Chapter 18 - THE KING'S CHOICE|
The room went dead silent.
Two hundred million pounds. An international legacy. A seat among the oldest nobility in Europe.
I looked at the sapphire ring in the velvet box, then turned to look at Roman.
Roman stood entirely still. His gray eyes were unreadable, his face a hard mask of control. He didn't offer an opinion. He didn't command me. He simply stood there, letting me make my own choice.
"If I go to London," I asked Lord Vance, "what happens to my firm here?"
"Harlow Restoration—or Claire Provenance—would be dissolved and absorbed into the Vance Trust," Julian said dismissively. "You won't need a small Boston gallery anymore, my dear. You will be operating in Mayfair and Paris."
I looked at the painting hanging on my gallery wall—a piece I had restored with my own hands. I looked at the marble floors I had bought with my own hard-earned money.
Then I looked at Roman Vale—the man who had seen my real worth when I was sitting on a basement floor in a torn dress.
I reached down and picked up the heavy sapphire signet ring from the velvet box.
Lord Vance smiled triumphantly. "A wise choice—"
I didn't put it on my finger.
May you like
I tossed the platinum ring back into the box with a sharp clack.
"Tell the European board that if they want me to manage the Vance collection," I said, my voice ringing out with absolute power, "they can move their headquarters to Boston."
