All Chapters of WICKED INHERITANCE: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The silence after the message didn’t break. It stretched. Thick. Suffocating. Ivy stood by the window, arms crossed, staring out at the city lights below Sebastian’s penthouse. Los Angeles glittered like nothing had changed. Like people weren’t being tracked. Controlled. Owned. Behind her, Sebastian hadn’t moved. She could feel it. That stillness of his—the kind that meant he was thinking too fast, too deeply, already ten steps ahead.

No one moved. Not immediately.Victor stood in front of them, close enough that Ivy could see the fine lines at the edges of his eyes—proof of age. But nothing else about him felt old.Not his posture.Not his presence.Not the way he looked at them like he already knew how this would end.“You’re being dramatic,” Ivy said coolly.Victor’s gaze flicked to her. Amusement. Brief.“You think so?”“Yes.”She stepped forward slightly, refusing to give him space. “You shot your own son,” she said. “Let’s not pretend this is about anything other than control.”Sebastian didn’t interrupt. Didn’t defend. Didn’t soften it.Victor studied her for a long moment. Then—He laughed. Quiet. Low. Dangerous.“Control?” he repeated.His eyes shifted to Sebastian. “Is that what she thinks this is?”Sebastian’s voice was flat. “Answer the question.”Victor’s smile faded. Not completely. Just enough.“You’re both asking the wrong ones,” he said.Ivy’s patience snapped slightly.“Then give us the right ones.

Detective Elena Cruz didn’t check her phone immediately. That was what made her dangerous. She let it sit on the table beside her untouched, screen lighting up once before dimming again, as if whatever waited there could afford to wait. Cruz had learned a long time ago that urgency was often a performance. Real threats didn’t beg for attention. They arrived quietly and stayed. She finished her coffee first. Black. No sugar. Then she reached for the phone. The message wasn’t long. It didn’t need to be.

The door hadn’t fully settled before the tension shifted.  Not disappeared. Not eased. Shifted. Ivy stood exactly where she was, eyes still on the space Cruz had occupied seconds ago, her mind already working through everything that had just happened. Every word. Every pause. Every look. Sebastian moved first. He walked toward the door, not opening it, just stopping in front of it like he could still feel Cruz’s presence lingering in the air. “She knew,” he said. Ivy didn’t respond immediately. “Yes,” she said finally. “She did.” Sebastian

The silence after didn’t feel the same. It lingered too long. Too heavy. Like something had shifted between them and neither of them knew how to put it back. Ivy was the first to move. Not away. Not immediately. But enough. Just enough to break the contact. Her hand slipped from Sebastian’s chest, slow, controlled, but her fingers lingered for a second longer than they should have. That was the problem. It always was. She stepped back. Finally. The space between them felt wrong now. Not safer. Not clearer. Just… exposed. Sebastian didn’t follow. He stayed where he was, watching her with that same look—sharp, unreadable, but different now. Less guarded. More dangerous.&nb