SHE’S CARRYING MY HEIR — BUT HIS PREGNANT WIFE HAD THE LAST WORD

The police arrived before Clare could reach the front door. Two officers searched the garden while a third guided her into the hallway and asked whether she had seen the person who broke the window. Samuel Ortega was gone. So was the black car Daniel had described seeing near the courthouse.

Alexander arrived twelve minutes later with two security men. He stopped when Clare raised her hand.

“You don't come in unless I ask you to.”

His jaw tightened. For one terrible second, she expected him to argue. Then he stepped back from the threshold.

“May I come in?” he asked.

Clare let him enter, but she did not let him take over. She answered the officers' questions herself, called Evelyn, and insisted that the broken window be documented before anyone repaired it. Alexander stayed near the door, watching her with an expression that was half pride and half pain.

When the police left, he said, “You shouldn't stay here tonight.”

“I'm not going to your mansion.”

“Then stay at Evelyn's.”

“I'm deciding where I sleep. You can stop trying to manage me.”

He lowered his eyes. “You're right.”

The simple admission unsettled her more than his anger would have.

Daniel arrived shortly before midnight, carrying a folder and looking furious. Samuel had contacted him from a pay phone, claiming he had proof that Vittorio Romano's crash was no accident. He had refused to meet at the original location after someone followed him.

“Samuel says Vittorio was planning to report a fraud,” Daniel explained. “Money had been diverted through shell companies for years. He discovered the scheme and intended to turn over records.”

Alexander stared at the folder. “My father never told me.”

“He may have been trying to protect you,” Daniel said. “Or he may have wanted to expose someone you trusted.”

The name on the first page was Leonard Voss, the Romano family's longtime financial adviser. Leonard had managed the books since before Alexander took control of the empire. He had attended the funeral, stood beside Alexander at the cemetery, and offered to help him carry the family through its darkest days.

Clare remembered him as a silver-haired man who always brought flowers to the house on her birthday. He had once told her she was the only person who could make Alexander look peaceful.

“Why would Vanessa be involved?” she asked.

“Her father invested in one of the shell companies,” Daniel replied. “If the fraud comes out, she could lose her inheritance and face criminal charges.”

Alexander's face hardened. “Leonard has been handling the trust revisions.”

“And Vanessa wants control of the trust,” Clare said. “Which means she may be trying to bury the fraud before it surfaces.”

The pieces began to fit, but one crucial question remained: why had Alexander signed a document that handed Vanessa power over his family's future?

Alexander admitted that Leonard had presented the trust as a temporary safeguard. He had signed it during a security crisis without having his own attorney review every clause. He had been arrogant enough to believe that no one in his inner circle would exploit his signature.

Clare looked at him. “You built your life around knowing who could betray you, and you forgot to question the man who held your pen.”

“I did.”

“Then you need to stop making decisions alone.”

He nodded.

At dawn, Daniel received a voice message from Samuel. The old driver sounded frightened but determined.

“I'll meet you tomorrow at the harbor. Bring no Romano security. And tell Alexander this: his father wasn't killed because he knew about the fraud. He was killed because he discovered who was taking the money.”

The message ended with a sharp breath.

Then, faintly, another voice spoke in the background.

“Get the old man into the car.”

Daniel replayed it. Alexander went pale.