Chapter 9
The fluorescent lights of the garage buzzed with a low, oppressive electrical hum. Alessandra paced slowly in front of her captives, her hands clasped loosely behind her back. She moved with the predatory, unhurried grace of a tiger deciding which piece of meat to consume first.
"You thought you could strip me of my power," Alessandra began, her voice echoing clearly across the vast, empty parking level. "You thought you could humiliate my son, banish him to the dark, and replace him with a bastard born of a desperate mistress."
"He has Ashford blood!" Sybil shrieked suddenly, finding a sudden, frantic burst of courage. She strained against the capo holding her arm. "Vanessa’s boy is strong! He is the true heir to your empire! You cannot deny the bloodline, Alessandra! The families will demand a male heir who exhibits strength, not a boy who cries for his mother!"
Alessandra stopped pacing. She turned slowly, locking her obsidian eyes onto her mother-in-law.
"The families demand loyalty, Sybil. And they demand competence," Alessandra replied smoothly. "You have demonstrated neither. You orchestrated a coup using a woman who couldn't even secure her own father's blessing, and a son who couldn't even successfully drag a trunk across a concrete floor without crying."
Gavin flinched as if he had been struck again, lowering his bruised, bloody face in profound shame.
"And as for the bastard child," Alessandra continued, her gaze shifting to Vanessa, who was actively weeping, her makeup running down her fair, rosy cheeks in ugly black streaks. "Where is he, Vanessa?"
Vanessa gasped, her eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated terror. "What? What have you done? Where is my baby?"
"He is currently on a private jet," Alessandra stated, checking the platinum wristwatch on her left arm. "Accompanied by two of my most trusted nannies. He is being flown to a highly exclusive, fully funded boarding school in Switzerland. He will receive the finest education money can buy. He will lack for nothing."
Gavin looked up, his expression a mixture of confusion and desperate hope. "You… you didn't hurt him?"
"I am not a monster, Gavin," Alessandra said coldly, though the underlying threat in her voice was unmistakable. "I do not punish innocent children for the sins of their pathetic, traitorous parents. He will be raised well. But he will never set foot in the United States again. He will never know the name Ashford. And he will certainly never inherit my empire."
"You can't do that!" Vanessa screamed, thrashing against the capo who had stepped forward to restrain her. Her luxurious emerald gown tore slightly at the seam. "He is my son! You can't take him from me!"
"I already have," Alessandra replied, turning her back on the hysterical woman. She looked at Gavin, the man she had sworn to build an empire with, the man who had sold out her child for a few million dollars and a mistress.
"Alessandra… please," Gavin begged, dropping to his knees on the concrete, ignoring the pain in his dislocated shoulder. He clasped his hands together in a posture of desperate prayer. "I’ll sign the divorce papers. I’ll relinquish all claims to the business. I’ll walk away with nothing. Just let me live. Let my mother live."
"You want to live, Gavin?" Alessandra asked, tilting her head slightly, her face an unreadable mask.
"Yes! Yes, please! I’ll disappear!"
Alessandra stared at him for a long, agonizing moment. The silence in the garage was broken only by Vanessa’s muffled sobs and the distant, heavy breathing of Ethan beneath the canopy frames.
"Very well," Alessandra said softly.
May you like
Gavin let out a massive, shuddering breath of relief, his shoulders slumping. "Thank you. Oh, God, thank you, Alessandra. You won't regret this."
"I know I won't," Alessandra whispered. She turned to her capos. "Take them."
