The Last Gift.

(Patricia's POV)

The car stopped in front of a huge and luxurious mansion. It was three times bigger than the house I once shared with Mason. Everything shouted old money and prestige.

“Are you ready, ma’am?” James asked from the passenger seat, his voice warm and soft.

Ready? I was nowhere near ready. My life had changed in a few hours. We’d driven straight from the hospital to the late Mr. Smith’s house... the house I apparently owned now. Mr. Smith had left everything to me. Everything. How could I ever be ready?

I didn’t tell James that. I simply nodded. He climbed out and hurried to open the back door for me.

As soon as I stepped down, heads bowed. People in different uniforms stood in line before the mansion, and a red carpet ran from where I stood to the front door. The whole place was decorated with flowers, as if a lost princess had returned.

My heart melted. I never thought I’d have a place like this. Not in this life. I never guessed fate had such plans for me. This was more than I’d ever asked for.

“Welcome home, ma’am,” James said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“This is Margaret, the chief maid,” he added, pointing to a woman in her late fifties who stood first in the line. “She supervises the workers here and makes sure things are done properly.”

Margaret stepped forward, head bowed. “Welcome, Madam. We are very happy to have you. We promise to serve you faithfully.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of everything. James guided me inside. The furniture and decorations were stunning and clearly expensive.

“I’ll show you to your room, ma’am,” he said.

I followed him up to a room in the left wing. He opened the door slowly and I walked in. My jaw dropped — it was spacious and beautifully decorated.

“This was the boss’s bedroom. It’s the biggest room. But if you don’t want this one, we can get another ready...”

“I like it,” I cut in, walking around the room.

“We’ve already changed most of the furniture, the mattress, and the sheets. If there’s anything you want changed, we’ll do it right away, ma’am.”

James spoke, but my eyes fell on a small picture frame on the nightstand. My heart pounded as I picked it up and brushed the picture with my fingers. It was Mr. Smith. The man who had given me everything.

“Oh! We’re so sorry, ma’am. The cleaners must have missed that.” James apologized fast. “I’ll ask them to move it with the others...”

“It’s okay, James. I want to keep it here,” I said without taking my eyes off the photo.

He had helped me become who I was. I would always be grateful. Having his picture in this room felt right. It was once his room, after all.

Just as I was about to set the picture down, something on the back caught my eye. A name.

“Alonso?” I muttered.

Was the frame a gift from this Alonso? It must have been special to Mr. Smith. He had kept it carefully.

“Alonso is Mr. Smith’s nephew,” James said, as if reading my thoughts.

My eyes widened. Mr. Smith had family? I had thought he was a lonely old man with no one to inherit his things. He’d even been alone in the hospital.

“He had a nephew?” I asked, surprised.

If he did, why then did he leave everything to me, a stranger, and not to his nephew?

“Yes, but they didn’t get along,” James answered calmly.

They didn’t get along well? The words echoed in my mind. I didn’t understand, but I didn’t press further. In time, I knew I would learn everything... about the man, his family, and the empire he had placed in my hands.

“Mr. Smith wanted someone reliable to run his properties,” James continued. “To him, Alonso wasn’t close.”

"What about me" I swallowed hard. “Do you think I can do this?”

“He chose you as his successor,” James said warmly. “That means he trusted you. I will serve you faithfully, just as I served him.”

I stared at the picture for a long time, as if it held the answers I needed. Then with a quiet sigh, I set it down and turned to James. “I want to start at the office as soon as possible.”

He blinked, then smiled like he had been waiting to hear that. “Then I’ll get everything ready. Training, a full transformation. I’ll prepare you to be the president of Smithfield Global Group.”

The words landed like a promise. Transformation. That was the word I needed.

I would take off this old shell... the broken woman the Bedfords had betrayed and humiliated, the woman who let herself be stepped on, the woman who had never loved herself enough.

That woman was gone. I was about to put on a new shell... the shell of a powerful woman. A woman the world could not ignore. A woman who made enemies tremble. A woman who bites back.

I would never let the Bedfords walk free after what they did. No. Little by little, I would strip them of everything... their pride, their money, their legacy... the same way they stripped me. And when the day comes, they would remember the woman they threw away.