Chapter 24 - The Legal Ransom
The mansion was put into immediate, terrifying lockdown.
Steel shutters covered the lower windows, and the perimeter was flooded with Adrian's best men.
In the study, Adrian was sitting behind his desk, surrounded by four of the most expensive lawyers in the country.
I sat on the leather sofa, holding a cup of tea that I was too nauseous to drink.
"She has a pulse, Adrian, which means she has a case," the lead lawyer, a ruthless man named Sterling, explained.
"Since no body was officially recovered and her death was declared in absentia, she can petition to have it overturned."
"If she does that, her parental rights reactivate instantly."
Adrian swept a heavy crystal glass off his desk.
It shattered against the wall, sending sharp shards flying across the Persian rug.
"She abandoned them!" Adrian roared, standing up abruptly.
"She left them in the middle of a warzone and ran away to save her own life!"
"The courts don't care about mob wars, they care about biology," Sterling argued calmly.
"If she goes to a judge, she will expose your entire operation to explain why she ran."
"She is holding your freedom and your children hostage."
I placed my teacup on the table, the ceramic clinking loudly in the tense room.
"What does she actually want?" I asked, looking at Adrian.
"She told me at the school she wants fifty million dollars and the downtown territory."
Adrian laughed, a dark, humorless sound that sent a shiver down my spine.
"If I give her the downtown territory, she hands it straight to the syndicate she works for now."
"It gives our enemies a direct foothold into my empire."
"And if you don't give it to her?" I asked quietly.
"She takes the boys," Adrian said, his voice breaking with sheer terror.
"She takes them, and she uses them to control me until I have nothing left."
I stood up, smoothing the wrinkles in my skirt, my mind making a terrifying decision.
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"Then we don't fight her in court," I stated firmly.
"We fight her where she actually lives."
