Chapter 9 - The Empire Without a KingLeo remained in surgery for six hours.
By midnight, reporters surrounded the hospital. Police blocked the entrances. Federal agents arrived asking questions about the warehouse, the explosives, and Victoria Kensington.
Victoria had survived.
She was placed under armed guard in a separate medical wing.
Damian had vanished.
Beatrice sat with Lily in a private waiting room. Leo’s blood had dried beneath her fingernails. Someone had given her clean clothes, but she could still smell smoke.
Lily had not spoken since the ambulance left the warehouse.
She sat curled against Beatrice, staring at the operating-room doors.
Mateo entered shortly after one in the morning.
“The surgeon removed the bullet.”
Beatrice stood.
“And?”
“He lost a great deal of blood. The next twelve hours are critical.”
Lily looked up.
“Is Daddy dying?”
Mateo’s expression softened.
“He is fighting.”
“That’s not an answer.”
No one in Leo’s world seemed prepared for a six-year-old who demanded truth.
Beatrice knelt.
“He might die.”
Lily’s face crumpled.
“But the doctors are doing everything they can. Your father is very strong.”
“He came for me.”
“Yes.”
“Because I called?”
“Because nothing could stop him.”
Lily pressed her face into Beatrice’s shoulder.
A lawyer arrived carrying a sealed envelope.
“My name is Evelyn Shaw. I represent Leo Rossi in personal matters.”
Mateo checked her identification before allowing her inside.
Evelyn placed the envelope on the table.
“Mr. Rossi updated his emergency directives yesterday morning.”
Beatrice stared at her.
“Before the warehouse?”
“After the lake-house attack.”
The lawyer opened the documents.
“In the event Mr. Rossi is incapacitated, Mateo Alvarez receives temporary control of business security. Legal guardianship of Lily transfers to—”
She paused.
“Beatrice Miller.”
Mateo did not react.
Beatrice did.
“No.”
Evelyn looked up.
“It is signed and notarized.”
“I am an employee.”
“You are the person Mr. Rossi selected.”
“He has relatives.”
“Most of whom he does not trust.”
Beatrice thought of Damian.
“I cannot control his world.”
“You are not being asked to control it. You are being asked to protect his daughter.”
Lily reached for Beatrice’s hand.
The door opened again.
Damian’s attorney entered with two men in expensive suits.
Mateo stepped between them and Lily.
“You are not welcome here.”
The attorney held up a court document.
“Damian Rossi is the senior blood relative currently available. He is petitioning for emergency guardianship.”
“He is wanted for attempted murder,” Mateo said.
“He has not been charged.”
“He kidnapped a child.”
“According to members of a criminal organization attempting to protect themselves.”
The attorney glanced toward Beatrice.
“Mr. Rossi’s alleged decision to grant guardianship to a domestic employee raises serious concerns about his mental condition.”
Beatrice understood how easily the story could be twisted.
She had no money.
No husband.
No impressive education.
Victoria had already told the public she was obsessed with Lily.
The attorney continued.
“Until the court reviews these documents, Miss Miller must surrender the child to an approved family representative.”
Lily stood behind Beatrice.
“No.”
The attorney ignored her.
Mateo placed one hand inside his jacket.
Beatrice touched his arm.
Damian wanted violence.
He wanted the hospital cameras to record Leo’s men threatening officers of the court.
“Where is Damian?” she asked.
The attorney smiled.
“Recovering from an attack by Leo Rossi.”
“He killed my father.”
“That is an unproven accusation.”
“We have his voice on tape.”
“A damaged recording with no verified chain of custody.”
“Victoria heard it.”
“Miss Kensington has accused Mr. Rossi, you, and several others of drugging and abducting her.”
Beatrice felt the walls closing in.
Then Evelyn Shaw placed another document on the table.
“This is a federal protective order.”
The opposing attorney’s smile faded.
Evelyn continued.
“Robert Miller’s records connect Damian Rossi and Kensington Development to interstate trafficking, bribery, and multiple homicides. Federal authorities have accepted Lily Rossi and Beatrice Miller as protected witnesses.”
Two federal agents entered.
The attorney stepped back.
“You planned this.”
Evelyn looked toward the surgery wing.
“Leo planned everything.”
At three in the morning, Leo was moved to intensive care.
Beatrice was permitted to see him for one minute.
Machines surrounded the bed. A breathing tube covered his mouth. He looked pale and strangely vulnerable without anger or command holding him upright.
She stood beside him.
“You made me Lily’s guardian without asking.”
His eyes remained closed.
“That was arrogant.”
The monitor continued its steady rhythm.
“I don’t belong in your world.”
His fingers moved faintly.
Beatrice looked down.
Leo’s hand shifted across the blanket, searching.
She placed her hand in his.
His fingers closed weakly.
“You need to wake up,” she whispered. “Because I am very angry with you.”
The corner of his eye tightened.
Perhaps he heard.
Perhaps she imagined it.
At dawn, the Rossi companies announced an emergency board meeting.
Damian appeared through a live video connection.
His arm was in a sling. He claimed Leo had lured him to the warehouse and attempted to murder him after Damian uncovered financial crimes.
Several board members believed him.
Others were simply afraid.
Damian requested temporary control of all Rossi assets.
Mateo prepared to attend with armed security.
Beatrice stopped him.
“Take me.”
“This is not a place for you.”
“That is exactly why Damian will not expect me.”
The board met on the top floor of Rossi Maritime headquarters.
Twenty executives sat around a glass table overlooking Chicago.
Damian appeared on a large screen.
When Beatrice entered, conversation stopped.
He smiled.
“The maid.”
Beatrice placed Robert’s documents on the table.
“My father was an auditor.”
“No one here cares.”
“They should. He recorded every false shipment, every payment to Kensington shell companies, and every port employee you bribed.”
Damian leaned closer to the camera.
“Those papers are fake.”
Evelyn distributed certified copies.
“Federal forensic accountants disagree,” she said.
Board members began reading.
Beatrice placed a photograph beside Damian’s oldest ally.
It showed Damian meeting a Volkov representative before a Rossi convoy was attacked.
Another photograph documented payments after Elena’s death.
Damian’s smile disappeared.
“You think Leo will thank you for destroying his company?”
“I am not destroying it.”
Beatrice looked around the table.
“I am removing the man who has been feeding it poison.”
One by one, board members withdrew support from Damian.
The final vote transferred temporary control to Mateo under Leo’s directive.
Damian stared at Beatrice through the screen.
“You should have accepted invisibility.”
Beatrice met his gaze.
“You depended on it.”
The video ended.
For one moment, she believed they had won.
Then every phone in the room vibrated.
A live stream appeared online.
The hospital’s security cameras showed a man in medical clothing entering Leo’s private floor.
The man removed his mask.
Damian.
The video had been pre-recorded or the board call had been staged.
He was already inside the hospital.
Beatrice called Lily’s room.
No answer.
Mateo called his guards.
No answer.
Then Beatrice’s phone rang.
Damian’s voice whispered through the speaker.
“You took my empire.”
May you like
Behind him, Lily cried.
“So I am taking the only two people Leo has left.”
