Chapter 16 - The Final Clean Out
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Vincenzo reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
“This is a contract, Charlotte,” Vincenzo said, sliding it across the desk. “I am buying out the remaining mortgages on your family’s country estate in Lake Forest. In exchange, you and your husband leave Illinois by tomorrow morning and never return.”
Charlotte stared at the document, her lips trembling. “You’re exiling us?”
“I’m saving you from the street,” Vincenzo corrected her cold-bloodedly. “Sign it, or I let the federal marshals seize the house by noon.”
Charlotte grabbed the pen with shaking hands, signed her name at the bottom, and stood up without another word. She cast one last venomous look at Beatrice before rushing out of the office, slamming the heavy doors behind her.
When the room fell quiet again, Vincenzo stood up and walked over to the window beside Beatrice.
“She hated looking at you,” Vincenzo observed softly.
“She hated that I was right,” Beatrice replied, looking out over the Chicago skyline.
May you like
Vincenzo reached out, his warm hand wrapping around hers, his fingers intertwining with hers.
“You’re always right, Beatrice,” he whispered. “That’s why I can’t let you go.”
