Chapter 9 - Cracks in the Crown
Celeste tried to scramble off the table, her voice shrill and panicked as she reached for Marcus’s arm. "Marcus, do something! Call security! Call the guards! He assaulted us!"
Not a single security guard stepped forward. The head of security, a giant of a man who had served the family for twenty-five years, quietly took two steps backward and clasped his hands behind his back, looking straight ahead.
"Security answers to the ring, child," the old banker said coldly, glancing down at Celeste with dark disdain. "Your family was given stewardship over the estate. You were never given the keys to the kingdom."
Silas walked slowly over to the table where the black iron ring rested. He picked it up with his gloved hand and slipped it onto the pinky finger of his left hand. The fit was seamless, as if it had never truly left his grip.
May you like
He turned back to face Marcus, who was still kneeling among the shattered ceramic fragments, unable to process the total inversion of his reality.
"You managed my assets well enough for two decades, Marcus," Silas said, his voice flat, devoid of anger or affection. "But you allowed your vanity to make you blind. You mistook my patience for paralysis. And you allowed a foolish woman to crush what was not hers to touch."
