Chapter 7 - The Inheritance of VengeanceBy sunrise, the rain had cleared, leaving the city slick and gleaming under a pale morning sun.
I sat at my sleek glass desk, sipping black coffee, reviewing the asset restructuring documents. The takeover of Moretti Global was moving faster than even my legal team had anticipated. Evelyn Shaw Moretti had attempted to liquidate her personal holding accounts late last night, only to discover that her emergency offshore funds had already been frozen by a federal audit triggered by my corporate compliance department.
The front door chimed.
I didn't look up as heavy, exhausted footsteps approached my office. Luca walked in. He had changed into a fresh shirt, but the exhaustion clung to him like a second skin. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a decade.
"The board held an emergency vote at dawn," Luca said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. He placed a thick manila folder on my desk. "Evelyn has been stripped of her executive titles. She’s out. Permanently."
I finally looked up, raising an eyebrow. "You voted against your own mother?"
"She wasn't just my mother, Nia," Luca replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down without being invited. His dark eyes held a dangerous, chilling clarity. "She was the architect of our destruction. For seven years, I lived the life she designed for me. Every merger, every relationship, every cold calculation—it was all her script. But the moment she looked at my children in that restaurant and felt nothing but cold calculation... I saw the monster she really was."
"And what about you, Luca?" I asked, leaning back in my leather chair, crossing my arms. "Are you any different? You signed the papers. You threw me out without letting me finish a single sentence. You didn't just play her game; you were a willing participant until you got caught."
"I know," he said softly, bowing his head. "And I will spend the rest of my life paying for that. Which is why I brought you this."
I tapped the manila folder with a fingernail. "What is this?"
"My personal shares. All of them," Luca said steadily. "I am signing over controlling interest of Moretti Global to you and the twins. You hold fifty-one percent. You can strip my title, fire me, or burn the whole building to the ground. I don't care. I want you to have absolute power over everything my family ever used to hurt you."
I stared at him, stunned into momentary silence. This wasn't just a corporate maneuver; this was unconditional surrender.
"You're giving away your birthright?" I whispered.
"It wasn't a birthright," Luca replied, a ghost of a sad smile touching his lips. "It was a cage. You taught me how to live outside of it seven years ago, Nia. I just took this long to realize it."
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Before I could process the weight of his words, my office door swung open violently.
My assistant rushed in, breathless and wide-eyed. "Ms. Carter! You need to look at the news right now. Evelyn... Evelyn just called a press conference downstairs in the lobby of Moretti Global. She’s airing all of the family’s dirty laundry live to national television—and she’s dragging the children into it."
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