Chapter 10 - The Wedding That Became a Trap
Lucia Costa descended the staircase.
Mateo did not speak.
Neither did Lorenzo.
Seventeen years of grief stood between them.
Lucia stopped several feet away.
“My boys.”
Mateo recoiled.
“No.”
The word broke something in her expression.
Lorenzo was colder.
“You have five minutes.”
Lucia explained that Dominic had threatened the boys after their father’s death.
She disappeared to draw the threat away.
Then Dominic manipulated records to make her legally dead.
Lucia spent years dismantling his network.
Evelyn helped.
When Evelyn died unexpectedly, Lucia suspected Vale.
“Did Vale kill my mother?” Sienna asked.
“I believe so.”
Sienna’s hands curled into fists.
“Evidence?”
“Not enough.”
“Then find enough.”
Lucia almost smiled.
“You are Evelyn’s daughter.”
“I am myself.”
Lucia nodded.
“Even better.”
They finally understood the marriage trap.
A merger clause hidden in old consortium agreements allowed combined controlling beneficiaries to approve restructuring with dual signatures.
Sienna and Mateo’s marriage certificate, combined with proxy documents Vale had forged, could be presented as authorization.
“So we cancel the wedding,” Mateo said.
Sienna shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“We give Vale what he thinks he wants.”
Lorenzo immediately objected.
Sienna continued.
“We change the underlying proxies first.”
A trap.
Adrian could feed Vale false confirmation that the original documents remained valid.
Lucia would emerge publicly.
Harrison would testify.
Camille would provide the original yacht footage.
And Sienna and Mateo would marry.
Not because Vale demanded it.
Because this time they chose the terms.
The wedding took place at a private Costa estate.
Sienna wore ivory.
Mateo waited beneath a stone archway.
Before the ceremony, he found her alone.
“You can walk away.”
“So can you.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to?”
Mateo considered it.
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“This doesn’t have to become a real marriage.”
“I know.”
“And if someday you want out—”
“I know, Mateo.”
He smiled.
She took his hand.
The ceremony began.
Lorenzo stood beside his brother.
Harrison sat in the front row under guard.
Camille watched from a secured room through cameras, not yet ready to appear publicly.
Sienna spoke her vows.
Not promises of eternal love.
Promises of honesty.
Choice.
Respect.
Mateo did the same.
Then the officiant pronounced them married.
Nothing happened.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Then Adrian received the alert.
Someone had submitted the forged restructuring documents.
Vale.
They traced the upload.
Mercer headquarters.
Sienna almost laughed.
“He went back to my office.”
They moved immediately.
When they arrived, Vale was inside the boardroom.
Police units loyal to an uncorrupted federal task force surrounded the building.
Vale stood at the head of the table.
“You should have accepted being collateral,” he told Sienna.
She placed her marriage certificate down.
“You should have read my amendments.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
The proxies were invalid.
The submission had exposed every shell account attached to them.
Vale reached for his phone.
Lorenzo stopped him.
Then Vale smiled again.
“You think this was about money?”
Sienna stared.
“What was it about?”
“Survival.”
“For whom?”
Vale looked at Mateo.
“The person Dominic actually chose.”
Suddenly the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Lorenzo drew his weapon.
Sienna grabbed Mateo’s hand.
Vale disappeared through the conference-room door.
They followed.
The stairwell was empty.
Then Sienna saw blood.
A trail leading toward the roof.
They reached the final door.
Mateo put his hand on the handle.
May you like
It moved before he touched it.
Someone was opening it from the other side.
