Chapter 427 Partner
"However, Ms. Natasha does make a valid point. Whitebeard Group does need partners—and I've already found the ideal candidate." Ace's lips curved into a meaningful smile as his gaze shifted toward a corner of the ballroom. He raised his hand in a gesture. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce an important guest and Whitebeard Group's new strategic partner—from Thalassia's Windsor family, Mr. Charles Windsor."
The announcement struck like thunder on level ground, detonating throughout the ballroom. Every head swiveled toward the direction Ace had indicated—including Emily and Gerald.
Emily's heart seized violently. A tremor swept through her entire body. Almost involuntarily, she turned toward that corner.
By the window, Charles rose slowly to his feet. A thin overcoat draped his shoulders. Under the lights, his pallid complexion appeared even more haggard, his frame so gaunt that a stiff breeze might topple him. Yet his features retained that composed, detached quality—though now his eyes held an undisguised exhaustion.
It was him.
Emily's breathing stopped. Beneath her mask, her cheeks burned. Her eyes churned with emotions she couldn't name—shock, panic, aching sorrow, and a thread of joy and longing she refused to acknowledge even to herself.
Three years.
Three whole years. She'd thought she'd forgotten him completely. Thought her heart contained only vengeance, the Campbell legacy, and her missing grandfather. Thought an ocean of blood and endless estrangement now separated them, that their paths would never cross again.
Charles's gaze found Emily in that same moment with unerring precision.
Finally, he could see her up close.
Charles moved forward with measured steps toward the platform. Nathan followed close behind, expression taut with anxiety.
The ballroom fell silent. Every guest held their breath, gazes ping-ponging between Charles and Ace, eyes brimming with curiosity and speculation. Everyone could sense these two men shared some extraordinary connection.
Gerald's face darkened to a thunderous shade. Charles's arrival—and his partnership with Ace—spelled disaster for the Rivera family.
Emily snapped back to herself, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in her chest. She reassembled her icy, distant composure. She couldn't falter. Couldn't let anyone detect her emotional fracture. Couldn't let Charles derail her revenge.
They were over. Had been for years.
She'd come to reclaim Campbell assets, find her grandfather, exact vengeance on the Riveras—not to relive the past. Charles's presence was merely an unexpected complication.
Emily slowly withdrew her gaze, as though Charles were merely an irrelevant stranger. Her fingernails dug into her palms, the sharp pain anchoring her to reality.
Fiona, standing behind her, detected the shift immediately. Her brow furrowed slightly. "Ms. Natasha, are you alright?"
Emily tamped down the tremor in her chest. "I'm fine."
Fiona nodded curtly, her vigilant gaze sweeping between Charles and Ace without further inquiry. She could sense something complicated existed between Emily and this Windsor CEO, but she'd never been one to pry. Her sole responsibility was protecting Emily and completing their mission.
By now, Charles had reached the platform, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ace. Ace clapped his shoulder lightly. "Mr. Windsor, thank you for agreeing to partner with Whitebeard Group. I'm confident our alliance will prove mutually beneficial."
Charles inclined his head slightly. "You're too kind, Mr. Austin. The honor belongs to Windsor Corporation. I'm equally confident our collaboration will generate substantial advantages for both parties—and perhaps bring some measure of stability to Seraphim's current chaos."
His words were concise yet pointed. His gaze drifted involuntarily back toward Emily. The tenderness in his eyes remained unmistakable, though now laced with restraint and resignation.
Emily felt the weight of his stare. Her body stiffened, but she refused to turn around. Instead, she lifted her champagne flute and took a careful sip, masking her inner turmoil.
She forced herself to focus. Don't react. Don't overthink. Charles's partnership had nothing to do with her. His lingering gaze meant nothing. Right now, she needed to find a way to court Ace's favor—however slim the odds, even with Charles already in the picture. She couldn't surrender.
Yet the longing kept surging upward in waves—memories of their early happiness, the tenderness after marriage, that brutal moment before the crash. Everything surfaced with crystalline clarity, threatening to shatter her composure.
The ballroom lights blazed on, brilliant and indifferent. But Emily's world had narrowed to the thundering of her own heartbeat and that achingly familiar silhouette just meters away.