Chapter 9: The Boardroom Coup.

Isadora's Pov

If I did not move away from the kitchen counter right now, Rafael would turn around from the balcony and see me staring at his open phone screen.

I read the text message on his screen three times, feeling my stomach turn into a block of ice.

So my father had just sent the final balance because Rafael had delivered me straight into his hands.

I step away from the phone, backing toward the living room before he caught me looking.

After some minutes, Rafael stepped inside from the balcony, shutting the glass door behind him.

"Is something wrong, Isadora?" Rafael asked, walking straight toward the kitchen counter with a calm face.

"You sold me out to Peter Fenwick," I said, pointing my finger at the glowing phone screen on the counter.

He stopped in his tracks, looking down at the message before looking back up at me without any guilt in his eyes.

"You were never going to get away from him anyway," Rafael said, taking a step toward me and reaching into his pocket.

"I trusted you with my life tonight," I yelled, taking two steps back toward the front door of the apartment.

I immediately ran for the stairs, but Rafael moved faster than I expected and grabbed my arm.

He pulled me back into the living room, taking my own phone out of my pocket and throwing it onto the couch.

"You are not running anywhere," Rafael said, holding my wrist so tight my fingers went numb.

He opened the front apartment door with his free hand, and two large men in black suits stepped inside immediately as I fought against his grip, but the two guards grabbed my shoulders and forced my arms behind my back.

Then, I realized that this safehouse was never a refuge; it was just a staging area for my capture.

I decide to stop wasting my energy fighting them, rather saving my breath for what was coming next.

They marched me out of the building, down the back stairs, and shoved me into the rear of a dark SUV.

Rafael sat in the front passenger seat, ordering the driver to head straight to Madrid.

We rode in heavy silence for forty minutes until the vehicle turned into the basement garage of Fenwick Headquarters.

The guards opened my door, pulled me out into the cool air, and marched me toward the private elevator.

I looked at Rafael as the lift doors shut, but he kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling display.

I felt a cold rage build inside my chest, replacing the fear with a deep desire for revenge.

"You are going to regret doing this to me," I whispered, glaring at the side of his face.

"I did what was necessary for my own future," Rafael answered, refusing to turn his head toward me.

The elevator beeped and opened directly into the private executive suite on the top floor of the building.

Then the guards pushed me through the double glass doors, and I saw my father sitting at the head of the long conference table.

Peter Fenwick looked up from a stack of legal papers, drinking from a crystal glass as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"You should have stayed in line, Isadora," Peter said, setting his glass on the table without any emotion.

"You locked me in that estate and paid Rafael to track me down," I said, stepping forward until the guards held me back.

"Lok, i cleared my debts with the Ossorio family by handing over what belonged to them," Peter said, leaning back in his chair.

"I am a human being, not a piece of property you can trade away," I spat, pulling against the guards' arms.

"You were never a real Fenwick, and you have no power in this building anymore," Peter said flatly as I stood in the middle of the room, processing the painful truth that my entire life had been built on a financial transaction.

I decided right then that I would survive this night and bring every single one of them down.

I looked, as the side door of the suite opened, and Everett Ossorio walked in with two corporate lawyers right behind him.

Rosalind walked into the room right after him, wearing a dark suit with her hair styled neatly.

She looked at me with a cold smile, walking over to take a seat directly next to Peter at the table.

"It is time to wrap this matter up," Everett said, sliding a thick folder across the table to Peter.

"What are you signing?" I demanded, watching my father take out his pen without looking at me.

"These papers transfer all your company shares and your executive position away from you," Everett said, watching Peter sign the last page.

"You cannot take my shares without my legal consent," I said, struggling against the heavy grip on my shoulders.

"Well, a judge signed a paper declaring you mentally unfit an hour ago," 

Everett replied, holding up an official stamped document.

My breath caught in my throat as the weight of their trap closed in around me from every direction.

"Rosalind Kane is officially taking your place as the Vice Chair of Ossorio Real Estate," Everett announced, passing the signed contract to Rosalind.

Rosalind who looked at me without pity, took the folder with a satisfied nod, looking over at me with complete victory in her eyes.

"You stole my name and my life, but you will pay for this," I said, looking straight into her eyes.

"Isadora Fenwick does not exist anymore," Rosalind answered, turning her attention back to the lawyers.

Rafael walked over to the table and handed my original passport and birth certificates directly to Everett.

I watched the man I had relied on give the final pieces of my legal identity to my worst enemy.

Then, a dark silence settled over my mind, and I knew that my old life was officially dead and gone.

"Take her down to the transport vehicle in the lower bay," Everett ordered, waving his hand toward the guards.

The guards turned me around, pushing me toward the back exit that led into the secure stairwell.

While they pulled me away, something halted me as I looked back over my shoulder to made eye contact with Rafael one last time.

"I will come back for everything you took from me," I said, making sure every person in the room heard my promise.

Then the guards threw open the heavy exit door, but then, a tall man in a dark coat was standing on the concrete landing with a gun raised straight at my head.