Chapter 10 - The final gavel
Alexander looked down at the aged diary resting on the polished table.
Below in the gallery, the auction reached its climax.
"One hundred million dollars going twice..." Julian’s voice echoed sharply across the room.
Alexander didn't look at the stage. Slowly, his large hand reached out and flipped open the diary to the marked page. His eyes scanned the crisp, handwritten ink from two decades ago.
A name stood out at the bottom of the page—a name accompanied by a seal that belonged to neither the Harringtons nor the Vosses. It belonged to someone far higher in the global hierarchy.
Alexander’s chest rose and fell in a slow, controlled breath. The puzzle he had spent twenty years solving had just expanded into a much larger, far more dangerous web.
"Going three times..."
BANG.
Julian brought the wooden gavel down with a sharp, final crack that rang through the entire Obsidian Gallery.
"Sold! To Mr. Caldwell for one hundred million dollars!"
The room erupted into polite applause. Up in the VIP booth, Celeste turned and walked away without another word, her silver heels silent against the plush carpet as she descended into the crowd of elite socialites who would abandon her by morning.
Alexander stood up. He picked up his old wristwatch, buckled it back onto his wrist, and slid the small diary into his inner tuxedo pocket.
May you like
He walked to the edge of the glass railing and looked down at the sea of billionaires below, his expression darker and more calculated than ever before. The Harringtons were broken, but the true architect of his past was still breathing the same air.
The war hadn't ended tonight. It had only just begun.
