Chapter 3

The moment the door opened, Marcus let go of me, but his hand went to his waist.

"Don't move." Dominic Shaw's voice came from the doorway. "The trust's security team has taken control of Black Psalm's access system. Put the gun on the floor."

Behind him stood Nora, two paramedics, and the officers who had just arrived. While my team restrained Marcus, Vivian shoved through the staff exit and fled with her gown gathered in her fists.

Dominic looked at me. "Do we go after her?"

"Seal the scene. Separate everyone on shift. No one takes the law into their own hands for me." I pointed at the documents and the ink pad on the table. "Preserve those first."

Marcus immediately shouted that he had only followed orders. "Mr. Moretti said it over the phone: 'Keep her locked up for now.'"

"The call was recorded." I braced myself against the edge of the table and stood upright. "He authorized you to detain me. He didn't authorize you to strike me with a gun butt or crush my hand in a door. Think carefully about whose orders you followed after that."

On the way to the hospital, Nora handed me the preliminary findings. "Northshore Stage Equipment received $2.4 million from Black Psalm over the past six months, and the company is controlled by Vivian's cousin. Your flagged payment is already frozen, and the account has been secured."

What I had assumed was mismanagement had been a deliberately prepared payout channel all along.

The doctor confirmed a cracked rib, soft-tissue damage to my right hand, and an impact injury at my temple. Nora asked the hospital to preserve the photographs, examination times, and my clothing separately. Based on the scene, the recording, the transfer, and Marcus's preliminary statement, the police applied for additional search and arrest warrants.

"You're being admitted," Nora decided for me. "At least stay still tonight."

A nurse was still immobilizing my right hand when Dominic received word from the estate. Luca planned to move the engagement ceremony to before midnight and transfer control of Black Psalm to Vivian at the same time. Once he signed, she could access the club's records and administer employee accounts, and every remaining original record could disappear at any moment.

I checked the time. Forty-seven minutes to midnight.

"Give me the medical report."

Nora blocked the door. "You've already given Luca two chances."

"One last chance. Not to beg him to believe me." I pulled on my coat, but my injured right hand couldn't manage the buttons. "I want him to choose with every piece of evidence in front of him. After tonight, he won't be able to blame the consequences on Vivian's deception."

I brought the audit notice, the freeze receipt, the hospital report, and the founder's ring. Dominic was there only to handle security, not to settle anything between my brother and me.

The drive outside the estate was packed with luxury cars. When I reached the ballroom doors, Vivian was crying against Luca's chest.

"She came in armed, and she moved family money out. Marcus tried to stop her, so she brought people in and took Black Psalm." Vivian showed a small scrape on her wrist. "She said that when she came back, everything you have would be taken away."

Luca never asked whether I was hurt. In Vivian's version of events, I hadn't even arrived yet.

He lifted the crest ring in front of the guests. "After tonight, Black Psalm is yours to run. Nobody in Grey Harbor is ever going to push you out again."

The authorization papers were placed beside his hand.

I pushed open the ballroom doors. The panels struck the wall, and every eye in the room landed on the gauze at my temple and the blood seeping through the fabric at my side.

Luca froze with the pen in his hand.

"Put the ring down." I looked at him. "What you're about to give her was never yours."