From Workhorse To Queen: My Reign

AURORA BRUCE POV:

"Put that phone away, Aurora! Now!" Josh bellowed, his voice laced with a desperate fear. "You don't know what you're doing! You can't just call whoever you want here!"

"Can't I?" I retorted, my voice cutting through his bluster. "And who, precisely, is going to stop me, Josh? You? Your 'presentability'? Your 'necessary alliance'?" My gaze flickered to Kassandra, who was now staring at the satellite phone with a mixture of confusion and growing apprehension.

"I am a Congressman! Soon to be a Senator!" Josh shouted, trying to reassert his authority, his face flushing crimson. "I have connections! Power! You think some backroom deal with your family can touch me?"

Kassandra, ever the opportunist, chimed in, "He's right, Aurora! You're making a fool of yourself! Go home before things get even worse for you!"

I ignored them both. My thumb, steady and deliberate, pressed a single speed dial button. The phone connected almost instantly, the speaker crackling to life.

A voice, sharp and authoritative, boomed through the lobby. "Harrison Tyler here. Report."

Josh's eyes, already wide with fear, bulged out of his head. He recognized the voice. It was Harrison Tyler, my grandfather, but not the doting, reclusive patriarch he imagined. This was the voice of the media mogul, the political kingmaker, a man who could, and would, crush anyone who dared to cross him.

"Grandpa," I said, my voice calm, almost serene. "It's Aurora."

The voice on the other end, which had been all business, softened slightly. "Aurora. My Queen. Are you safe? Is everything alright?"

Josh, hearing the tender tone, looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. My grandfather called me "My Queen"?

"I'm fine, Grandpa," I replied, my gaze sweeping over Josh, who was now trembling visibly, and Kassandra, whose triumphant smirk had been replaced by stark terror. "Josh Palmer has confirmed his engagement to Kassandra Dixon. Publicly. On national television. And he has, in no uncertain terms, discarded me. He sees me as a 'useful workhorse,' a 'secret mistress,' to be kept in the shadows while he pursues a 'presentable' First Lady."

A gasp could be heard from the other end of the line, followed by a low, guttural growl. "He what?" Harrison's voice was a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"Furthermore, Grandpa," I continued, pressing the point, "Kassandra Dixon, his fiancée, physically assaulted me. And she deliberately, maliciously, destroyed Mom's journal. She ripped it to shreds and stomped on it right here, in front of everyone."

A roar erupted from the phone, a sound so thunderous that Josh stumbled backward, clutching his chest. Kassandra let out a small, terrified shriek. The guards, even my father's men, flinched. It was the sound of a titan's rage, raw and unrestrained.

"Palmer!" Harrison's voice ripped through the air, vibrating with such power that it seemed to shake the very foundations of the building. "Palmer, you pathetic, worthless insect! You dare to betray my granddaughter? You dare to discard a Tyler? You dare to allow that… whore… to lay a hand on my family and desecrate the memory of my daughter?"

Josh's face was ashen, his eyes wide with a horrifying realization of the magnitude of his mistake. He looked like he was about to vomit.

"My engagement to Josh Palmer is officially over, Grandpa," I announced, my voice cutting through the silence that followed Harrison's outburst. "Effective immediately. All prior agreements, all support, all promises… null and void." I looked directly at Josh, a chilling smile playing on my lips. "And just so we're clear, Josh. My father is here. And he witnessed everything."

Another series of crashes and shouts emanated from the phone, followed by a voice, thick with desperation, yelling, "No! Stop! Mr. Tyler, please! Don't do this!" It sounded like my supposed "fiancé," Josh, trying to intervene on the other end.

I ended the call. The silence in the lobby was absolute, thick with dread.

Josh, still trembling, stared at me, his eyes wide with terror. "Aurora… you… you wouldn't," he stammered, his voice barely a whisper. "You said you'd call my bluff. You said I couldn't touch you. But… look at you, Josh. Your empire is crumbling. And I am standing here, untouched."