The Final Punishment
Marco collapsed to his knees. The man who had called me trash hours earlier now sobbed in front of hundreds.
“Clara! Please forgive me! I didn’t mean it! I was drunk when I burned your dress! I love you, Clara! We’re family!”
Two bodyguards stepped forward, stopping him from reaching me.
“Don’t touch my dress, Marco. It might get dirty—just like you said earlier,” I replied coldly. I turned to Mr. Sebastian.
“Draft his termination papers. Revoke his promotion. Take back the company car. Blacklist him from every corporation in Asia. Audit his personal assets—I want everything he built using my money reclaimed.”
“Yes, Madame Chairwoman,” Mr. Sebastian answered.
“C-Clara! Please! I’ll have nowhere to go! I’ll be ruined!” Marco screamed as they forced him upright.
“You told me I don’t belong in your world anymore,” I said. “You were right. Because your world is small—full of arrogance and fake power. My world is the one you only work in.”
I turned away.

“Remove him. He’s ruining the atmosphere of my party,” I ordered.
Marco’s desperate cries echoed through the ballroom as he was dragged out. The night he had believed would crown his success became the collapse of everything he thought he owned.
And me?
I lifted my champagne, savoring the freedom I had taken back from a worthless man, and let the applause wash over me.
