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My reflection in the mirror stared back at me, juxtaposed against four pint-sized carbon copies. The gesture—that unconscious habit of dragging my left hand behind my neck whenever I felt cornered or deep in thought—was entirely, uniquely mine. At least, I had always believed it was. / Chapter 4 / 17

Chapter 4 - The Voss Dynasty Collapses

"You arrogant little fool," my father hissed, gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white. "Do you have any idea what you are destroying? The Barrett merger is worth four hundred million dollars! Decades of family legacy—"

"Built on blackmail, kidnapping, and ruined lives," I interrupted, raising my voice just enough for the surrounding tables—filled with Boston’s elite—to turn and stare.

My mother rushed over, her face pale with panic. "Julian, darling, please. Whatever nonsense Clara Vance whispered in your ear—"

"So you do remember her name, Mother?" I spun around, fixing her with a glare so cold she physically recoiled. "You knew she was pregnant. You knew my father had her thrown out of the city, and you sat back, sipped your tea, and let them steal my family from me!"

The whispers rippled across the conservatory. Society columnists and high-society elites leaned in, their scandalous radar instantly locking onto the public implosion of the Voss family empire.

"Guards," my father snapped, signaling toward the two security operatives standing by the glass doors. "Remove him from the premises immediately. Lock his accounts. Freeze his corporate assets. Let’s see how long our golden boy survives in the real world without a Voss trust fund."

"Keep your money, Dad," I said calmly, pulling my phone from my pocket. "Because while you were busy trying to buy my future, I just transferred every controlling share of Voss Enterprises in my name—courtesy of Grandfather’s original contingency clause, which you forgot to update after he died."

My father’s face drained of all color. He staggered backward half a step, his jaw dropping. "That... that’s impossible. I hold the primary board majority—"

"Grandfather knew you were a ruthless dictator, Dad," I smiled coldly, tapping the screen of my phone. "He made me the primary beneficiary of the voting trust on my thirty-fifth birthday. As of five minutes ago, I just voted to oust you as CEO, strip your board credentials, and launch an immediate federal audit into every offshore account you’ve managed since 2018."

"You... you little bastard!" my father roared, lunging forward, but the security guards instinctively hesitated, unsure whether to obey the patriarch or the new majority shareholder.

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

I didn't wait to watch my father’s empire crumble around him. I turned my back on my parents, on Sloane, and on the gilded cage I had been trapped in my entire life.

I had a plane to catch.

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