Chapter 10 - The Final Game and the Ultimate TwistDante Moretti stood up, smoothing his jacket. "Well, Adrian. It’s been poetic. Your empire is gone. Your money is ours. And my daughter is coming home where she belongs."
Dante signaled to his guards. "Kill him. Leave the body for the federal task force to find."
The two guards raised their submachine guns, their fingers tightening on the triggers.
Adrian didn't raise his gun. He closed his eyes, accepting his fate. He had destroyed his own life the moment he let Elena walk out into the storm.
Crack. Crack.
Two gunshots echoed through the room.
Adrian opened his eyes, bracing for the impact.
But the bullets hadn't hit him.
Dante Moretti staggered backward, coughing up a spray of dark red blood across his pristine white shirt, before collapsing heavily against the stone fireplace.
The two guards dropped their weapons, gasping as blood bloomed across their chests.
Adrian spun around in shock.
Standing behind the guards, lowering a smoking silencer, was Lucas Benton.
And standing right beside Lucas, holding a secondary pistol with absolute, flawless precision, was Elena.
Dante Moretti gasped for air, staring up at his daughter in sheer horror. "Elena... what... what are you doing?"
Elena walked slowly toward her dying father, her face completely expressionless.
"You taught me everything I know, Father," Elena said softly, looking down at him. "You taught me that in our world, trust is a weakness, and loyalty is just a currency waiting to be spent."
She turned her gaze to Adrian, who stood frozen in stunned disbelief.
"You transferred the assets to Moretti Holdings," Adrian whispered, his voice trembling. "Why?"
Elena walked across the room until she stood mere inches from Adrian. She reached out, gently taking the heavy Glock from his numb fingers and lowering it into her own pocket.
"Because Moretti Holdings doesn't belong to my father anymore," Elena said, a faint, beautiful, dangerous smile finally touching her lips. "Four months ago, when I realized who my father’s syndicate was really trying to destroy, I quietly bought out his majority shares using shell companies you funded, Adrian."
She reached into her coat and pulled out the flash drive, pressing it firmly into Adrian’s open palm.
"The empire isn't gone, Adrian. It’s just been restructured. And the divorce settlement?" Elena whispered, leaning in close so her breath brushed his cheek. "It was filed under a corporate trust that makes you and our child the sole beneficiaries of the entire Moretti syndicate."
Adrian stared at her, his mind struggling to catch up to the sheer brilliance of the trap she had built around both her father and the rival family.
"You... you framed your own father?" Adrian breathed.
"I didn't frame him," Elena said, her dark eyes shining with absolute power. "I outplayed him. Just like I outplayed Grant and Roland. Did you really think a woman carrying a Vale heir would ever walk away from the throne?"
Outside, the storm finally broke, and the first rays of a golden morning sun poured through the shattered French doors, illuminating the blood on the floor, the ruins of an empire, and the birth of a new dynasty.
Adrian reached out, his hand wrapping gently around her waist, pulling her close against his chest as the guards secured the estate.
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"God help anyone who ever crosses you," Adrian murmured against her hair.
Elena smiled, resting her head against his shoulder. "They won't get the chance, husband. We run everything now."
