The next day, Tedmond sat down in the fluffy, oversized chair, his posture relaxed despite the sharp intensity in his eyes. The morning sun streamed through the study windows, casting long, golden bars across the room and illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. The storm from the previous night had vanished, leaving behind a sky so clear it looked painted.He picked up his red wine glass, swirling the liquid absentmindedly. On the desk beside him, a second glass sat half-filled with water, sweating slightly onto the polished wood. Spread out between the two glasses were the files Nalla had sent earlier, the cold, hard evidence of Lisa’s brilliance.He leafed through the pages, his fingers tracing the logs of the bank transfers.Thirty million dollars.She had stripped her brothers and parents of their liquid assets in a single hour, then handed them over to the authorities before the ink on the digital transfers was even dry.“Clever girl,” Tedmond murmured.He turned to the s

Lisa stared at the thick file on the mahogany table, then flicked her gaze up at the lawyer.A flicker of suspicion crossed her mind. It had been less than ten minutes since she’d hit Submit on the real estate portal. How could a buyer move this fast?The thought was quickly drowned beneath a wave of cold indifference.Whether it was one of her father’s business rivals or an opportunistic shark didn’t matter. What mattered was the exit strategy.She hadn’t bought or built the house, so she felt no attachment to how it was sold.“You’re quite efficient, Mr. Jamy,” Lisa said smoothly.She pulled the document toward her and read. Her eyes skimmed the clauses: cash offer, twenty-percent premium, immediate transfer of title, total waiver of inspections.It was more than acceptable. It was a miracle.She picked up the pen and scrawled her signature across the final page.With that single stroke, the house, the site of her misery and her ultimate victory, no longer belonged to the Hargrove

The roar of the SUV’s engine was a deafening wall of sound, and the heat radiating from its grill bit at Lisa’s skin. She was mid-fall, her balance gone, the asphalt rushing to meet her as the horn blared a desperate, useless warning.Death was inches away.In that split second, Lisa didn’t think about the fifty-two million dollars, the mansion, or the jewels. Her hand instinctively flew to her stomach, fingers clawing at her own skin through her clothes.‘No! Not like this!’ her mind screamed in a shattered echo. ‘I finally have it. I finally have the money to protect you. I finally have the life we were supposed to live…’The thought of her unborn child crushed beneath cold steel sent a jolt of pure, maternal agony through her. She had endured the beatings, the insults, the betrayal of her entire family just to reach this point. She couldn’t let her baby die in the middle of the street because of a girl as pathetic as Chloe.“Please,” she begged a God she hadn’t spoken to in years

The sound of Amara’s frantic pounding against the reinforced glass was muffled, like a distant, dying heartbeat.Inside the coupe, the air conditioning hummed, cool and clean.Lisa looked at Amara, the girl who had once been the sun around which her family’s entire world revolved, and saw nothing but a maniac.Amara’s face was pressed against the driver’s side window, her breath fogging the glass."Give it back!" she wailed, her voice cracking into a pitiful whimper. "Lisa, please! I have nothing! I’m hungry! Just give me the pink diamond!"Lisa didn’t roll down the window. She didn’t offer a cent. She reached over to the passenger seat and picked up the small, framed photo of Nika she had rescued from the house. She held it up so Amara could see it."Nika had nothing, too," Lisa said, though Amara couldn’t hear her. "And you still took her life."Lisa shifted the car into reverse.As the vehicle began to move, Amara stumbled, losing her grip on the door handle and falling hard onto t

The car glided to a silent halt in front of the towering Washington building, its polished black surface gleaming under the amber glow of the porch lights.It was late.The city’s skyline formed a jagged crown of electric stars, and the air had turned sharp with the chill of deep night.Persis stood at the edge of the porch, her small frame silhouetted against the grand entrance.Her eyes were focused, scanning the driveway with restless intensity until they landed on the sedan.She didn’t move, her hands tucked into the thin sleeves of her light cardigan, her breath blooming in faint white plumes in the cold air.Tedmond stepped out of the back seat, his movements weary but fluid.He and Thomas had been forced to detour to one of the subsidiary headquarters to handle an emergency board meeting that had dragged on for hours, and the weight of the day was etched into the lines around his eyes.The moment he saw her, his pace quickened. He didn’t wait to reach the top of the stairs befo