Chapter 7 – THE ASHES OF A LEGACY

Arthur held up the partnership agreement, the paper yellowed with age.

“Without this bakery, and with this agreement in my possession, Elias is ruined. And because of Celeste’s little forged loan, the DeLuca estate is entirely drained. I’ve taken everything.”

Adrian slowly stood up, brushing the soot from his suit. He didn’t look angry anymore. He looked calm.

“Are you sure about that, Arthur?”

Arthur’s smile faltered. “What are you talking about?”

Adrian reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the rusted iron key we had used to open the basement hatch. He tossed it into the alley.

“My father didn’t hide the original agreement in the oven,” Adrian said softly. “He hid a decoy. You just burned the only copy you had.”

Arthur’s eyes widened. He frantically unfolded the document in his hand, holding it up to the streetlight. Across the bottom of the page, stamped in bold, red ink, was the word: VOID.

“Where is it?” Arthur screamed, lunging forward.

Before he could reach Adrian, red and blue lights flooded the alleyway. Three police cruisers screeched to a halt, sirens blaring.

Elias Romano was in the back of the first cruiser, in handcuffs. Celeste was crying in the second.

Officers swarmed Arthur, wrestling him to the pavement. The lighter clattered to the ground.

Adrian looked down at the man who had tried to destroy his family. “You forgot one thing about my mother, Arthur. She never throws anything away.”

Adrian turned to Rosa. She reached inside the lining of her thick wool coat—the same coat she had worn to the dinner party—and unzipped a hidden pocket. Slowly, she pulled out a pristine, sealed envelope.

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