Chapter 21 - The Battle of the Bloodline
I did not flinch. I did not look away. I walked straight across the marble floor until I stood five paces from the man who had tormented me for fourteen years.
"Save your pathetic insults, Julian," I said, my voice resonating with authority throughout the vaulted salon. "You are standing on stolen ground, drinking stolen whiskey, living on borrowed hours."
Sebastian Saint-Germain tapped his silver cane against the marble, producing a sharp, commanding crack. "Enough theatrics. Miss Vance—or should I say, niece? You carry my late brother Christian’s blood. But Christian was a sentimental fool who gave away our family’s dominance to an American dressmaker named Rosewood."
"My mother was an artist and a visionary," I replied coldly, fixing my gaze on Sebastian. "She built Bell & Rose with her own genius. You, on the other hand, hired a petty con artist to seduce and abuse her daughter because you couldn't take the inheritance by lawful means."
Julian took an aggressive step forward, setting his glass down with a violent thud. "Cut the speech, Elena! Where is the bronze key? Hand it over to Sebastian, or you walk out of this villa in an evidence bag. Nobody knows you're in Switzerland. Nobody is coming to save you!"
Marcus stepped forward, placing himself half a step in front of me, his hand resting calmly inside his jacket. "You might want to check the Swiss Federal Official Gazette before you make another threat, Croft."
Sebastian’s brow furrowed. "What nonsense is this?"
Marcus removed a leather folder from under his arm and flipped it open, revealing an official decree stamped with the red wax seal of the Swiss Confederation Supreme Court. "Two hours ago, Maitre Henri Laurent and the federal financial supervisory authority FINMA executed Christian Saint-Germain’s true testamentary declaration. The House of Saint-Germain was legally reorganized thirty years ago as an indivisible fideicommissum. Control does not pass through corporate proxy, Julian. It passes exclusively by verified maternal lineage to the direct female descendant of Christian Saint-Germain."
Sebastian turned ashen. "That... that statute was rescinded!"
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"It was never rescinded," Maitre Laurent's voice rang out from the entrance of the salon as the old attorney stepped inside, flanked by four federal agents in navy windbreakers. "Christian placed it under the protective custody of the Swiss National Bank until Elena turned thirty-five or until Julian Croft committed grand treason against the estate."
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