Chapter 4 - The midnight negotiation
Amelia’s hands shook as she pulled the heavy parchment from the envelope. The handwriting was elegant, sharp, and written in fading black ink. She stood under the bright glow of the crystal chandelier, reading the words of a dead man who had somehow orchestrated her entire life from the shadows.
To my dearest Amelia,
If you are reading this, I am gone, and the protections I put in place have failed. You must know the truth. Evelyn was my heart, my greatest partner, and the only woman I ever truly trusted. When the family council demanded I marry a woman of proper bloodline to secure our alliances, Evelyn chose to walk away rather than see our empire burn in a civil war. She took nothing. She asked for nothing. But I could not let her go empty-handed.
Amelia paused, a cold dread washing over her. She looked up at Lorenzo, who was watching her with an unreadable, stoic expression. She looked back down at the letter.
I legally transferred fifty-one percent of all Vescari legitimate holdings into an irrevocable blind trust. That trust unlocks on your thirty-second birthday. You are not a maid in that house, Amelia. You are the majority shareholder of the Vescari syndicate. Lorenzo is a good man, but he is bound by the violent laws of our world. Vivienne will stop at nothing to claim the fortune. Trust no one but the boy who stands beside you when you read this.
Amelia dropped the letter onto the velvet chair. The room spun. Today was her thirty-second birthday.
“Fifty-one percent,” Amelia breathed, stepping back until she hit the edge of the large bed. “I own the family.”
“Yes,” Lorenzo said simply, picking up the letter and folding it away. “If the council finds out that an outsider—a maid—holds the leash to our billions, they will tear the city apart to eliminate you. Vivienne figured it out. She recognized your mother's name on the piano. If you die before claiming the trust tomorrow morning, the assets default to the current acting head of the family.”
“To you,” Amelia said, her eyes widening.
“And through marriage, to Vivienne,” Lorenzo corrected, his jaw clenching. “She doesn't want me, Amelia. She wants the empire. And she has been buying off my lieutenants for months to get it.”
Suddenly, the bright lights in the guest suite flickered and died. The entire estate plunged into absolute darkness. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the security floodlights on the lawn went black.
Lorenzo moved instantly. He drew a heavy, matte-black pistol from his waistband, stepping perfectly in front of Amelia, shielding her fair skin with his broad, muscular back.
“Stay behind me,” Lorenzo commanded, his voice barely a whisper, yet vibrating with lethal authority. “Do not make a sound.”
May you like
From the hallway outside, the muffled, heavy thud of a body hitting the floor echoed through the wood. Someone was outside the door.
Amelia grabbed the fabric of Lorenzo’s white shirt, terrified. The gilded cage had just become a trap. Vivienne had made her move, and the midnight negotiation for the Vescari empire was going to be paid in blood.
