All Chapters of WICKED INHERITANCE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

 Rain struck the glass walls of the tower like impatient fingers. London stretched below them—grey water, grey sky, grey buildings stacked like secrets—but inside the twenty-first-floor hallway, the air had turned heavy. Marcus Halberg didn’t look like a man cornered. That bothered Ivy more than anything. Sebastian stood between Marcus and the elevator, tall enough to block the entire hallway if he chose. His shoulders were loose, but Ivy knew that posture. It meant he was seconds away from violence. Marcus noticed it too. 

For a long moment, Ivy couldn’t breathe.The photograph trembled slightly in Sebastian’s hand.Rain slid down the tall glass windows behind Marcus, streaking the grey skyline of London, but Ivy barely noticed it.Her eyes stayed locked on the face in the photo.A woman standing between the dark vineyard rows.Watching.Waiting.Elena Blackwood.Julian’s younger sister.Sebastian’s sister.The quiet one.The grieving one.The one who cried the loudest at the funeral.Ivy looked up slowly.“This… has to be fake.”Marcus didn’t respond immediately.Instead, he leaned against the wall again, studying them.“You recognize her,” he said calmly.Sebastian’s jaw tightened.“That proves nothing.”Marcus nodded.“You’re right.”Then he added softly—“But it proves she was there.”The words hung in the air like smoke.Ivy turned toward Sebastian.“You didn’t know she was at the vineyard?”Sebastian’s voice was controlled, but the tension in it was obvious.“No.”Marcus tilted his head.“That’s i

The silence in the office felt suffocating.Rain hammered against the tall windows of the London tower, but inside the room no one moved.Sebastian still stared at the black screen where the footage had just played.His reflection stared back at him.Cold. Unbelieving.Ivy’s heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.She replayed the image in her mind again and again.The shadow stepped forward.The gun lifting.The face turned toward the camera.Clear.Unmistakable.Victor Blackwood.Sebastian’s father.The founder of the empire.The man everyone believed was too powerful to fall.Marcus broke the silence first.“I see you both recognized him.”Sebastian didn’t respond.His jaw had gone rigid.Ivy forced herself to speak.“That… that has to be manipulated.”Marcus shrugged lightly.“I thought you might say that.”“You’re telling us,” Ivy continued, her voice tightening, “that a seventy-year-old man walked into a vineyard and murdered his own son?”Marcus tilted his h

The moment Daniel hesitated— Sebastian knew.Not everything. But enough.Enough to understand that the game had layers they hadn’t even begun to uncover.Daniel walked ahead of them into the executive office like nothing had changed. Like he hadn’t just admitted to luring a man to his death. Like he hadn’t almost flinched at the mention of Victor Blackwood.Ivy watched him carefully. Every step.Every breath. Every flicker of expression.But Daniel was composed. Too composed.“Sit,” he said, gesturing toward the chairs.Sebastian didn’t move. “I don’t take orders from employees.”Daniel gave a small nod. “Of course.”But he sat anyway. Calm. Measured.Like a man who believed he still had control.That was the mistake.“You said Julian needed to be stopped,” Ivy began.“Yes.”“Explain.”Daniel folded his hands. “Julian was preparing to sign a deal that would have transferred partial ownership of Blackwood Global to foreign interests.”“We know,” Sebastian said.Daniel’s eyes flickered

Sebastian didn’t speak. Not when they left Adrian’s office. Not in the elevator. Not even when the doors opened to the ground floor and the noise of the city rushed in around them.He just walked. Fast. Focused. Like a man chasing a thought that refused to let him breathe.Ivy followed closely behind, her heels clicking against the polished floor, trying to match his pace.“Sebastian.”No response.“Sebastian, slow down.”Nothing.By the time they reached the glass doors leading outside, frustration had started to rise in her chest.She stepped forward and grabbed his arm. “Stop.”He froze. Just for a second. Then slowly turned to face her. And that’s when she saw it.Not anger. Not control. Not even the usual cold confidence he wore like armor. This was different. This was uncertainty.“I know that walk,” he said. His voice was low. Tight. Controlled—but barely.Ivy’s stomach dropped.“Whose?”He didn’t answer immediately.And that hesitation—That tiny delay— Was enough to make ever