The city's heartbeat was different now. Faster. Louder. As if it, too, was catching wind of Vivienne's ascent.
But with every rise came new shadows.
Vivienne sat behind the massive mahogany desk once claimed by Arthur Rothsford. It had been sanitized, purged of his scent, his influence. But the air still carried the faint residue of manipulation. Of empire built on fraud.
She tapped her fingers against a thin dossier.
"Rhys," she said, not looking up. "Did you get the financial leak reports from Mira?"
"Just came in." Rhys placed a thick envelope in front of her. "But you're not going to like it."
She opened it. Within minutes, her eyes narrowed.
"Offshore siphoning," she muttered. "Twelve accounts. Cayman, Dubai, Singapore. All emptied in the last month."
"Arthur?" Rhys asked.
"No," Vivienne said slowly. "Ivy."
She stood up, stalking toward the massive digital wall display. She keyed in a few commands, bringing up the Rothsford Holdings vault ledgers.
Then she tapped into the family trust archives.
Ten seconds later, the screen blinked—Access Denied.
Vivienne's jaw clenched. "She's locked the vault."
"That's impossible," Rhys said. "You're the acting CEO. The vault's under your control."
"Only partially," she corrected. "Margot created dual-authorization for her personal vault. Her side was mine… but the second was bound to her biological heir."
Rhys paled. "You mean Ivy."
Vivienne nodded. "And if Ivy's trying to rewrite history with forged DNA… then she's trying to take full control of Margot's vault."
"And that vault," Rhys said grimly, "contains every blueprint, asset list, estate deed, and stock trust Margot left behind."
Vivienne pressed her fingers to her temples.
"She's trying to make me vanish," she whispered. "Not just from the family—but from the entire Rothsford legacy."
---
The Vault – Encrypted, Untouchable
Vivienne and Mira sat in the Rothsford server room, deep beneath the skyscraper.
Two floors below the city, the air was icy. Servers blinked like stars in a man-made galaxy.
"This is where Margot kept her empire's true map," Mira said. "It's encrypted with dual biometric keys. Voice and blood authentication."
"Mine and Ivy's," Vivienne muttered.
"Worse," Mira replied. "Yours… and whoever can pass as Margot's biological child."
Vivienne looked up sharply.
"You think Ivy's done it?"
"I checked the hospital database from her last 'visit'—she faked a prenatal condition to get a bloodwork panel done. It was routed through an identity-scrubbing firm called Redglass."
Vivienne's eyes darkened.
"Redglass erases identities for foreign agents," she said. "Ivy's going full ghost."
Mira nodded grimly. "She's not just erasing you. She's becoming someone else to rewrite everything."
Rhys stepped into the room, his face stormy.
"She just filed an injunction in Luxembourg."
Vivienne turned. "On what grounds?"
"Claiming she's the sole rightful heir to Margot's European properties. Using her 'corrected' genetic records."
Vivienne's nostrils flared. "She's laundering her way into the bloodline."
"And unless we prove otherwise," Rhys said, "she might succeed."
---
A Hidden Clue – Margot's Final Game
That night, Vivienne returned to her old bedroom at the Delacroix estate. It hadn't been touched. Dust layered the bookshelves. The violin case still sat on the dresser.
She opened it.
Inside wasn't just the instrument.
There was a key—old, iron, and engraved with a sunburst emblem.
Vivienne frowned.
The same symbol was etched into Margot's old pendant—one she wore every day until her death.
"Mira," Vivienne said via comms. "Find anything tied to the sunburst symbol in our estate registry."
Within minutes, Mira replied. "There's a secondary vault. Hidden. Registered under Delacroix-Rothsford Trust 91-AX."
Vivienne's heart raced. "Where is it?"
"An estate in Vienna. Used only once. Listed as an art preservation site."
Vivienne stood, clutching the key.
"Then we're going to Vienna."
---
Vienna, Austria – The Delacroix Archive Estate
A week later, the wind howled over the centuries-old manor nestled in the Austrian countryside. Stone lions guarded the entrance. Snow crunched beneath Vivienne's boots as she and Rhys approached the locked gates.
A caretaker met them—ancient, hunched, and reverent.
"You're… her daughter?" he asked.
Vivienne nodded. "In every way that matters."
He opened the gates.
Inside, the estate was hauntingly silent. Velvet drapes, crystal chandeliers, and rows upon rows of gilded artwork lined the halls.
The caretaker led them to a chamber beneath the library.
"This vault," he whispered, brushing dust from a carved iron plate, "has not been opened in twenty years."
Vivienne inserted the sunburst key.
The door clicked, groaned, and opened.
Inside was a single chest. And inside that chest—
A collection of bound journals.
Margot's handwriting. Page after page.
Vivienne sank to her knees, overcome.
Rhys leaned over, picking up the top journal.
"She documented everything," he said in awe. "The Rothsford financial map. Blackmail ledgers. Private contracts. Even personal letters from Ivy and Arthur."
Vivienne's hands trembled. She held the journal to her chest.
"She knew this day would come."
Rhys's phone buzzed.
He checked it. His face turned pale.
"It's Ivy."
Vivienne tensed. "What now?"
"She just released a press video."
---
The Broadcast – Ivy's Last Gambit
Across screens worldwide, Ivy appeared: flawless, cold, rehearsed.
> "I come to you today not as an heiress… but as the rightful daughter of Margot Delacroix. For years, I was silenced by those who feared the truth. Now, I step forward to claim what is mine."
She presented her falsified DNA results. She attacked Vivienne, calling her a manipulator and fraud. She claimed Vivienne had seduced the board, blackmailed the media, and staged Margot's trust vault hacking.
> "I am restoring the Delacroix legacy," Ivy declared. "Not rewriting it."
Vivienne stared at the screen.
"She's pulling the martyr card."
"She's triggering public sympathy," Mira said. "And some of the board might believe it."
Rhys looked to Vivienne. "What do we do?"
Vivienne's voice was calm. Steady.
"We give them the truth."
---
The Final Vault – And the True Heir
With Mira's help, Vivienne digitized Margot's journals. They released scanned letters, hidden audio recordings, and bank ledgers showing Ivy's embezzlement.
But the final blow came from Margot herself.
In a video recorded just days before her death, Margot looked directly into the camera.
> "If you're seeing this, it means I didn't survive to protect what I built. Vivienne Delacroix is my heir—not by blood, but by every measure that counts. Ivy was my biological child… but Vivienne was my daughter. My legacy."
The media exploded.
Social feeds turned.
Headlines reversed.
Board members issued apologies. Shareholders launched investigations into Ivy.
And Ivy?
She fled.
Vanished across the border with stolen assets, half her aliases exposed.
But her empire? Crumbling.
And Vivienne?
She stood on the highest floor of Rothsford Tower, looking out across the city once more.
Not as a guest.
Not as a ghost.
But as the woman who had taken back everything—and more.