The heirs of high society may be filthy rich, but they're morally bankrupt. Vengeful girls, guilty boys, broken hearts. Welcome to St. Helios Prep, where they teach wealth, risks, and the art of breaking hearts.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧-𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐚
"They say when a Raa is born, the gods decide if he dies young or lives old enough to witness his bloodline die out — one Raa at a time."
"Grandfather," I greeted the uninvited man, coldly. "You're atheist."
I have not seen or spoken to my Grandfather in a decade. He waited for my parents to die before showing up unannounced with dramatic family sayings.
As he stood beside me in front of the caskets of my parents, I was reminded of how memorable my grandfather was. Even at his son's funeral, he looked striking in his grief.
His presence bled power.
Like a Raa.
In everyone's eyes, Grandfather was the wealthy Asian aristocrat, William III Aisin-Gioro Raa, whose influence spread from Hong Kong to most of Asia through his conglomerates and oil holdings.
In my eyes, Grandfather was the man who abandoned me at nine years old.
"Aurora, you've grown up so much that I barely recognize you."
"That's what happens when you ignore a child's existence for a decade," I replied, pleasantly, as if his abandonment had no effect on me whatsoever.
Grandfather used to cherish me like a precious jade until one day, he got into an irreversible argument with my father. The next morning, my parents charted a private plane and we moved to England without a word — away from him.
Suddenly, at nine years old, I became nothing to my grandfather. I called. I cried. I wrote to him. All I gained was a pile of unanswered letters and a long list of calls he never returned, a consistent stinging reminder of his abrupt indifference towards me.
Grandfather heard the bitterness seeping into my tone and sighed. "Aurora, you know I tried to care-"
"Don't you dare lie in front of the dead," I inhaled sharply. "The only thing you tried to do was erase us from the family tree."
Grandfather looked momentarily taken aback at my bluntness. "Aurora, just hear me out-"
"Why are you here, Grandfather?" I cut in as politely as I could. I didn't want to hear his excuses. He had ten years to come up with a good one. "Don't say it's because my parents died in a car crash. If you cared, you would have reconciled with them before they died. If you cared, you would have acknowledged me."
His eyes flashed with the slightest anger before it melted into something else. Grief... or perhaps guilt? I blinked rapidly and look away. It didn't matter now. It was too late. My parents were gone now. My throat tightened. I haven't stopped heaving sobs in private since Mom and Dad passed away.
"My child, no matter what disagreements I had with him, I loved your father." Grandfather sucked in a breath. The pain in his eyes, in his chest, shone. "He was my favorite son, even if I shouldn't have played favorites. He was my heir. He was meant to inherit everything."
