Chapter 10
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out his encrypted smartphone. He didn't call the police. He didn't call the wedding planner to cancel the two hundred high-society guests waiting in the courtyard. He dialed a private, three-digit extension that connected directly to his personal security detail stationed around the perimeter of the estate.
"Marcus," Daniel said into the receiver, his voice ice-cold, calm, and utterly terrifying. "Lock down the gates. Nobody leaves the compound. Cancel the ceremony."
"Understood, sir," his head of security replied instantly over the speaker. "What about the bride?"
Daniel looked down at Victoria, who was curling into a ball on the cold marble floor, her white satin gown bunched up around her high heels.
"Bring the car around to the side entrance," Daniel ordered flatly. "And call my lead legal team. Tell them to pull every file on Victoria’s family foundation. By tomorrow morning, I want her entire bloodline bankrupt, investigated, and behind bars."
He ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket. He didn't spare Victoria another word. He turned his back on her, his polished black leather shoes clicking softly against the stone as he walked toward the grand marble staircase to return to his daughter.
The warm, luxurious lighting of the mansion continued to sparkle off the crystal chandelier, but the festive atmosphere was permanently destroyed. The wedding was dead. The empire Victoria had tried to steal was now an inescapable trap closing in around her.
As Daniel reached the top landing, he placed a hand over his jacket pocket, feeling the cold, hard weight of the evidence Lily had carried in her little pink floral handbag. The immediate threat to his daughter was ended, but he knew this was only the first layer of a much larger, far more dangerous conspiracy that had claimed his wife's life three years ago.
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He walked down the dimly lit corridor toward Lily’s room, his dark eyes gleaming with an absolute, unshakeable promise. He would dismantle every single person involved in harming his family, no matter how powerful they were, no matter how deep the shadows went.
Inside her room, Lily sat on her bed, clutching her empty floral purse, watching the door. When her father stepped inside, his broad shoulders filling the frame, she offered him a small, hesitant smile. Daniel closed the door behind him, sealing them inside the safety of his protection, ready to face whatever war was coming next.
