After six years away, I came home and found my mother on her knees, dressed like a maid in the house I had bought for her.

Julian stepped further into the library, snapping his fingers. Two burly men in heavy tactical gear emerged from the hallway behind him, blocking the only exit out of the room.

Evelyn didn't even flinch. She simply crossed her arms, watching Julian with an expression of profound, icy disgust.

"Ah, and the bitter widow," Julian sneered, glancing at Evelyn. "Thank you for inviting our dear sister all the way across the Atlantic. It saved us the trouble of hunting her down across three different time zones."

"You manipulated me with Mom’s medical records," I said, my voice dropping an octave as pure fury replaced my shock. "It was all a setup to get me out of the country so you could execute the corporate heist."

"Bingo," Julian smiled, walking over to the desk and picking up the flash drive Evelyn had just handed me. He slipped it into his pocket with a triumphant wink. "With this original patent file and your corporate credentials accessed via your remote login, the board of directors back home will legally invalidate your trust by morning. You’ll be penniless, homeless, and entirely powerless."

"You won't get away with this," I spat, my hand sliding deeper into my pocket, my fingers locking around the steel mace. "The international authorities are already tracking your syndicate."

"Let them look," Julian laughed, turning his back to pour himself a glass of whiskey from the cart. "By the time they trace the IP addresses, the funds will be laundered through twelve different shell companies in the Cayman Islands, and this manor will be burned to the ground with us all inside as an unfortunate 'electrical accident'."

My heart hammered against my ribs. I had seconds to make a move. If Julian transferred the remaining corporate assets, everything my father built—and everything I had fought to reclaim—would vanish into the ether.

As Julian turned back around, glass in hand, I didn't hesitate. I pulled the mace from my pocket, lunged forward, and sprayed a blinding stream of chemical irritant directly into his eyes.

Julian screamed, dropping the whiskey glass as he stumbled backward, clutching his face in agony.