Chapter 9 - The Night Dorian Lost Everything
Marcus Vale had always been the easier brother.
Charming.
Funny.
Apparently harmless.
Now he stood beside Julian holding a gun.
Dorian stepped forward.
“What are you doing?”
Marcus smiled.
“Finally asking the right question.”
Serafina looked at Rosa.
“Marcus is my father's son?”
Rosa nodded.
“His mother changed his records.”
Dorian looked sick.
“My brother is her brother?”
“Half brother,” Rosa said.
Marcus laughed.
“Family reunions are exhausting.”
He wanted the trust.
Not simply for money.
For recognition.
Salvatore had hidden him.
Marcus had spent his life watching Serafina inherit a name he believed should have been his.
“You tried to kill her?” Dorian asked.
“I tried to correct an inheritance.”
Dorian moved toward him.
Marcus raised the gun.
“You always did choose her.”
“You're my brother.”
“And she was your wife.”
The words landed.
Marcus smiled.
“Yet somehow you betrayed her before I ever had to.”
Dorian stopped.
Serafina saw the shame in his face.
Marcus had found the wound and pressed it.
Serafina stepped forward.
“This ends tonight.”
“No,” Marcus said. “At midnight.”
He checked his watch.
Eleven fifty-eight.
“If you don't formally accept the trust, succession triggers.”
Elena shook her head.
“To me.”
Marcus smiled.
“No.”
He held up a document.
Elena's renunciation.
Forged.
With Elena removed, Marcus became next in line.
Julian had engineered everything.
The divorce.
The gala.
Voss.
Vivian.
All to isolate Serafina and force the succession crisis.
Serafina checked the time.
One minute.
Nikolai handed her his phone.
“Accept it.”
She opened the trust portal.
Biometric confirmation.
Identity verified.
ACCEPT BENEFICIAL CONTROL?
Marcus fired.
Dorian shoved Serafina aside.
The bullet struck him.
“Dorian!”
He fell.
Serafina caught him.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Marcus stared at his brother.
For the first time, his confidence cracked.
Dorian gasped.
“Do it.”
Serafina looked at the screen.
Ten seconds.
She pressed ACCEPT.
The screen changed.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Marcus screamed.
Nikolai's men surged forward.
Julian ran.
Marcus fired wildly and escaped through a side door.
Serafina stayed beside Dorian.
“Look at me.”
He tried to smile.
“You always hated when I ruined shirts.”
“Don't.”
“I was an idiot.”
“Dorian.”
“I am sorry.”
His eyes closed.
The ambulance arrived.
Hours later, Serafina sat outside surgery.
Vivian, bandaged, sat opposite her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Vivian said, “He loves you.”
Serafina looked at her.
“That didn't stop him hurting me.”
“No.”
Vivian lowered her eyes.
“And loving him didn't stop me helping destroy your marriage.”
Serafina studied her.
“At least we agree on something.”
At dawn, the surgeon emerged.
Dorian would live.
Serafina closed her eyes.
Relief came before she could stop it.
Then Nikolai's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
Serafina stood.
Nikolai lowered the phone.
“Marcus took Rosa.”
A message arrived.
One address.
And a photograph of Rosa tied to a chair.
May you like
Behind her was the Moretti crest.
Burning.
