Chapter 10 - Torn Apart: The Poisonous Lie
At three o'clock in the morning, while Sebastian was on a secure video conference with federal prosecutors in the library, a discreet knock sounded on my private bedroom door.
Thinking it was the housemaid with tea, I opened it.
Standing in the dimly lit hallway was Victoria Vance. She was disguised in a staff uniform, holding a manila envelope, her face drawn and hollow.
Before I could scream for security, she dropped to her knees, weeping hysterically.
"Please, Maria, don't call the guards!" Victoria sobbed, clasping her hands together. "My father is insane. He’s going to kill us all. You have to look at this!"
I hesitated, keeping my hand near the wall-mounted emergency panic button. "What is that?"
"It’s the original contract from the Elysium auction," Victoria whispered, sliding the envelope toward me. "Arthur didn't set up the auction. Sebastian did. Sebastian knew who you were six months ago! He engineered Diego’s medical crisis to force you onto that stage!"
"You're lying," I said, cold dread pooling in my stomach.
"Look at the bank routing numbers!" Victoria cried. "The hospital that denied Diego’s initial treatment? It's owned by a holding company under Blackwood Global! Sebastian created the financial blockade so you would have no choice but to sell yourself to him! He played you like a pawn to get your father's evidence!"
My hands trembling violently, I tore open the envelope. Inside were corporate ownership filings showing that St. Jude Memorial's parent debt-collection agency was indeed an affiliate subsidiary of Blackwood Maritime. Attached was an internal email from three months ago, signed with Sebastian's electronic signature, authorizing the "expedited collection and foreclosure of non-performing accounts" for patients in the East District.
My vision blurred. A sickening wave of nausea washed over me.
Was it all a lie?
Had Sebastian orchestrated my brother's suffering just to manipulate me into retrieving my father's micro-SD card?
"Maria?"
A voice broke the silence.
I turned to see Sebastian standing at the end of the corridor, his eyes widening in alarm when he saw Victoria on the floor and the documents in my shaking hands.
"Guards!" Sebastian bellowed. Within seconds, two security officers tackled Victoria to the floor, pinning her arms behind her back.
"Sebastian, what is this?" I asked, my voice cracking, holding up the corporate foreclosure order with his signature. "Did you own the company that denied Diego’s surgery? Did you know about Diego before the auction?"
Sebastian looked at the paper, his face draining of all color. "Maria, listen to me—"
"Did you sign this?!" I screamed, tears of pure betrayal streaming down my face.
"That was an automated portfolio acquisition through an offshore branch three months ago," Sebastian said desperately, taking a step toward me, his hands raised in surrender. "I never saw that specific operational file! I swear to you on my mother’s soul, I did not know about Diego’s illness until three days before the auction! Arthur forged the connection to poison your mind!"
"I don't know what is real anymore!" I cried, backing away toward the terrace doors. "You bought me for five hundred thousand dollars! You used me to fight your family! You made me love you, and the whole time my brother was dying because of your corporate empire!"
"Maria, please!" Sebastian pleaded, his eyes filled with agonizing pain. "Look at me! Look into my eyes! Do you truly believe I could ever hurt you or Diego?"
I looked at him through a veil of shattered trust and blinding heartbreak. The pain was too immense, the fear too suffocating.
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"I can't do this," I whispered, pulling the diamond engagement ring from my finger and placing it on the marble console table. "The contract is over."
Before he could reach me, I ran down the private service stairs into the rainy night, desperate to reach Diego and escape the gilded nightmare of Blackwood Manor.
