All Chapters of The Rival I Let In: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

I woke up to a hand on my shoulder and my name said very quietly and softly."Sabine."The room was dark and for a moment I thought I had dreamed about it. Then the mattress dipped, and I saw Julianii crouched beside my bed, fully dressed, his face turned toward the door instead of toward me."What time is it?" My voice came out thick."It's late, I need you to get up and come downstairs with me.""Why?""I'll explain downstairs.""Julianii?" I pushed myself up on one elbow. "You're whispering."He turned his head then. His expression was too calm, I had sat across from men who had practiced that kind of calmness in mirrors, and I knew what it usually covered."Humor me," he said. "Please."Please? He didn't say that often.I reached for my robe while he stood and held out his hand, and I took it before I thought about whether I should. His fingers were cold. He didn't let go on the stairs, nor did he let go in the hall.He kept himself between me and every doorway we passed.In the s

I invited Vesper to dinner the way I would have scheduled a meeting with a hostile investor.Politely, In writing, with a time and a place, and no reason given.Family dinner. Thursday, eight o'clock. Castellane House. Julianii will be there.His reply came back within a minute.Of course, I wouldn't miss it.I read it three times and felt nothing. When I told Julianii that night, he hadn't argued. He had only asked what I needed him to do."Watch," I'd said."Watch what?""Everything."That was all we talkedabout it.Vesper arrived at exactly eight pm.He always had. He handed his coat to Marta with a warm word, kissed my cheek, and shook Julianii's hand with a firm, easy grip. He looked relaxed, he looked like a man with nothing in the world to hide."You've redone the hall flowers," he said, glancing past me. "White…… Grandmother would have approved.""I thought so too.""And Julianii." Vesper smiled. "You look tired, marriage doesn't suit you yet?""We're not married yet," Juliani

Mireille arrived at seven the next morning with a leather briefcase, a thermos of coffee, and the look of someone who hadn't slept.She spread the papers across the library table before I could offer her a chair. Julianii stood at the window with his arms folded. He had been there since I came down, watching the garden as if it might move."Tell me everything," I said."I will." Mireille pushed her hair back. "But you won't like the order.""Start with the trust.""Fine!" She tapped the top page. "It's registered through a holding company in a jurisdiction that doesn't require owners to be named. The holding company is owned by a second company, the second is owned by a third. I followed it six layers deep before I ran out of the pattern.""That's deliberate.""Completely!" She looked up. "Someone built a staircase to nowhere, Sabine. They didn't want it climbed.""And the challenge itself?""Filed two days ago. It argues your grandmother was not of sound mind when she made her final

We went back to my grandmother's secret room after midnight. Mireille had taken copies of the trust papers to her office and promised to call at dawn. The house was quiet and Marta had gone to bed hours ago. The specialist's new locks sat cold and solid on every door.Julianii carried a lamp and I carried a pot of tea neither of us would drink. The hidden room looked smaller in the dark and the monitors stared down at us like dead eyes. I set the tea on the desk and began pulling folders off the shelves, one by one, and laying them out in rows."What are you doing?" Julianii asked."Building a timeline.""From what?""From everything." I flattened a letter under my palm. "Dates, signatures, invoices. If our fathers worked together, there's a record of when it started and when it stopped.""And what will that tell us?""What they were doing." I looked up. "And why one of them is now in a photograph holding a boy in a navy coat."He didn't answer. He simply set the lamp down and pulled

I woke up on the sofa with a blanket over my shoulders and an empty space beside me. The lamp was off and gray light pushed at the edges of the curtains. For a moment I lay still, remembering the kitchen, the basil, his mouth on mine, and a small, helpless warmth moved through my chest.Then I heard a door close somewhere in the house, and the warmth went away.I found Julianii in the front hall.He was standing at the window beside the door, one hand braced on the frame, looking out at the drive. He was fully dressed. His jacket was on and he had the posture of a man who had been standing there a long time."You're up early," I said.He turned fast, too fast."Sabine." He smiled, and it didn't reach his eyes. "I didn't wake you, did I?""You left me on the sofa.""You were sleeping.""I know. I was there." I walked toward him. "How long have you been down here?""Not long.""Julianii….""An hour…..maybe two."I stopped a few feet away. In the pale light, his face looked drawn, a smal