Chapter 9 - The Matriarch’s Fall
The heavy oak doors of the Swiss chalet were splintered. Clara ran into the grand foyer, Silas right behind her with his weapon drawn.
The scene was chaotic. Mercenaries lay bound and gagged on the floor, surrounded by Silas’s heavily armed London team.
In the center of the room stood Madame Genevieve. Her immaculate clothes were torn, her hair disheveled. She was backed into a corner, held at gunpoint by the captain of Silas’s guard.
But Clara didn't look at Genevieve. She looked past her, to the staircase.
Sitting on the top step, clutching a stuffed dinosaur and looking wide-eyed but unharmed, was five-year-old Leo. A female bodyguard was standing protectively over him.
"Mommy!" Leo cried, dropping the dinosaur and running down the stairs.
Clara dropped to her knees, catching her son as he barreled into her arms. She buried her face in his neck, inhaling the sweet, warm scent of him, tears of pure, unadulterated relief streaming down her face. She held him so tightly she thought her ribs might crack.
"I've got you, my sweet boy. Mommy's got you," she sobbed.
Silas walked past them, stepping directly in front of Genevieve. He towered over the woman who had ruined his life.
"You're trespassing, Mother," Silas said, his voice dripping with lethal disdain.
Genevieve glared at him, her pride refusing to break even in total defeat. "He is a Lancaster. He belongs to the estate. You are a traitor, Silas, aligning yourself with this street trash."
Clara stood up, keeping Leo safely tucked behind her legs. She walked up to Genevieve, wiping the tears from her face. Her expression turned into a mask of pure ice.
"There is no Lancaster estate anymore, Genevieve," Clara said softly. "While you were busy flying across the world to kidnap my son, the SEC froze all your domestic assets. The board of directors held an emergency vote at midnight. Julian resigned, and they ousted you as Chairman. Obsidian Capital just purchased the controlling majority of your debt."
Genevieve’s eyes widened, the reality finally piercing her armor. "You... you can't."
"I already did," Clara whispered. "You are broke, Genevieve. You have no company. You have no power. And you will never, ever come near my family again."
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Clara turned to the captain of the guard. "Hand her over to the Swiss authorities for attempted kidnapping and armed trespassing. Let her rot in a foreign prison."
Genevieve began to scream, fighting against the guards as they dragged her out of the chalet in handcuffs, her legacy reduced to ashes in the alpine snow.
