Chapter 13 - The Mother-in-Law’s Gambit
I did not flinch beneath her condescending glare.
I stepped into the room, unbuttoning my cashmere overcoat and tossing it onto the long mahogany table.
"So the tragic orphan story was a lie," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Camden was not an abandoned child."
"He was an operative."
Lady Beatrice chuckled softly, a sound like dry autumn leaves scraping across gravestones.
"My son was a weak, vain boy who loved fine watches and easy women," she said, leaning against her gold-topped cane.
"He lacked the discipline to conquer the world on his own."
"So I directed him toward the easiest mark in North American society: Arthur Alden’s lonely, naive daughter."
Every drop of blood in my body turned to arctic ice.
"My father built an industrial dynasty with his bare hands," I said, walking slowly toward her.
"Your family traded ancient titles for unpayable gambling debts."
"Your father was a tradesman with dirt beneath his fingernails," Beatrice spat back, her eyes narrowing with venom.
"He bought my family's historic estate in Kent during the crash of ninety-eight."
"He turned our family seat into an equestrian boarding school."
"He humiliated the Vance lineage."
"And I swore on my ancestors' graves that an Alden would pay back every single acre in pure misery."
I stopped two feet from her, staring down into eyes that carried the same hollow rot as Camden's.
"So you had Camden marry me," I whispered.
"You let him play husband for nine years while draining our accounts into your offshore syndicate."
"He was supposed to bankrupt you quietly through a catastrophic divorce," Beatrice sneered.
"He ruined the plan by falling in love with a cheap shop girl and getting arrested like an amateur."
"But the law does not care about Camden's stupidity, Vivian."
"The contracts he signed as vice-president of Alden Global are ironclad under English law."
"By tomorrow morning, your Dover shipping hubs belong to Vanguard Apex."
"Or you can write me a check for two hundred million pounds and beg for my mercy."
I looked at the woman who had spent nearly a decade poisoning my life from afar.
Then, slowly, a cold, lethal smile spread across my face.
"You made one fatal miscalculation, Beatrice," I said softly.
May you like
"What could that possibly be, you pathetic provincial girl?" she sneered.
"You forgot that Camden was never an authorized signatory on any foreign asset owned by Arthur Alden."
