Chapter 2: The Wealthiest Man in the Room
The Grand Aster ballroom was already full when we arrived.
Maya held my hand tightly, her little fingers still trembling.
I had changed her into a white dress and pulled her hair back gently.
She looked like the most beautiful thing in the room.
No one recognized me yet.
That was exactly how I wanted it.
Then the doors opened behind us.
Julian walked in with Genevieve on his arm, laughing, confident, already working the room.
He didn't see me standing near the center.
But someone else did.
An older man near the main stage turned slowly.
His eyes found mine across the crowd.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Then Maya saw him.
She pulled free from my hand and ran.
"Grandpa!"
The room went quiet as she threw herself into his arms — the arms of Edmund Blackwood, the man who had built half of New York's financial district from nothing.
He held her close, then looked up.
His eyes were not soft.
They were the eyes of a man who had just been handed a reason.
Julian froze three steps from the entrance.
Genevieve's smile disappeared.
Edmund straightened slowly, Maya still in his arms, and spoke just loud enough for the nearest tables to hear.
"Which one of them hurt my granddaughter?"
The silence that followed was the loudest thing I had ever heard.
---
What Edmund did next ended Julian's empire before midnight.
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