Chapter 14 - THE LAST NIGHT OF THE VALE EMPIRE
I volunteered before Adrian could forbid it.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“You’re wasting syllables.”
“Lila.”
“Damian took a bullet for me.”
“That doesn’t mean you owe him your life.”
“No. It means I choose to help.”
Adrian stared.
That word mattered.
Choose.
Finally, he nodded.
“We do it my way.”
“Fine.”
His way involved twelve armed men, two federal tactical teams, Roman in surveillance, and a tracking device hidden in my coat.
Apparently compromise meant allowing excessive firepower.
Keene chose an abandoned Vale casino outside the city.
Appropriate.
Everything rotten about the family had once passed through places like this.
I entered alone.
Keene waited near the roulette tables.
Damian sat tied to a chair.
Bleeding but conscious.
“Lila,” he said.
“Hi.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m getting that a lot lately.”
Keene smiled.
“You inherited Victor’s confidence.”
“Please don’t insult me.”
His expression hardened.
“Where is the drive?”
“In my bag.”
“Bring it.”
I walked closer.
Damian watched my hands.
He saw the tracking button.
Keene did not.
“Open it.”
I opened the bag.
A drive sat inside.
Fake.
Keene reached for it.
Then Damian kicked the table.
I dropped.
Adrian’s team entered.
Gunfire erupted.
Keene ran.
Damian knocked his chair sideways.
I crawled toward him.
“Are you hit?”
“Only my dignity.”
I cut his restraints with a hidden blade.
“You people carry too many knives.”
“Family tradition.”
Adrian chased Keene through the old casino.
I followed despite every instruction.
Keene reached the rooftop.
Snow whipped across the building.
Adrian stopped twenty feet away.
“It’s over.”
Keene laughed.
“You release that evidence, your family disappears.”
“Good.”
“You lose power.”
“Good.”
“Money.”
“Enough remains.”
“Fear.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“I don’t need it anymore.”
Keene looked at me.
“That’s because of her.”
Adrian didn’t deny it.
Keene raised his gun.
Roman fired first.
The weapon flew from Keene’s hand.
Federal agents surrounded him.
He was arrested.
No dramatic death.
No escape.
Just handcuffs.
For Adrian, that mattered.
He chose law over blood.
The next morning, the Vale evidence archive was released to federal prosecutors, investigative reporters, and multiple independent legal teams.
Judges resigned.
Police commanders were arrested.
Shipping executives disappeared into indictments.
The Vale criminal empire collapsed in seventy-two hours.
Adrian kept the legitimate businesses.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Real estate.
Security.
Shipping that could survive daylight.
Damian joined him.
Roman stayed.
Marcus recovered.
Evelyn testified.
And I returned to my apartment.
My eviction notice was gone.
So was Kenzie.
She had left another note.
This time:
I’m sorry. Really.
I believed her.
Not enough to live together again.
But enough to stop hating her.
I sat at my kitchen table.
Same table.
Same chair.
Then I opened my laptop.
My romance novel dashboard showed a strange number.
42,817 sales.
I stared.
Impossible.
Then my phone rang.
My editor.
Except I didn’t have an editor.
“Ms. Hart?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Susan Grant from Westbridge Publishing.”
I stopped breathing.
“We’d like to discuss acquiring your Nora Lane series.”
“How did you…”
She laughed.
“One of your books went viral.”
After the call, I looked at the screen.
My life had changed again.
Then someone knocked.
Adrian.
He stood outside holding a paper bag.
“What’s that?”
“Dinner.”
“From where?”
“Diner.”
“You own restaurants.”
“I was told you prefer this one.”
I smiled.
He came inside.
Then I noticed something strange.
No guards.
No Roman.
No driver waiting.
Just Adrian.
“Why are you here alone?”
“Because I need to ask you something.”
My heart jumped.
“What?”
He took a folded piece of paper from his coat.
Not a ring.
A contract.
I frowned.
“What is that?”
He handed it to me.
I read the first line.
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP - BLACK ORCHID NIGHTCLUB
I stared.
“Adrian.”
May you like
He smiled.
“It’s yours.”
