Chapter 17 - The Weight of the Ring
After the board meeting adjourned, the executives filed out in quiet, orderly succession until only Maeve and Rocco remained in the sprawling penthouse office.
The city hummed far below them, a sprawling metropolis of steel, glass, and millions of lives moving in synchronized chaos.
Rocco walked over to the desk, setting a small, heavy velvet box down right beside Maeve’s computer terminal.
Maeve looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What's this?"
"Open it," Rocco said quietly.
Maeve unlatched the velvet lid. Inside rested an antique, heavy gold pocket watch—engraved with the initials V.M.—the very watch her father had carried the day he was pushed off the freighter twenty years ago. It had been recovered from Dominic’s seized safety deposit box during the federal sweep.
"How...?" Maeve’s breath caught in her throat for the first time in months, her eyes shimmering with a rare, unexpected wave of emotion.
May you like
"I had agents search every secondary vault Dominic owned before the feds got there," Rocco said softly, resting a warm, steady hand on her shoulder. "Your father didn't just leave you a memory, Maeve. He left you a legacy that survived every bastard who tried to bury it."
Maeve picked up the heavy gold watch, pressing the stem. The front case clicked open smoothly, the internal gears ticking away with absolute, unbroken precision, right on time.
