A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

The Next Day

Calliope headed into the office early. She took care of a few things-emails, a call from legal, the usual when suddenly, Lance appeared.

This time, he'd left the whole helicopter stunt behind and just rolled up in a sports car, with an entire convoy of flashy vehicles trailing behind him. Subtlety clearly wasn't in his vocabulary.

He strode straight into Jewell Group.

As luck would have it, he bumped into Valerian Jewell at reception. Valerian had definitely heard of Lance-how could he not, after the infamous helicopter landing on the company lawn last month?

Security was about to stop Lance at the entrance, but Valerian recognized him right away and figured he was here for Calliope. So, with a resigned sigh, Valerian led Lance inside.

They stepped into the elevator together, and Lance gave Valerian a once-over, eyebrows raised.

"You know Callie?" Lance asked.

"She's my sister," Valerian replied evenly.

Lance scratched at his ear, puzzled. "Your sister? Huh. Weird, I've never seen you around. Her brothers I've met are all... well, kind of a big deal."

He sized Valerian up, then suddenly lunged at him-just out of nowhere.

Valerian didn't even have time to react before Lance had him pinned, like it was nothing.

Lance let go, frowning. "You sure you're her brother? She's a total badass. No offense, but you don't really scream 'family resemblance."

He clicked his tongue, thinking. "Her brothers are supposed to be legends. And, you know... pretty easy on the eyes. I was actually kinda curious to meet them! You don't look anything like her."

He grinned, completely unfiltered. "Actually, you're way less good-looking than she is."

Valerian was about ready to explode. "Those 'brothers' you're talking about are probably her honorary brothers. I'm her real brother. Like, actually related."

Lance just shrugged, clearly unimpressed.

The elevator doors pinged open, and Lance strode out first, his leather boots echoing down the corridor.

Valerian almost had to jog to keep up.

"You're going the wrong way," He called after Lance. "Her office isn't over there!"

Lance spun around. "Not that way? You could've said something sooner! Geez, you really are slow for Callie's brother."

Valerian could barely keep it together, but he knew Lance's reputation-definitely not someone to piss off. So he swallowed his

irritation and led Lance to Calliope's office.

Inside, Horatio Jewell and Monty Jewell were both waiting with Calliope.

When Lance stepped in, both men glanced up, surprised.

"Lance!" Monty immediately put on his best ingratiating smile. "When did you get here?"

"Just now." Lance shot Monty a look. "And who are you supposed to be? Why do you sound like you're auditioning for a role as the butler?"

Monty's face twitched, but he kept

his cool. He'd heard stories about Lance-a bit of a wild card. But

everyone knew his older brother kept him protected, so even though Lance himself didn't have much of an official role at JK Group.

everybody still treated him like royalty.

Not worth making an enemy out of JK, especially not by crossing Lance.

"I'm Callie's father," Monty said, introducing himself with as much dignity as he could muster. "The Miracle Doctor's biological father, if you will."

"Oh, so you're Callie's dad? Huh. Never heard about you. Honestly, I thought her dad was... you know, pushing up daisies."

Lance shrugged and sauntered over to Calliope's desk. The moment he saw her, his whole face lit up.

"Hey, Callie, sweetheart! Ready tonoveldrama

go? I came to pick you up. The

private jet's waiting. Seriously

whatever you want, just say the word! My brother needs your help!"

"One sec," Calliope replied, not even glancing up as she finished signing a stack

of paperwork.