Chapter 3

His tone softened considerably, offering a few words of genuine concern.

"Let me know as soon as it's finished. I'll come pick you up tonight."

Though my heart was still aching over my father's destroyed legacy, I managed a quiet reply into the receiver.

He then added, "Scarlett is coming over tonight. She wants to apologize to you."

I squeezed my phone. "Do not let her show her face anywhere near me today."

A brief silence hung on the other end of the line.

"Fine."

At twelve-forty in the afternoon, as our car glided down the winding coastal highway, the driver suddenly glanced into the rearview mirror.

"The car behind us has been tailing us for a while."

I turned around to look through the rear window and spotted a sleek silver-gray sports car glued to our back bumper.

It was Scarlett.

She began aggressively flashing her high beams, signaling for us to pull over.

I motioned for the driver to ignore her, but in the next second, she swerved directly into our rear end. The heavy collision jolted the entire vehicle violently, and I spun around in sheer shock and fury.

"Has she completely lost her mind?!"

The driver slammed the gas to pull away, but Scarlett accelerated and rammed into us a second time. The force was even harder, and it nearly sent our car scraping directly against the steel guardrails.

Inside the trunk, the specialized security briefcase snapped off its mounting rack and crashed brutally against the interior wall. Forced to a halt on the shoulder, the driver hit the brakes, and I immediately threw my door open and sprinted to the back.

My heart sank as I popped the trunk and opened the case. The hardware authenticator inside was cracked straight through, its power display light completely dead.

The driver hastily reconnected the wiring and tried several times to restart it, but there was no response.

I was left utterly speechless. The final deadline for the signing was less than an hour away.

Scarlett stepped out of her car behind us.

"Eliana!" she called out, rushing over with frantic steps.

My voice trembled with a rage so deep it barely sounded like my own. "What on earth do you want?!"

Scarlett squeezed out a few tears, her voice breathy and frantic. "You refused to forgive me and wouldn't even see me! I didn't know what else to do!"

Then, switching into a clumsy, theatrical routine of repentance, she sobbed, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gone into your father's archive room that night."

I had no patience for her pathetic performance. Turning straight to the head bodyguard, I commanded, "Report this incident to the High Council immediately. Have the family elders handle it."

Her fake weeping instantly cut off. "Report it to the High Council? You can't report this to the elders!"

Scarlett's face went ghastly white.

"The five families' joint summit starts tomorrow. If the elders find out I attacked the donna's vehicle over a personal grievance, they'll strip me of my representative seat!"

Rage burned through my veins. "That's your problem!"

In a panic, she reached over to grab the damaged security case. "I'll pay for it! I'll get someone to fix it right now!"

"Don't touch it!"

She ignored me and reached in anyway, snagging her wrist against a jagged edge of the broken metal casing. Blood welled up instantly, spilling over her arm.

When Dario pulled up to the scene moments later, his eyes landed on me first.

"Did you hit your head? Are you feeling nauseous?"

A lump formed in my throat, and tears threatened to spill. But before I could speak, Scarlett whimpered from behind him.

"Dario..."

He turned around. The moment he saw the blood staining her wrist, he instantly pulled off his suit jacket and pressed it firmly against her wound.

The family security detail gathered around, asking if they should submit the dashcam footage to the Council.

"Submit it," I ordered immediately, only for Dario to stop me.

I stared at him in utter disbelief. "She rammed my car twice on purpose."

"If that footage gets sent out, the Council will find out everything."

Scarlett looked terrified.

"I just wanted her to pull over. I didn't mean to destroy her project!"

Dario turned to me. "Can the authentication still make the deadline?"

With tears brimming in my eyes, I shook my head in utter defeat.

"I'll secure you a new shipping route," he promised softly.

A bitter, humorless laugh burst from me. "I've spent two full years negotiating the San Luca Port. You think you can just hand me a replacement?"

"I'll hand over the next legal route at the South Port to you directly."

"I want San Luca!"

"It's gone, Eliana!"

His words ignited the last spark of fury in me. "You know it's gone, yet you're still standing here protecting the perpetrator who ruined it?"

Before Dario could reply, Scarlett suddenly doubled over, dry-heaving by the side of the road.

The private physician rushed over and quickly examined her, suspecting a mild concussion and urging that she be transported to the clinic immediately.

Dario stood silent for a long moment. "We'll discuss this later. I need to get her checked out first."

My eyes burned with anger, and tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. "What about my project?"

"I will handle it."

"The Port Commission only waits until two o'clock."

"The hardware is broken, Eliana. Standing here isn't going to fix it."

I stared at him, unwilling to yield. "I'm still going to the commission. It's my responsibility."

Dario didn't stop me. Reaching out, he gently wiped away my last tear with his thumb, then turned and walked away. Once again, I was left standing alone.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, I arrived at the Port Commission offices. The authentication window had already been closed, and the lucrative San Luca seat was officially awarded to a rival family that very afternoon.

Two years of relentless hard work, gone in an instant.

That evening, my phone chimed with a text from Dario.

[Come home. The lawyers are already here.]