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The heavy mahogany doors of The Gilded Vulture trembled under the weight of the silence that followed. Dominic’s knuckles turned white where his hands still gripped the empty wheelchair handles. His breath hitched in his throat, trapped behind a wall of sheer disbelief. The man he had spent the last five years wheeling around like a broken doll—the frail, paralyzed uncle he had quietly poisoned with micro-doses of digitalis every Tuesday night—was standing. Not just standing, but towering. / Chapter 10 / 18

Chapter 10 - The Final Coin

The rain tapped softly against the reinforced glass of the private club entrance below as midnight struck.

Maeve walked down the grand marble staircase alone, her heels clicking rhythmically against the stone. She stopped at the exact spot where Dominic had violently struck the coins from Rocco’s hand three months ago.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a single, heavy silver coin—the very first one Rocco had ever given her back when she was just a stranger walking through the door.

She knelt down slowly, pressing the coin firmly into the center of the marble floor where the light caught it just right.

A shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Rocco standing at the landing above, leaning slightly on a sleek, polished obsidian cane that he didn't actually need, but carried as a reminder of where they had both come from.

"Still dropping money on the floor, Maeve?" Rocco called out, his voice echoing warmly through the empty, silent club.

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The crack of her hand against my cheek echoed off the Italian marble, sharp and bright, silencing the chamber music and the murmurs of sixty terrified aristocrats. Vanessa Whitmore’s diamond rings flashed under the crystal chandelier as she pulled her arm back for a second swing, her lips curling into a triumphant sneer.

The crack of her hand against my cheek echoed off the Italian marble, sh...

Maeve stood up, brushing off her knees, her eyes flashing with absolute triumph and untamed power.

"No, Uncle," Maeve smiled, turning to face the future. "I'm investing it."

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