Chapter One Hundred and Eleven:

Aurora’s POV“If you leave him here, he dies in an hour.”Lena says it before Sebastian can get the penthouse door open. All of us stop.Damien is still by the kitchen island, one hand on the laptop, the other at his throat, where Sebastian nearly crushed the air out of him ten minutes ago. He looks awful. Good. He deserves worse. “I’m not carrying him anywhere,” I say.Lena folds her arms. “Then Vincent carries him first. And whatever is left of your recording dies with him.” That lands, not because I care about Damien. Because she’s right. Of course she’s right.Sebastian glances at me. “He comes.”Damien says, “That sounded almost kind.” “It wasn’t,” I tell him. He almost smiles. I hate that he still tries. “Take the drive,” he says. “Not the laptop. Too obvious.”Lena is already moving. She ejects the drive, pockets it, then reaches into the cutlery drawer and pulls out a second one taped under the tray, a backup, of course. She tosses it to me. “Cloud copy too,” she says. “Timed

Chapter One Hundred and Twelve:

Sebastian's POV"From her." I don't move, but everything inside me does.Arthur holds my gaze across the table like a man delivering a lesson he believes is more important than being liked. He is wrong. "You think Aurora is dangerous to me," I say. "I think she is the most dangerous thing that has ever happened to this family." The room goes silent, but not uncomfortable silence. The kind that breaks bones.Aurora doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Doesn't breathe in a way I can hear. That scares me more than if she had lunged across the table. "Explain," I say. Don't ask. Say.Arthur taps his cane once. "You signed away the Reed estate. You activated founder emergency authority. You took control of a board room. You ran through a burning archive. You chased evidence through graveyards and vaults and bank basements." He pauses. "All of it in one night. And at no point did you stop to ask whether any of it was what you actually wanted."That land is not clean; it's ugly, because he is not en

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen:

Aurora's POV“They're here.”Mrs. Dorian says it softly, but the room hears it anyway. The first board screen lights up. Then the second, Then the whole wall fills with faces. More than before. Not just the legal committee from the emergency session. Full board this time. Senior counsel. Two external trustees. One compliance officer I don't recognize. Good. More witnesses. More people Vincent and Arthur can't quietly fold into their own version later.Arthur sits straighter; of course he does. He still thinks rooms can be managed if he sounds old enough and reasonable enough inside them.Sebastian doesn't look at him. Good. He looks at the center screen and says, “Call this session to order.” No hesitation, no drift, no sign of the boy Arthur thought he was shaping into something obedient. Good.The silver-haired woman from earlier is back in the center square. She nods once. “Emergency trust review and authority challenge. All parties present?”“Present,” Sebastian says. Arthur answe

Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen:

Aurora’s POV“Who took the photograph?”I say it before the room can settle around the board’s decision. Catherine does not pretend not to understand me. Good. I am tired of adults in expensive rooms acting like truth is a language they need translating into something kinder.“The one outside my building,” I say. “Three weeks before I died. Arthur, Victoria, Damien, and Lucas. I'm in the corner. Who took it?”The screens are still live. No one disconnects. Very good. Let them hear this too. Catherine looks at the photograph on the table, not shocked, not confused. Like she has been expecting this question since the second it appeared.“I arranged it,” she says.The room goes still.Sebastian turns sharply toward her. “You.” “Yes.”Vincent closes his eyes once. That tiny movement tells me more than if he had started shouting. He knew. Of course he knew. I step closer to the table. “Why?”Catherine’s face stays composed, but something old moves under it. Not guilt exactly. The shape of

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen:

Aurora’s POV“Trace that number.”Sebastian says it before anyone else can speak. Good, because if one more person in this room tries to talk around the truth instead of through it, I might start throwing things.Mrs. Dorian is already reaching for the bank phone on the side table. The board screens are still live. The silver-haired woman at the center doesn’t object. Also good.Vincent leans back in his chair like he hasn’t just had twenty-six years of his life cut open in front of witnesses. “Still chasing shadows,” he says. I turn toward him. “No. This time I think the shadow is finally stupid enough to step into the light.” His mouth moves, not a smile. Close enough to annoy me.Mrs. Dorian says, “Forward the last message to this address now.” I do. The room waits. No one likes waiting, not Vincent, not Arthur, not Catherine, and not me. Sebastian is the only one who knows how to stand still without making it look like surrender. I hate that I notice that at a time like this.Nadi

Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 115

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven:

Chapter One Hundred and Twelve:

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen:

Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen:

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: