The Land Demand

Kael

I didn't sleep a single second after hearing those voices. Every word Jarrah had ever spoken to me, every cup of warm tea, every gentle wipe of a damp cloth, every fatherly piece of advice was a lie. A sick, masterfully played game. I had thought he was my only ally in this city. In reality, he was the spider sitting in the center of the web, waiting for me to lower my guard so he could steal my father’s legacy right out from under me.

By eight o'clock the next morning, a black corporate car was waiting at the front gates of the estate.

Banjo’s head of security didn't even speak to me as he opened the rear door. He simply drove me into the bustling heart of Zurich, through the steel and glass financial district, and directly to the sixty story tower of Vance Enterprises.

The elevators were private, rising silently to the top floor penthouse suite.

When the doors slid open, I walked down the long corridor toward the double doors of Banjo’s executive suite. My skin was still slightly pink from Tahlia’s cream, but the burning was gone, replaced by a deep, dead quiet revenge inside my chest. I pushed the heavy doors open. The penthouse office was massive. Rain washed down the outer windows in long, grey streaks.

Banjo sat behind his massive desk. He looked exhausted. Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, and his hair was slightly messy, but his jaw remained locked in that familiar, unyielding line.

He didn't look up when I walked in. His eyes remained fixed on the glowing blue screen of the tablet in his hands, his thumbs scrolling rapidly through pages of financial data.

"Sit down, Merinda," he said, his voice came out flat and raspy.

I didn't sit. I remained standing in the middle of the room, my hands tucked into the pockets of my plain coat, my eyes locking onto him with a coldness that mirrored the rain outside.

"Say what you brought me here to say, Banjo," I said softly.

Banjo paused. His thumb hovered over the glass screen for a fraction of a second before he tapped a final button. Slowly, deliberately, he set the tablet face down on the polished wood.

He didn't look into my eyes. He reached into his folder, pulled out a heavy paper document bound in red ribbon, and slid it across the desk toward me.

"Sign it," he said.

DEED OF ABSOLUTE TRANSFER & LAND REASSESSMENT

PROPERTY: ST. JUDES COASTAL ESTATE & DEEPWATER HARBOR

St. Judes was not just a piece of land. It was a vast, private coastal territory that had belonged to my family for four generations. It was the physical anchor of the Kael Syndicate the hidden location of our offshore data vaults and the only place where my late father’s private records were kept safe from international seizure.

It was the last piece of home I had left in this world.

"St. Judes?" my voice cracked, though I fought with everything in me to keep it steady. "This is my family's ancestral land, Banjo. It's not part of our marriage agreement."

"It is now," Banjo replied, his tone chillingly casual as he picked up a pen and set it beside the document. "Vance Enterprises is facing a hostile liquidity freeze. Our primary European clearing accounts were blocked two nights ago by a rogue financial mandate. I need tangible, high value physical assets to pledge as collateral to the Central Reserve to keep our trading license active."

"No," I whispered, stepping closer to the desk, my hands clenching into fists inside my coat pockets. "No, Banjo. You took my freedom. You took my reputation. You let Tahlia humiliate me in front of your peers, and you threw me into the servant quarters like garbage. But you will not take St. Judes."

For the first time since I entered the room, Banjo lifted his head and looked at me.

His dark eyes were red rimmed, cold, and burning with a terrifying, unyielding annoyance.

"You don't have a choice, Merinda," he said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, low tone. "Your father owed my family millions before he died. The cover I gave you for three years wasn't free. You live under my roof, you carry my name, and your assets belong to the debt your family left behind."

"My father paid his debt to your family before his heart even stopped!" I snapped, my calm finally cracking as three years of built up range surfaced. "Your father knew it, and you know it! This isn't about debt, Banjo. This is about you trying to strip me of everything so I have nowhere to go when our contract ends in two days!"

Banjo stood up slowly.

"If you don't sign that transfer right now," Banjo growled, leaning forward, his hands resting on the table, "I will trigger the default clause in Section 8 of our contract. I will publicly release your family's unverified financial records to the European press. I will turn your family name into a global joke before the sun sets today."

I felt every part of my body collapse.

I looked at the pen lying on the desk. I looked at his cold, ruthless face. He thought he had me trapped. He thought I was still the helpless, terrified girl who had signed his cage three years ago.

Slowly, I reached out my hand.

I didn't grab the pen.

Instead, I picked up the land transfer document, held it in both hands right in front of his face, I tore it in half.

Banjo’s eyes widened in absolute shock, his jaw tightening so hard his muscle twitched. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm not signing," I said, dropping the shredded paper onto his desk. "And you aren't releasing anything, Banjo."

I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out my private black terminal, and placed it directly over the torn document. The glass screen bloomed to life, projecting a glowing, holographic seal of the Kael Banking Syndicate.

Banjo froze, his eyes locking onto the projector as every drop of color drained entirely from his face.

"You wanted to know who froze your accounts two nights ago?" I whispered, leaning closer until I was inches from his pale face. "Look closely, Banjo. That freeze wasn't a corporate attack from an enemy. It was authorized by me.”