Chapter 7 - The Bride Who Saved the Empire
The police searched the estate for six hours.
They found exactly what Lucian wanted them to find.
Documents tying Damian to offshore transfers.
Weapons registered through companies he supposedly controlled.
Encrypted messages on a server inside one of the warehouses.
All fabricated.
All plausible.
By sunrise, every major news outlet in Bellamere carried Damian's photograph.
The respectable businessman.
The suspected criminal.
The unstable heir.
Lucian appeared on television at eight.
He looked devastated.
"My only concern is protecting the employees and families who depend on Marchetti Holdings."
Serena switched off the screen.
Damian stood behind her.
"He practiced that."
"Probably."
"I want him dead."
"I know."
"You always say that like it's inconvenient."
"It is."
Damian almost smiled.
Then Marco entered.
"We have a problem."
"Another?"
"The board called an emergency vote."
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"To remove me."
Marco nodded.
Damian looked at Serena.
"Can they?"
"Temporarily, if the allegations are considered a threat to company stability."
"And who takes over?"
"Lucian."
Of course.
Damian walked toward the window.
Thirty days.
That had been the visible clock.
The real clock had always been shorter.
"We need proof tonight."
Serena was already gathering files.
"We need the doctor."
"He's missing."
"People don't disappear."
Damian looked over his shoulder.
She had repeated his own words.
For some reason, it steadied him.
Marco traced the doctor's last known location to a private airfield outside Bellamere.
Security teams moved.
By afternoon they found his abandoned car.
Blood inside.
No body.
"No witness," Damian said.
"No proof," Serena replied.
They returned to the estate.
At six, Serena disappeared.
Damian discovered it twelve minutes later.
Marco came into his office pale.
"She's not in her room."
Damian stood.
"What?"
"Her phone is here."
Cold fury hit instantly.
"How?"
"We're checking."
Damian crossed the room.
Then he saw the envelope.
Placed on his desk.
Inside was Serena's wedding ring.
And a note.
Withdraw from the board vote.
Sign control to Lucian.
Serena comes home.
Damian read it twice.
Marco said nothing.
No one in the room breathed normally.
Damian picked up the ring.
Tiny.
Warm from whoever had recently handled it.
His wife had been taken from his house.
Under his protection.
Because of him.
"Find her."
Every security resource the Marchetti organization possessed moved at once.
Cameras.
Traffic systems.
Private contacts.
Old favors.
Nothing.
At eight thirty, Lucian called.
Damian answered.
"Cousin."
"Where is she?"
Lucian sighed.
"Straight to the point."
"If she's hurt—"
"Threats are why you're in this position."
"Where is Serena?"
"Safe."
Damian closed his eyes.
Lucian continued.
"Sign temporary control to me before ten tomorrow."
"And then?"
"She returns."
"Alive?"
"Of course."
Damian looked at Serena's ring.
"What stops me killing you afterward?"
Lucian laughed.
"Nothing."
"Then why do this?"
"Because once I control the company, you'll have bigger problems."
The call ended.
Marco waited.
"What do you want to do?"
Damian did not answer immediately.
Vittorio's letter returned to him.
When Damian chooses you over the chair.
The words suddenly made sense.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
This was the choice.
The empire.
Or Serena.
Damian sat down.
"Prepare the transfer."
Marco stared.
"Sir?"
"You heard me."
"If you sign control to Lucian—"
"I know."
"We may never get it back."
"I know."
"Serena would tell you not to."
Damian looked up.
"That's why she's not here."
Marco went silent.
At nine forty, Damian entered the board's digital authorization system.
He signed the documents transferring temporary executive control.
The confirmation arrived at nine fifty-one.
At nine fifty-three, Lucian sent an address.
An abandoned church outside the city.
Damian went alone as instructed.
Naturally, Marco followed at a distance.
Serena sat inside the church beneath the broken stained-glass window.
Her hands were bound.
Her glasses were missing.
One side of her face was bruised.
Damian saw red.
A masked man stepped away from her.
"Stop."
Damian stopped.
The man pointed a weapon.
"Keys."
Damian tossed over the car keys.
The man ran.
Damian did not chase him.
He went to Serena.
She looked up.
"What did you do?"
Her voice shook.
He cut the restraints.
"I signed."
Serena's expression crumpled.
"No."
"You're alive."
"You gave him the company?"
"Temporary control."
"Damian."
He held her shoulders.
"I don't care."
Her eyes filled.
"You should."
"I don't."
"You spent your entire life preparing for it."
"And I've known you for eleven days."
That sentence hurt both of them.
Damian continued.
"Eleven days, Serena."
His voice dropped.
"And somehow you became the one thing I couldn't put on the other side of a negotiation."
She stared at him.
"I told you this wasn't romantic."
"I was wrong."
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Damian gently wiped one away.
"Did they hurt you?"
"Not badly."
"Who took you?"
"I couldn't see."
"Lucian?"
"No."
"But he arranged it."
"Yes."
Damian removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
He helped her stand.
Then Serena stopped.
"My glasses."
Damian looked around.
They lay broken near the altar.
He picked them up.
One lens cracked.
Serena tried to put them on.
He almost laughed.
"What?"
"You were kidnapped and you're still trying to work."
"I need to see."
"You can see me."
"Unfortunately."
Damian stared.
Then laughed.
Serena laughed too.
The sound echoed strangely through the abandoned church.
For a moment, the empire disappeared.
Lucian disappeared.
The danger disappeared.
There was only them.
Then Serena froze.
"What?"
She grabbed Damian's arm.
"The ring."
"I have it."
"No. The ring."
He held it out.
She took it.
Turned it over.
Inside the band was a tiny engraving.
VM-1704.
Damian frowned.
"Was that there before?"
"I never noticed."
She thought rapidly.
"Seventeen zero four."
"A date?"
"No."
Her eyes widened.
"The notebook."
"What notebook?"
"Vittorio's black notebook. Entry 1704."
They returned to the estate.
Serena opened Vittorio's notebook.
Entry 1704 contained only four characters.
A9-41.
A storage code.
Marco traced it to a private archival warehouse Vittorio owned under another company.
Inside locker A9-41 was the final piece.
Security footage.
Recorded secretly inside Vittorio's private medical suite.
Lucian meeting the physician.
Lucian handing him medication.
Lucian saying clearly:
"By Friday, he must be too weak to sign anything."
Not murder.
But conspiracy.
Then a later recording showed something worse.
The doctor panicking.
"The dosage could kill him."
Lucian answered:
"Then pray he's stronger than he looks."
Serena stopped the video.
Damian sat in silence.
Proof.
Finally.
Then Marco entered.
"Board vote starts in three hours."
Damian looked at Serena.
"We send this to everyone."
She shook her head.
"Not yet."
He stared.
"What?"
"If we release it now, Lucian claims fabrication."
"What do you suggest?"
May you like
Serena looked down at the files.
"We let him believe he won."
