Chapter 4

The night before the Four Families' gathering, the senior members of the Lehman Family finally learned that Morrison intended to bring Sarah.

Reese, one of the senior members, found Morrison and tried to stop him. "Boss, Sarah has no useful skills and no family connections. How can she represent the Lehman Family at the gathering?"

Morrison sat on the leather sofa, idly turning a crystal ornament in his hand. "Celine was an outsider too. You let her attend. Why not Sarah?"

Reese sighed. "After Celine joined the Lehman Family, she helped secure shipping routes to Australia and brought the Family enormous profits. Of course she's qualified."

Henrik spoke up as well. "Exactly. Boss, if you like Sarah, buy her jewelry and watches. We wouldn't say a word. But Celine hasn't done anything wrong. Stripping her of her place at the gathering like this will make her a laughingstock among the Four Families."

I smiled bitterly. Over the years, I had done everything I could to earn the right to stand beside Morrison.

That meant spending night after night studying business management.

I had also traded on years of favors with my superiors to help the Lehman Family expand.

Everyone had seen how hard I worked.

Everyone except Morrison.

His expression didn't waver. "Who says she hasn't done anything wrong?"

He raised a hand, and the bodyguard immediately handed files to the two senior members. "Celine has been secretly contacting other families, giving up port warehouses, and dumping core assets at a loss. Isn't that wrong enough?"

The senior members' expressions changed.

I grabbed the files from the table and flipped through a few pages. My face went pale. "I didn't sign these. Why is my signature stamp on them...?"

Wait.

I looked up at Morrison, fury blazing in my eyes.

It was him!

My signature stamp was in my safe. Only the two of us knew the combination.

Morrison showed no guilt whatsoever. He stared back, his eyes cold. "You have two choices. One: submit to a Family investigation. All your activities and business dealings will be suspended until the truth is uncovered.

"Two: let Sarah take your place at the gathering, while you attend as a maid. That will be your punishment."

Every one of those documents was forged. An investigation would clear my name.

But the process would take at least ten days.

I didn't have that kind of time.

The gathering was tomorrow. Tomorrow, I could finally capture Luca, a man who had been on the run for four years.

Luca was only risking this return because the Bauer Family planned to publicly announce their next heir and the new internal power structure at the gathering.

If I didn't catch him this time, there was no telling if another chance would ever come.

I had no choice.

Under everyone's scrutinizing gaze, I forced the words out. "I choose option two."

That was as good as admitting to Morrison's accusations.

I was admitting that I had secretly contacted other families, given up port warehouses, and dumped core assets.

The senior members stormed out of the mansion.

Even Reese, who had always been kind to me, looked at me with nothing but disappointment.

I closed my eyes, sick with humiliation.

Morrison walked over and stood in front of me, looking down. "All you had to do was choose the investigation. They'd have found out soon enough that those documents were fake. And yet you chose to accept these charges, just so you could attend the gathering.

"Well done, Celine."

I opened my eyes slowly. "Isn't that exactly what you wanted? You want everyone to hate me, so you can make room for Sarah."

Rage smoldered in Morrison's eyes, along with something I couldn't read.

It almost looked like grief.

But I was the one who had been betrayed.

What did he have to grieve about?

Morrison's voice was low and vicious. "I'm not the one pushing you away. You've been walking toward someone else all along."

My eyes flew wide.

In that moment, I wondered whether Morrison somehow knew about Luca.

But I never got the chance to ask.

Morrison stormed out of the mansion.