Chapter 6
When I exited the room ten minutes later, Saraphina immediately rushed forward.
“What did he say? Is he okay?”
“He’s resting. I suggest you focus on him and less on your social life.”
I buttoned my coat and walked toward the elevators.
“Alex,” Saraphina called, her voice cracking slightly.
For three years, I had always been the one looking back.
I had been the one waiting.
This time, the elevator doors closed, severing my ties to the Dubois family for good.
Six months later, the neon lights of the city reflected off the floor-to-ceiling windows of my penthouse office.
Those six months had passed in a blur of aggressive, calculated moves.
Using my omniscient knowledge of the book’s timeline, I had taken the three-million-dollar divorce settlement and turned it into a weapon.
I knew exactly which tech startups were about to secure government backing, which plots of seemingly barren land in the eastern suburbs were secretly slated to become a massive transit hub, and which crypto-adjacent stocks were about to explode.
I didn’t do it alone.
Isabella Montes had been the catalyst.
What had started as a petty alliance to annoy Saraphina had evolved into a deadly corporate partnership.
Isabella had the connections and old-money pedigree.
I had the foresight.
Together, we founded Aegis Capital.
In half a year, my three million had snowballed into a portfolio worth over one hundred fifty million dollars, much of it built in the shadows.
“You’re zoning out again, Thorne.”
I turned to see Isabella striding into my office with two glasses of scotch.
She handed me one and dropped onto the leather sofa with a sigh of exhaustion that couldn’t hide her radiant smirk.
She looked stunning in a tailored emerald pantsuit, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders.
“Just taking inventory,” I said, sitting across from her.
“Well, take inventory of this,” Isabella said, sliding a tablet across the coffee table. “Vance Logistics—Julian’s family company—just filed for a massive line of credit through the Dubois family’s holding bank. Saraphina co-signed it.”
I looked at the numbers.
It was worse than I had expected.
Julian was bleeding the Dubois family dry. He had convinced Saraphina to fund a massive overseas shipping venture—a venture I knew from the book was a complete shell game designed to siphon money into Julian’s offshore accounts.
“Saraphina is arrogant,” I said, “but she’s not stupid. How is she not seeing the discrepancies?”
“Because he plays the perfect devoted lover,” Isabella said with a sneer. Then her gaze softened slightly as she looked at me. “She never appreciated what she had when she actually had it.”
She leaned forward, her voice dropping.
“Alex, word on the street is that Julian wants to push into the Eastern Transit Project. Our project. He’s using the Dubois name to pressure the zoning board to revoke our permits and hand them over to him.”
A cold smile tugged at my lips.
“You want to play? Approve the leak.”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
“The financial leak? If we release those documents to the regulatory board, Vance Logistics will be investigated for fraud. Saraphina will be implicated.”
“I don’t care about Saraphina,” I said, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “I care about our assets. Julian is overstepping. It’s time someone slapped his hand.”