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The phone clattered against the hardwood floor, sliding beneath the heavy mahogany dresser. Ava watched it disappear, the screen winking out before it could cast a final ray of hope. / Chapter 5 / 20

Chapter 5 - The Interrogation

Daniel struggled against the operatives holding him, his face twisted in panic. "If this is about money, name your price! Fifty million? A hundred? Take whatever you want from my accounts!"

Elias didn't answer immediately. He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a small, blood-stained pink hospital bracelet, and dropped it onto the floor right in front of Daniel's nose.

Daniel stared at the plastic band. His breath hitched.

"Recognize it?" Elias asked, his voice dangerously quiet. "That belongs to my niece."

"Your... your what?" Daniel laughed hysterically, a sound born of pure terror. "She's no one! She's just a peasant I married because she looked good on my arm! She gave me girls instead of an heir! I had every right to—"

CRACK.

Elias's boot connected sharply with Daniel's ribs, cutting the sentence off with a sharp gasp of agony.

"You had a right," Elias murmured, stepping closer and crouching down so his face was inches from Daniel's, "to freeze a woman who had just nearly died giving you children. You had a right to throw two newborns into the snow like garbage."

"They weren't boys!" Daniel sobbed, clutching his side. "The Miller name needs a son! My father—"

"Your father died penniless in a nursing home five years ago, Daniel," Elias interrupted coldly. "I bought the debt. I own every brick of your family's legacy. You didn't build this empire—you were just squatting in my shadow."

Lev stepped forward, holding a heavy titanium briefcase. He popped the latches, revealing a stack of legal documents and a gleaming silver syringe.

"What... what is that?" Daniel whimpered, staring at the syringe.

"It's a sedative," Elias said, standing up and dusting off his coat. "And these are the transfer papers for every single asset, corporation, and bank account bearing your name. You're going to sign them. Every last cent will be transferred into a trust managed by Ava Miller."

"And if I refuse?" Daniel whispered.

May you like

Cold October wind whipped my hair across my face, but the stinging heat on my left cheek completely drowned out the chill. Mara stood beside me on the terrace, her hands clamped over her mouth as silent tears leaked down her mascara. Inside the glass doors, the jazz quartet had finally resumed playing, a jaunty, swinging tune that felt like a sick joke echoing across the luxury ballroom.

Cold October wind whipped my hair across my face, but the stinging heat...

Chapter 2 - The Ghost in the MachineWe bypassed the main elevators, taking the service stairs down to the underground valet level...

The silence after the bank call felt heavy, settling over Nora’s apartment like dust after a demolition. Her phone buzzed twice within sixty seconds—automated alerts from subscription services and utilities abruptly bouncing as the frozen card rejected them. She hadn't realized how deeply her entire life was tethered to that single piece of plastic until the umbilical cord was snapped in an instant.

The silence after the bank call felt heavy, settling over Nora’s apartme...

Evelyn’s fingers tapped rapidly against her scrub pocket, her expression locked in grim determination. The air inside the cramped storage closet smelled faintly of industrial detergent and powdered baby formula, a sterile scent that did little to calm the rising panic clawing at my throat.

Evelyn’s fingers tapped rapidly against her scrub pocket, her expression...

Elias smiled—a cold, humorless expression that didn't reach his eyes.

"Then you'll join your father in a place where men don't care about heirs."

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