Chapter Six

Adriana Chen

Huh. Shit

 I had no idea why this kept happening. I would drift without warning, mid-sentence, mid-thought, mid-breath, and there he would be again behind my eyes. After a warm shower, I dressed and headed downstairs, when I found Benjamin Sinclair in the entrance hall with a cluster of men, one look and you could tell they were important.

“Morning!” I greeted them politely only for Mr. Benjamin to call me back.

“Can I have a word with you,” he excused them and led me towards the fish pond.

"How are you settling in?" he asked, watching the water.

"Everything is fine, I guess," I said. He scoffed.

"You don't have to be polite with me." He dropped a pinch of bait into the water. "We probably look like a joke to you. Wedding over and already you find yourself alone — husband gone abroad with his mother chasing some deal you know nothing about."

I was quiet. He continued, his tone stripped of ceremony. "I have no excuse to offer. My only son despises me and is determined to take the chairman seat. So I depend on Andrew. But Andrew has only ten percent of Sinclair shares, and Victoria holds five. Even together they cannot rival Julian, who holds his mother's Sterling inheritance on top of his Sinclair shares — he is the second largest shareholder after me." He handed me the bait. "Before Julian's mother passed, she had me sign away my shares to Julian upon my retirement. I managed to scrape Andrew and Victoria something, but as it stands, if they want to hold any real seat on the board, my older brother is their only shot. He holds shares close to Julian's weight. Andrew is abroad right now trying to secure his backing."

"Can't you help them yourself?"

He smiled, sad and knowing. "My hands are already written out of it. This is the best I can do." He turned to face me directly. 

"Is there something I can help them with?" I asked.

He looked at me as though reassessing. "Are you sure you want to step into this family drama?"

"Yes," I said. “I made a vow at the altar,”

He pulled out a document, across the cover it was written: Project Aurum: Royal City Smart Infrastructure Overhaul

A billion-dollar urban development contract proposing the integration of AI-driven infrastructure across Royal City's transport, energy, and financial networks. Sinclair Conglomerate would serve as primary developer and operator, with Horizon Banking Group underwriting the capital investment across a fifteen-year public-private partnership — restructuring their current civic lending model into an equity-holding arrangement projected to yield compounding returns against city growth indices.

He handed me the document and stopped me before I could open it. "Careful, Adriana. Julian is after this project too. Once you move on this, you will be in his line of sight. Are you certain?"

I looked at the document, then back at him. "I will help Andrew."

✦ ✦ ✦

Horizon Banking Group was Sinclair's equal in scale and influence its branches ran from Royal City all the way to Blue City, threading through every financial district in between. Its current CEO was Mr. Martin Felipe. With the two secretaries Benjamin had assigned, I tracked him down efficiently, studied his negotiation history, and went in prepared.

The meeting was arranged for that afternoon. I had expected a boardroom somewhere on neutral ground. Instead, Mr. Felipe confirmed Kingsley Casino. Of course it had to be the enemies nest.

"Mrs. Sinclair. I appreciate the boldness of this proposal, but I'll be direct — Horizon does not typically enter public-private arrangements of this scale without a minimum fifteen-year anchor guarantee and lead-developer insurance. The Sinclair name carries weight, but names don't absorb capital risk."

"Which is exactly why we're not asking Horizon to absorb it. Project Aurum positions Horizon not as a lender but as an equity partner. The fifteen-year city-growth index we've benchmarked this against has a conservative floor of twelve percent annual return — and that's assuming Royal City's development stalls at current projections, which your own Q3 report suggests it won't. You wouldn't be financing infrastructure, Mr. Felipe. You'd be acquiring a stake in the city itself."

"The liability window between ground break and revenue generation is three years minimum. Horizon's board will want that gap covered."

"We've built a phased capital release structure into the agreement — staggered drawdowns tied to milestone completion, with a bridging guarantee from Sinclair Conglomerate covering the first eighteen months. The risk window is effectively halved before Horizon commits a single cent of primary capital."

A pause. Mr. Felipe studied the document. Set it down. Picked it up again. I kept my expression even, my hands still on the table.

"I want our legal team to review the phased drawdown clause. If it holds, Mrs. Sinclair, I think we have the foundation of an agreement." He extended his hand across the table.  Before I could shake it, the door was kicked open, Julian Sinclair walked in.

He was in a charcoal three-piece with no tie, jacket open, moving at the particular pace and his expression bordered anger. He didn't look at Mr. Felipe. He didn't greet anyone. His eyes found me across the room with an immediacy that felt less like recognition and more like retrieval.

"Mr. Sinclair, I was just—" Mr. Felipe began.

Julian walked past him like he hadn't spoken. Past the table. Straight to me. I didn't have time to stand, let alone object, before his hand closed around my wrist with an iron finality that left no room for argument and he pulled me out of the suite, through a side corridor, into a private room. The door clicked shut behind us. He released me and I stumbled backward, catching myself on the arm of a sofa before landing on it regardless.

He stood over me. The distance between us was barely two feet. His jaw was set, his eyes black with something that sat directly between fury and something far more complicated. Every rational thought in my body told me to get the hell out of here.

"You just had to come here, Sunshine. You just had to go and mind a business you were never supposed to touch." He growled angrily; his eyes didn't move from mine.

 "Blame yourself for whatever will happen next, sister-in-law."