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The venue address on the elegant, gold-embossed card wasn’t a luxury hotel or a private estate in downtown Chicago. It was the Grand Meridian Opera House—a crumbling, century-old architectural behemoth owned entirely by a shadowy shell company called Vanguard Logistics. / Chapter 9 / 10

Chapter 9 - THE NEW HEIRA week after the arrests, the sun rose over Chicago, painting the sky in brilliant shades of amber and rose.

I sat in a comfortable rocking chair by the floor-to-ceiling window of my new home, gently cradling little Elena in my arms. Her eyes were wide, blinking sleepily as she yawned and stretched out her tiny fingers.

A soft knock sounded at the door.

My attorney, a sharp, trustworthy man named Jonathan, stepped into the room holding a thick stack of official legal documents.

"Everything has cleared, Mia," Jonathan said with a warm smile, handing me a freshly printed birth certificate and custody decree. "Adrian Moretti has been formally indicted on forty-two federal counts, with zero possibility of bail. And the courts have officially granted you sole parental rights, with zero claims from the Moretti bloodline."

I looked down at the birth certificate. In the space marked Father, there was a legal designation, but more importantly, in the space marked Mother, my name stood proudly alone, alongside my daughter's surname: Vance.

"Thank you, Jonathan," I said softly.

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"You earned every bit of this," he replied respectfully before quietly letting himself out.

I looked down at Elena, who stared up at me with those bright, intelligent eyes.

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