Chapter 17
"You sent me that encrypted file, didn't you?" I asked, pulling up the document on my phone.
Madison nodded, setting her briefcase on the dining table and clicking the brass locks open. "I've been monitoring Julian Rossi's corporate movements for six months on behalf of an anonymous group of board investors trying to clean up the foundation's assets. When I saw Emily win that award today, I knew the timer had run out."
She pulled out a thick stack of bank ledgers and wire transfer logs, spreading them under the lamp light.
"Julian didn't just sleep with Sophia seven years ago, Claire," Madison said, her voice dropping to an intense, deadly whisper. **“Your parents were in on it from the very beginning.”**
I froze, the air leaving my lungs in a cold gasp. "What... what did you say?"
"Your father, Arthur Bennett, was facing complete bankruptcy seven years ago," Madison explained, pointing her manicured finger at a series of offshore bank accounts dated a month before I gave birth. **“Julian Rossi bailed out your father’s shipping company.** In exchange, your parents helped Sophia frame you, pushed Vincent away from your delivery room, and ensured that Lucas was presented as the sole male heir to merge the Bennett and Moretti empires under Julian's secret control.”
The room seemed to spin violently. My own mother. My own father.
They hadn't just stood by passively while my heart was broken behind that hospital curtain—**they had sold me out.** They had traded their eldest daughter's life and her newborn child's future to clear their corporate debts with a mob lieutenant.
A fierce, burning tear slipped down my cheek, hot and agonizing, before I wiped it away with the back of my hand. The last lingering warmth I possessed for my family turned to ash.
"Where is Vincent now?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm.
"He's at his private estate in Lake Forest," Madison said. "He completely purged his upper executive floor tonight right after you left. He had Sophia locked in her quarters under armed guard, and he's been trying to trace your location through every cell tower in the tri-state area. He's spiraling, Claire. He knows he ruined his life seven years ago, and he's looking for blood."
"He doesn't know about Julian," I said, realizing the danger. "He thinks Sophia just lied to keep the money. If he goes into the Leadership Summit blindly this Friday believing Lucas is his son, Julian will slaughter him."