Chapter 3 - The Financial Siege
"What mistake?" I asked, sitting down across from him.
Luka slid a paper toward me. "Julian thought that by abandoning you at the hospital, you would fall into despair and fail to show up at the probate hearing tomorrow morning. He filed emergency paperwork declaring you mentally unfit due to postpartum depression, aiming to assume full legal control of your father's remaining fifty-one percent share in Vance Bio-Tech."
My blood boiled. "He tried to turn my baby's birth into a weapon to lock me away?"
"He tried," Luka agreed coolly. "But he didn't count on the birth certificate. By signing as the legal father under state law, I have automatically claimed co-guardianship of your immediate domestic affairs. Because my family firm—Moretti Holdings—holds sixteen percent of Vance Bio-Tech's institutional debt, Julian cannot move a single share without my physical signature."
"He's going to come after you," I warned, fear creeping back into my heart. "Julian has powerful people behind him. The board members, the private security firms..."
Luka leaned back in his leather chair, resting his hands behind his head. The tattoos tracing his neck caught the ambient lamp light—a intricate weave of oak leaves and iron chains.
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"Let them come, Elena," Luka said softly. "Julian Vance is a boy playing with matches in a house I built. Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, we are going to walk into the Vance Bio-Tech annual shareholder meeting together. You are going to wear your father's favorite signet ring, hold your daughter, and take back what is yours."
That night was the first night in months I slept without waking up in cold sweat. Every two hours when Maya cried for feeding, I would step into the nursery to find Luka already standing near the window, quietly watching the grounds while Mrs. Gable helped me. He was like a silent sentinel, a towering force that made the rest of the world feel small and harmless.
