Chapter 12: A Dream of Better Days

*Aryanna*

I was Charline Lambert again, not Aryanna Kyle, seventeen years old, spoiled and naïve, living in the glow of a life that felt untouchable. My father, Vicente Lambert, had been larger than life—an empire builder, a man who made billionaires look small. I was his princess, his sole heir, destined to inherit it all.

There was nothing in my life I needed to worry about until I met a man I shouldn't fall in love with.

As Charline Lambert, I glowered at Darren Miller, who was once Darren Wilson—my father’s new personal aide. He was a nobody, just a fresh college graduate with no pedigree, no connections, nothing. I never understood why my father chose him, not at first.

I saw it in the dream clearer now. My father and I were sitting in his office, the rich mahogany walls and gold accents beautiful and elegant. I leaned against his desk, pouting, sassing, and questioning as I always did back then.