Chapter 11 - THE HEIR SHE TRIED TO STEAL
Sloane wanted me alive.
That made her more dangerous, not less.
“You’re Charles’s biological daughter,” she said.
“And?”
“And Julian’s child is premature.”
Julian’s face went cold.
“Careful.”
Sloane continued.
“Gabriel’s child may be challenged because of the surrogacy.”
“So?”
“You are clean.”
I almost laughed.
“Clean?”
“Adult. Biological Mercer line. No criminal record. No competing parentage.”
She had studied the trust.
If Julian became legally disqualified due to criminal activity, and the infants’ claims were contested, my bloodline could matter.
She wanted me to sign succession documents.
Then she would control me.
Or kill me after.
Brynn sobbed.
“Sloane, please.”
Sloane’s hand tightened.
Julian spoke.
“Let Brynn go.”
“She helped me.”
“Then punish me.”
Sloane laughed.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“The hero complex.”
She looked at me.
“He does this, you know.”
“Throws himself between danger and women.”
Julian didn’t react.
Sloane smiled cruelly.
“Elise.”
“Then me.”
“Now you.”
Something inside me shifted.
“Except I never asked him to.”
Sloane looked at me.
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You needed him grieving.”
Her smile faded.
“You needed him desperate enough for a baby that he wouldn’t question you.”
“Stop.”
“You needed a man who loved an idea more than the woman beside him.”
“Tess.”
I kept going.
“But he questioned you the second someone gave him facts.”
Sloane’s face twisted.
“Because of you.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Because your whole plan depended on everyone being weaker than you.”
Brynn suddenly bit Sloane’s hand.
The gun jerked.
Julian moved.
Security rushed.
A shot fired into the ceiling.
Sloane hit the floor.
Brynn crawled away.
I stood frozen.
Julian grabbed my shoulders.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
He looked furious.
“At me?”
“You walked toward a loaded gun.”
“You do that constantly.”
“I’m professionally trained.”
“You run shipping companies.”
“That is not all I do.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
He stared at me.
Then laughed too.
Sloane was arrested.
Charles remained in custody.
The conspiracy finally began collapsing.
Then Agent Rebecca Sloan from the FBI arrived.
No relation to Sloane.
She reviewed Henry’s succession amendment.
“This changes everything.”
Julian frowned.
“How?”
“Charles attempted to place Tess into your succession structure.”
“Yes.”
“Then under Henry’s amendment, Charles’s bloodline claims are void.”
I understood.
“That includes me.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
She looked toward the NICU records.
“It may also include any descendants Charles tried to claim.”
“Fine.”
Julian nodded.
“But Gabriel’s baby is unaffected.”
“Yes.”
“And mine?”
The agent hesitated.
“What?”
Julian stepped closer.
“What about my son?”
She looked at him.
“Your son is still legally tied to the trust.”
His face hardened.
“Can I remove him?”
Everyone stared.
The agent blinked.
“Remove him?”
“I don’t want a premature infant born into a legal war over control of a criminal fortune.”
Silence.
“I want both babies protected.”
I looked at him.
He continued.
“No inheritance that forces them into this.”
“No succession trap.”
“No blood obligation.”
Agent Sloan nodded slowly.
“It can be restructured.”
“Do it.”
I saw something change in him.
For years he had wanted a child.
Now he finally had one.
And his first instinct was not to make the child his heir.
It was to make him free.
Then Mateo entered.
“Boss.”
Julian looked up.
“Anna’s awake.”
“Good.”
“She wants to speak with you.”
We went to the hospital.
Anna looked exhausted.
She smiled faintly.
“Which one is yours?”
Julian pointed through the glass.
“The one on the left.”
She nodded.
“He kicked harder.”
Julian almost smiled.
Then Anna’s face became serious.
“There’s something I never told anyone.”
“What?”
“The contract.”
“What about it?”
“There was a third embryo.”
Julian stopped.
“What?”
Anna swallowed.
“They implanted three.”
My stomach dropped.
“But there are only two babies.”
“I miscarried one early.”
“Whose was it?”
Anna looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Then she whispered:
May you like
“But Sloane did.”
And according to her, Sloane cried when she learned that embryo was gone.
