it.
“I’ll survive,” I muttered.
The words felt hollow even as I said them.
I opened the door and stepped out.
The air outside felt cooler than expected, brushing against my skin as I walked around the car. Eloria joined me a second later, her heels clicking softly against the stone path.
Together we climbed the steps toward the entrance.
The doors opened before we even reached them.
Inside, the foyer stretched wide and immaculate as always…polished marble floors, towering chandeliers casting warm light across the room, the faint scent of expensive perfume lingering in the air.
But today the elegance felt… tense.
Like a perfectly arranged room moments before something shattered.
My mother was already standing near the center of the foyer.
The moment her eyes landed on me, something flickered across her face…relief mixed with worry.
“Adrian…”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
Because my father stepped forward.
The movement was so sudden I barely had time to register it before his hand connected with my face.
The crack of the slap echoed sharply against the marble walls.
Heat exploded across my cheek.
My head turned slightly from the force, the sting spreading slowly across my skin.
For a second the room went completely still.
I straightened slowly.
My cheek burned, but I didn’t touch it.
I didn’t flinch.
My father’s chest rose and fell with controlled fury.
“Adrian.”
His voice was cold.
Dangerously calm.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to this family?”
I said nothing.
The silence stretched between us like a pulled wire.
My mother hovered a few steps away, her hands lifting slightly as if she wanted to intervene…but she didn’t. She never did when my father was like this.
“You had one job,” he continued, his voice rising slightly with every word. “One simple responsibility.”
He began pacing across the marble floor, each step sharp and deliberate.
“Take care of the girl you got pregnant.”
His eyes snapped back toward me.
“And what did you do?”
Still, I remained silent.
“You ignored her,” he snapped. “You treated her like an inconvenience. And now she’s gone.”
His voice hardened.
“And suddenly recordings appear all over the media.”
My jaw tightened.
“She’s out there somewhere,”
he continued, gesturing sharply toward the world outside these walls.
“Dragging our family name through the mud while you stand here looking like you don’t understand the damage you’ve caused!”
My fists slowly clenched at my sides.
“Because you couldn’t be responsible for one mistake,” he added harshly.
The word mistake hung heavily in the air.
“A useless son,” he finished bitterly.
The insult struck harder than the slap had.
But I kept my face blank.
My father stopped pacing and stepped directly in front of me.
His eyes burned with controlled rage.
“You will find her.”
The command wasn’t loud.
But it carried absolute authority.
“If you fail to fix this mess…” His voice dropped lower, colder. “…I will disown you.”
For the first time since walking inside, something shifted slightly in my chest.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
But something close enough.
“Do you understand me?” he demanded.
I nodded once.
It was the only answer he wanted.
The only answer that would stop this from escalating further.
My father studied my face for a long time.
Then he turned sharply and walked toward the staircase without another word.
His footsteps echoed loudly as he disappeared upstairs.
The tension he left behind felt suffocating.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
My mother finally exhaled softly.
Her hands trembled slightly as she clasped them together.
“Adrian…” she began quietly.
But I didn’t wait to hear the rest.
I stepped away from the center of the room and pressed my palm against the cool marble wall.
The cold surface helped steady the anger boiling beneath my skin.
My jaw ached from clenching it too tightly.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
After a few minutes, Eloria and I left the estate.
The drive away from the mansion felt tense and silent.
The anger from my father’s words still burned beneath my skin like a slow fire refusing to die.
I dialed a number through the car’s speaker system.
The line connected quickly.
“Hilliard speaking.”
“Find her,” I said immediately.
My voice sounded calmer than I felt.
“I want every resource we have working on this.”
There was a brief pause.
“You mean Alvara, sir?”
“Yes.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
“I don’t care what it takes. Money. Influence. Connections. I want her found.”
Another pause.
“She could be anywhere,” Hilliard said carefully.
“She’s still in this country,” I replied coldly.
“And if she isn’t, I want to know where she went.”
My eyes stayed locked on the road ahead.
“Search every possible place,” I added quietly. “Every street. Every district.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want results before the end of the week.”
“I understand.”
The line disconnected.
Eloria placed her hand gently on my arm.
“Adrian… calm down,” she said softly.
I turned toward her sharply.
“Calm down?” I repeated.
My voice rose despite myself.
“You saw what just happened.”
Her hand slowly withdrew.
“Now is not the time to calm down.”
The rest of the drive passed in silence.
When we reached my penthouse, I stepped out immediately, slamming the car door harder than necessary.
My phone rang again.
Once.
Twice.
I almost ignored it.
Then I checked the screen.
Kate.
My secretary.
I answered.
“What is it?”
Her voice sounded shaken.
“Sir… three of our largest investors have withdrawn from the company.”
My chest went completely still.
“What?”
“They terminated their contracts this afternoon.”
For a moment I couldn’t speak.
The pressure inside my chest rose rapidly.
Then the anger finally snapped.
The shout tore out of me as I hurled the phone across the floor.
It shattered violently against the tiles.
Pieces scattered across the hallway.
I stood there breathing hard, fists clenched, the weight of everything pressing down on me at once.
The scandal.
My father’s fury.
The investors, pulling out.
And somewhere out there…
Alvara.
The woman responsible for all of it.
In that moment I understood something with terrifying clarity.
The consequences of what happened between us had finally begun.