Chapter Fifty-Four: Family Daggers

The boardroom looked like a temple built for money worship.

A massive marble table dominated the center, so polished I could see my reflection staring back up at me. Twelve leather chairs surrounded it, each one occupied by someone who probably owned more than small countries. The walls were lined with portraits of dead Van Alstons, all looking down with the kind of disapproval that came from having their bloodline questioned.

Floor-to-ceiling windows showed Manhattan spread out sixty floors below, making everyone else in the city look like ants. The message was clear—from up here, normal people didn't matter.

"Gentlemen. Ladies." The lady who introduced herself as Margaret Williams cleared her throat. "May I present Scarlett Blackwood, who claims to be the Van Alston heir."

Claims. Like I was some kind of con artist.

Twelve pairs of eyes turned to study me like I was a bug under a microscope. Most of them looked bored, like this was just another Tuesday morning inconvenience. A few seemed curious. One man with silver hair and cold eyes looked openly hostile.

But it was the woman at the head of the table who made my blood run cold.

She was maybe fifty, with Victoria's bone structure but none of her warmth. Her dark hair was pulled back so tight it stretched her face into a permanent expression of displeasure. She wore a black suit that probably cost more than most people's cars, and diamonds that caught the light like tiny weapons.

Everything about her screamed money and power and the absolute certainty that she was better than everyone else in the room.

"I'm Maeve Van Alston," she said, her voice carrying the kind of authority that came from never being told no. "Deputy CEO and Victoria's sister."

Sister. I had a great-aunt. Family I'd never known existed.

For a split second, my heart lifted. More family meant more people who might actually care about me, more connections to the grandmother I'd just found.

Then Maeve opened her mouth again.

"And I don't believe for one second that you're who you claim to be."

The words hit me like a slap. Around the table, several board members shifted uncomfortably. Others leaned forward, suddenly interested.

"Excuse me?" I managed.

"You heard me." Maeve's smile was sharp enough to cut glass. "This whole story is ridiculous. Some random girl shows up claiming to be the lost heir, right after Victoria gets shot? Convenient timing, don't you think?"

"Mother," a younger woman said quietly. She was probably my age, with softer features and kind eyes that reminded me of Victoria. "Perhaps we should—"

"Be quiet, Sana." Maeve didn't even look at her daughter. "The adults are talking."

Sana flinched like she'd been hit, but she didn't back down completely. "Victoria would know her own granddaughter. If she says Scarlett is family—"

"Victoria is in a hospital bed, pumped full of drugs and barely conscious," Maeve snapped. "She's an old woman who got shot. Who knows what kind of nonsense she's spouting?"

I felt my temper start to rise. "Victoria saved my life. She took a bullet meant for me."

"According to you." Maeve's eyes were like ice chips. "But where's your proof? Where are the DNA tests, the birth certificates, the family records?"

"I was told—"

"You were told by a woman who's been unconscious for days. Very convenient that she can't be questioned properly."

The room was dead silent. Everyone was watching this family drama play out like it was better than cable TV.

"And speaking of convenient," Maeve continued, "where exactly is Delilah Reynolds? The woman who's been living as the Van Alston heir for twenty-six years?"

My stomach dropped. "Delilah is in jail. For attempted murder, she pointed a gun at my unborn child."

"How perfectly timed. The competition disappears right before you show up." Maeve leaned back in her chair like she'd just won a chess match. "Tell me, Miss... what was your name before you married into money? Kane, wasn't it? Tell me how a nobody from nowhere suddenly discovered she was worth billions."

"I didn't know about any of this until—"

"Until Victoria got shot and couldn't contradict your story." Maeve's voice turned vicious. "Very neat. Very clean. Almost like someone planned the whole thing, I love my sister too much to let a stray try to steal everything she has worked so hard for, I also have too much loyalty to the family to allow this rubbish."

The accusation hung in the air like poison gas.

She was suggesting I'd orchestrated everything. The shooting, Delilah's arrest, all of it. Like I was some kind of criminal mastermind instead of a woman who'd been running for her life.

"That's enough," Dominic said, his voice low and dangerous.

"Is it?" Maeve turned her attention to him like a snake focusing on new prey. "The famous Dominic Blackwood. How convenient that you married this girl right before she discovered her supposed inheritance. Almost like you knew something the rest of us didn't."

I could feel Dominic's rage radiating off him like heat from a furnace. His hands were clenched into fists, and I was pretty sure he was calculating how many laws he'd break if he threw Maeve through the window.

But something in me snapped first.

I stood up slowly, feeling every eye in the room track my movement. The power suit Dominic had chosen felt like armor, and I needed every piece of protection I could get.

"If you love your sister so much," I said, my voice carrying clearly through the silent room, "how come you never once visited her in the hospital?"

Maeve's face went pale.

"I've been there for days," I continued. "Sleeping in a chair next to her bed, holding her hand while she fought for her life. Where were you, Aunt Maeve? Where was all this family loyalty when she was bleeding out on a hospital floor?"

"I've been... busy—"

"Busy planning how to steal her empire while she's unconscious?"

Several board members actually gasped. Sana's eyes went wide. Even the hostile silver-haired man looked impressed.

Maeve's mouth opened and closed like a fish drowning in air.

"You want proof I'm family?" I asked, stepping closer to the table. "Here's your proof. I'm the only person in this room who actually gives a damn about Victoria Van Alston. The only one who was willing to take a bullet for her. The only one who's been fighting to protect what she built instead of trying to steal it."

"That doesn't prove anything," Maeve said, but her voice was weaker now.

"It proves more than your empty accusations." I looked around the table, meeting each board member's eyes. "You want DNA tests? Fine. You want birth certificates? We'll get them. You want family records? I'm sure they exist somewhere."

"Until then," Maeve said, standing and smoothing down her skirt like she was dismissing a servant, "you have no business in this boardroom. Security will escort you out."

"Actually," the silver-haired man said, speaking for the first time, "I'd like to hear what she has to say."

"Richard—" Maeve started.

"She makes valid points," he continued. "About family loyalty. About being there when it mattered." His cold eyes fixed on Maeve. "Where were you when your sister was shot, Maeve?"

"I was handling business—"

"What business is more important than family?" Sana asked quietly.

Maeve whirled on her daughter. "Don't you dare—"

"She's right, though," Sana said, finding her courage. "Aunt Victoria always said family comes first. But you didn't even send flowers to the hospital, you even grounded me when I wanted to visit."

"Get out," Maeve said, her voice shaking with rage. "All of you. This meeting is over."

"No," I said firmly. "This meeting is just getting started."

"You have no proof you're the heir—"

"Then we'll get proof." I pulled out my phone. "DNA test. Today. Right now if you want."

Maeve's eyes narrowed. "Fine. But until those results come back, you're nobody. Security!"

Two guards appeared at the door like they'd been waiting for this moment.

"Ma'am," one of them said to me, "you'll need to come with us."

I felt Dominic move behind me, his entire body coiled for violence. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as everyone realized that throwing out his wife might not be the smartest move they'd ever made.

"It's okay," I said, putting my hand on his arm before he could tear the guards apart with his bare hands. "We're leaving."

"Scarlett—"

"It's fine." I smiled, and it felt like putting on a weapon. "This was always going to be easy."

Maeve frowned. "Easy?"

"Proving I'm Victoria's granddaughter." I looked directly at her, letting her see every ounce of steel in my spine. "Because unlike some people in this room, I actually know how to fight for family."

As the guards escorted us toward the door, I heard Sana's voice one more time.

"Mother, what if she really is our cousin? What if you just threw out our own family?"

The door closed before I could hear Maeve's answer.

But honestly, I didn't need to.

It was clear I wasn’t wanted here.