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CHAPTER ELEVEN

Aвтор: Emelda Martins
last update Последнее обновление: 2025-10-16 21:55:38

Lily's POV

I was three sentences into an email about supply chain logistics—whatever the hell that actually meant, when Janet knocked on my door.

"You have a visitor, Miss Rose. He says he's a friend. Rafael Delgado?"

My heart lifted. Rafael. As if he knew I needed to see a familiar face right now.

"Send him in. Please." I said, trying to contain my excitement.

Rafael walked through the door looking exactly like Rafael. He was in paint-stained jeans, a faded band t-shirt under a leather jacket, and dark hair pulled into a messy bun.

He was a splash of color in a world of gray suits.

He also looked completely out of place.

"Holy shit, Lily." He stopped in the middle of my office and turned in a slow circle. "This is... this is actually real."

I laughed and came around the desk to hug him, inhaling his familiar scent. "It's real. Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" He pulled back, studying my face with those intense dark eyes that missed nothing. "You look exhausted."

"Thanks. That's exac
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  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

    Alexander's POVLily walked into the conference room at 9 AM on Friday morning, and I knew immediately something had changed by the way she looked at me.Not hostile exactly but not as guarded as she'd been yesterday when she'd accused me of framing Victor."We need to talk before the board meeting," she said quietly.I followed her to Richard's private office and closed the door while she pulled out her laptop."I spent last night researching Victor Walter. Every business deal, every partnership, every lawsuit from the past fifteen years." She opened files showing pages of notes and highlighted articles. "You were right about him. He's destroyed every company he's claimed to help."Relief flooded through me so intensely that I had to sit down. "So you're not taking his offer?""I canceled our meeting this morning. Told him I needed more time to prepare for the board presentation." She showed me the text exchange with Victor. "He tried to pressure me into deciding quickly. Classic man

  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

    Lily's POVI couldn't sleep Thursday night because my mind kept spinning between Victor's offer and Alexander's warnings.At 2 AM, I gave up on sleep and pulled out my laptop to conduct my own research on Victor Walter, as I was tired of taking everyone else's word for things.I started with basic searches about Walter Development and found dozens of articles praising Victor's business acumen and philanthropic work.On the surface, he looked exactly like the successful mentor he'd presented himself as.But I'd learned from my art forgery experience that surfaces could be deceiving.So I dug deeper, looking for patterns and inconsistencies, the way I would study a painting for signs of fraud.Three hours later I'd found things that made my stomach twist.Victor's company had been involved in seven major deals over the past decade and five of them had ended badly for his partners.A hotel chain that merged with Walter Development went bankrupt eighteen months after the merger.A tech st

  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FIFTY

    Alexander's POVI couldn't believe Lily was actually considering Victor's merger offer after everything we'd discovered.After I left Richard's office on Thursday afternoon, I called James immediately."Victor approached Lily with a merger proposal. She's actually thinking about accepting it.""What?" James sounded shocked. "After we found evidence he's behind everything?""She doesn't believe the evidence. She thinks I might be framing him." My voice was bitter. "Apparently everyone in her life is telling her to trust Victor over me.""Can you blame them? You did spend three weeks trying to destroy her." James sighed. "Alexander, from her perspective you're the one who's hurt her. Victor's just being charming and offering solutions.""Solutions that will let him destroy Thompson Enterprises from the inside." I paced my office. "I need to make her understand what Victor really is.""How? She doesn't trust you enough to believe your warnings."That was the problem and I didn't have a g

  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

    Lily's POVVictor Walter called my cell phone Thursday morning at 7 AM before I'd even gotten to the office."Miss Rose, I hope I'm not calling too early. I heard some concerning news about Thompson Enterprises and wanted to reach out."I was still in my apartment getting dressed and his call immediately put me on edge."What news are you referring to Mr. Walter?""Word on the street is you're dealing with significant financial irregularities. Embezzlement possibly?" His voice was smooth and concerned. "I know how devastating that can be for a young CEO trying to establish credibility."My stomach dropped because the embezzlement investigation wasn't public yet and Victor shouldn't know about it unless someone told him."I can't comment on internal company matters.""Of course not. But Lily, if I may speak candidly, I'm worried about you." He paused for effect. "Thompson Enterprises has been unstable since Richard's death, and now with financial scandals emerging, you're in an impos

  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

    Alexander's POVDiana called at 11 PM Wednesday night with the final piece of evidence we'd been waiting for."I traced the last of the embezzled funds. They were funneled through Victor Walter's offshore accounts and then reinvested back into Thompson Enterprises as loans." Her voice was triumphant. "He stole your money and then loaned it back to you at predatory interest rates."I was in Richard's office with Lily, reviewing tomorrow's board presentation, and we both froze when we heard Diana's words on the speakerphone."Say that again," Lily said."Victor Walter has been running a circular scheme. Marcus, David, and Jonathan steal money through fake consulting fees. That money goes to Victor's shell companies. Victor then loans it back to Thompson Enterprises at high interest through the debt instruments we discovered." Diana was clearly excited about solving the puzzle. "He's been making money off both ends while positioning the company for bankruptcy."After she hung up Lily and

  • Love in the Shadows of Legacy   CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

    Lily's POVWe set up the war room in Richard's private office on Tuesday morning at 8 AM because it was the only space with enough wall space for all our evidence boards.Alexander brought whiteboards, and I brought colored markers, and by 9 AM, the office looked like something from a crime drama with timeline maps and financial documents covering every surface."Marcus approved this payment in March," Alexander pointed to a cluster of transactions. "Then David structured the shell company two weeks later. They were coordinating.""And Jonathan signed off on the fake invoices the same day they were submitted," I added another connection line. "No normal approval process takes one day. They were rushing to avoid scrutiny."We worked through the morning mapping connections and building the narrative we'd present to the board in six hours.Janet knocked at noon with sandwiches and coffee."You two need to eat something. Can't prosecute criminals on empty stomachs." She set the food down

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