Chapter 13 - Fourteen Million Dollars of Blood
Camille had not purchased the shares.
Evelyn had transferred them to her.
Years earlier.
The purpose was defensive.
If Sienna’s trust was compromised, Camille could block any hostile merger.
But now Price’s attorneys were exploiting the arrangement to claim Sienna lacked controlling authority.
Camille immediately offered to return the shares.
Sienna refused.
“No.”
Camille stared at her.
“You need them.”
“I need the company protected.”
“From me?”
“From everyone. Including me.”
That answer changed the room.
Sienna proposed something nobody expected.
Employee ownership.
A portion of Mercer voting rights would be transferred into a worker trust.
No single Mercer, Costa or outside investor could ever again gamble the company away.
Harrison supported it from federal custody.
Evelyn supported it.
Camille agreed.
Lorenzo called it unnecessarily democratic.
Sienna told him she would survive the insult.
Mateo laughed for nearly a minute.
Then the fourteen-million-dollar debt remained.
Lorenzo could legally collect.
Instead, Sienna offered repayment from Harrison’s personal assets over time.
“No marriage consideration. No Mercer collateral.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You won.”
“This wasn’t a game.”
“To men like my uncle, everything was.”
“And where is he now?”
Lorenzo accepted the restructuring.
Harrison lost his mansion.
His yacht.
Most of his investments.
Mercer Shipping survived.
Six hundred and twelve employees kept their jobs.
But one final piece remained.
Dominic’s death.
Price claimed Dominic had died naturally.
Lucia knew otherwise.
Vale had killed him after discovering Dominic planned to replace him.
Vale then allied with Price.
The conspiracy had eaten itself.
Federal prosecutors had enough.
The criminal network collapsed.
Judges resigned.
Port officials were arrested.
Accounts were frozen.
For the first time in decades, the harbor began separating legitimate business from Dominic’s hidden system.
Lorenzo faced his own reckoning.
Sienna confronted him privately.
“You knew more than you told us.”
“Yes.”
“You keep doing that.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Lorenzo looked toward the harbor.
“Because when our father died, I was nineteen. Mateo was twelve. Every mistake could get him killed. I learned control before I learned trust.”
“That explains it.”
“It doesn’t excuse it.”
Sienna was surprised.
Lorenzo continued.
“I ordered you to marry my brother because I thought I understood what was best for everyone.”
“And?”
“I was wrong.”
It might have been the most difficult sentence Lorenzo Costa had ever spoken.
Sienna accepted it without making it easy for him.
“Don’t do it again.”
A faint smile.
“I suspect you would make that difficult.”
“Correct.”
That evening, Mateo took Sienna to dinner.
No bodyguards at the table.
No contracts.
No debt discussions for the first hour.
They talked about ridiculous things.
Bad movies.
Childhood food.
The Ferrari crash.
“You actually drove through a florist?”
“The brakes failed.”
“You told the newspaper you sneezed.”
“I panicked.”
She laughed.
Mateo watched her.
“What?”
“I haven’t heard you laugh much.”
“I haven’t had much material.”
“I can crash another Ferrari.”
“Please don’t.”
Later they walked along the harbor.
Mateo stopped.
“I loved Camille.”
Sienna nodded.
“I know.”
“Part of me probably always will.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t want whatever this is between us to begin with a lie.”
Sienna stepped closer.
“It didn’t.”
“What did it begin with?”
“You calling my inheritance clause cold.”
“It was cold.”
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
She kissed him.
Briefly.
Gently.
Chosen.
When they separated, Mateo smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Lorenzo.
Mateo answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What happened?”
Sienna watched him.
Mateo lowered the phone.
“Price escaped federal transport.”
Her blood chilled.
“How?”
“They don’t know.”
Then a black SUV turned onto the empty harbor road.
It stopped fifty feet away.
The rear door opened.
Harrison Mercer stepped out.
May you like
He was supposed to be in federal custody.
And someone was holding a gun against his back.
