Chapter 46: The Inheritance

Mia’s Pov.

The mansion was too quiet without him.

I stood in the middle of Daniel’s study, my pulse still racing from the echo of the front door slamming behind him. He had left in such a fury, his car growling down the driveway like a beast unleashed. I should have been relieved, or even scared, but instead a thrill spread through me, sweet and dangerous.

Finally, I was alone.

The silence pressed in, heavy, intimate. The grandfather clock ticked in the hall, each second a reminder that time belonged to me now. I moved slowly, deliberately, to his desk. My hand hovered over the smooth surface of the mahogany, the scent of his cologne clinging faintly to the leather chair. This room was his kingdom, his throne. And tonight, it was mine to desecrate.

Daniel thought I didn’t know. He thought I was blind to his secrets, deaf to his whispers, too obedient to ever pry. He was wrong.

My fingers grazed over the top drawers first—contracts, merger papers, tax slips, the things he wanted peopl