The heavy rain outside tapped a frantic rhythm against the frosted glass of the faded blue door, but inside Solana Rivera’s kitchen, the silence was thick enough to suffocate.

Before Beatrice could utter another condescending remark, the front door clicked open and Colton walked into the house, briefcase in hand.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

The temperature in the living room dropped instantly. Colton’s dark eyes locked onto his aunt with a gaze so cold it made Beatrice take an involuntary half-step back.

“Aunt Beatrice,” Colton said, his voice dropping into a lethal, quiet register. “Who gave you permission to step foot on this property?”

Beatrice recovered her composure quickly, lifting her chin. “Is that any way to speak to your flesh and blood, Colton? I flew ten thousand miles because I heard my family name has become a punchline in local tabloids thanks to your little emotional crusade.”

“My crusade?” Colton stepped closer, closing the distance between them until he towered over her. “My mother murdered my father, framed an innocent woman, drove my sister into a psychiatric prison, and turned our entire legacy into a criminal enterprise. And you think this is a PR problem?”

Beatrice’s face flushed with anger. “Your father was weak! Your mother did what she had to do to maintain our status! And now you’re squandering millions on illegitimate relatives and servants—!”

“Get out,” Colton interrupted, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings.

“You can’t speak to me like that!” Beatrice shrieked. “I am a shareholder! I hold residual rights to the estate trust—!”

“You hold nothing,” Colton corrected smoothly, pulling a legal document from his briefcase and tossing it onto the coffee table. “As of this morning, using the emergency restructuring clauses of the private equity trust, I legally severed every surviving family member’s residual claim to Vale assets. You are legally bankrupt, Aunt Beatrice. And if you don't walk out that front door right now, I will have you arrested for criminal trespassing.”

Beatrice stared at the paper, her hands trembling. She looked at Colton, seeing not the obedient, lonely boy she remembered from holiday dinners, but a titan who had completely dismantled the dynasty that made her who she was.