Page 92 of Legacy

He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“What else?”

Stephanos glanced toward the patio, checking for security. “A trust of over two hundred million Euros, potentially three hundred million, was established by Juno Vitalis for his daughters and remains intact. It can only be passed to a blood relative of the Vitalis family. Your father knew this since the coup. He arranged for the sisters’ escape and intended to force your wife into marriage, but they vanished instead.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ozias’s greed knew no bounds. After all, didn’t history love to repeat itself? He’d murdered Eudora. What was one more Vitalis woman? Or all of them? And why not add forcing a fifteen-year-old girl to marry a twenty-five-year-old, too?

“Tell me all of it.”

“The land is legally divided among the sisters. Regardless of current claims, it won't belong to anyone while a Vitalis lives. Any child you have inherits everything. That’s yourfather’s plan. By taking your child, he gains control of the trust and land.”

“You did well, Stephanos.”

“There’s more, sir.”

I waited, knowing whatever he added would only fuel a storm inside me.

“We found a recruit with videos from our last meeting. He was on overwatch that day. Our team confiscated all of his belongings.”

I clenched my jaw. “Where is he?”

“In holding.”

“Did he tell you why he decided to record us?”

“To gain favor with your father, he believed the recording would prove his loyalty.”

“Then how did it get to my wife?”

“That, I cannot say.”

I’d find out up close and personal once I dealt with the old man.

“Go to Carlo. He is outside. He’ll give you instructions. Be ready.”

I waited to collect myself once I was alone.

I’d come here seeking answers, the details Avra had refused to share. Now I knew and understood the devastation on my beautiful wife’s face.

No wonder she found it so hard to believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me.

I stormed outside, squinting in the bright sunlight glaring in the cloudless sky. Scanning the crowd, I followed the robust sounds of deep laughter.

There.I found him. Ozias sat on a plush lounger, two young women sitting beside him and fawning over him. He relaxed in a loose white shirt with his arms around them both. In one hand, he held a lit cigar, smoke bellowing from the tip. With the other, he trailed his fingers along the top edge of one of the women’s shirts, nearly exposing her breasts to all the people around them.

She tittered and giggled, sliding against him to cuddle and whisper something in his ear.

“Oh?” He chuckled, then furrowed his brow as I stalked closer.

I stood tall and unmoving, blocking out the sun. Casting him in my shadow, I hoped he felt the chill of the darkness, of my darkness, because ice ran in my veins at the sight of him out here like this.

Gluttonous with food on platters, indulging in underage whores. Smoking his cigars and joking with his chiefs. Like a fucking king.

“Son.” His lips curled into a mocking half-smile as he reached forward and picked up his cocktail glass, complete with an olive on a stick. “Welcome home.”

With his hand still outstretched, the cocktail liquid glistening with condensation, I fumed and tried to find my last reserve of patience.

I had none. His smug, mocking smile was all it took for me to react. Saying nothing, I reached forward and slapped his glass to the patio.

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