Chapter 159 Epilogue

Chapter 159 Epilogue
THE NEW CROWN

~DAVID'S POV~

The Blackwood Industries boardroom smelled like fear and expensive coffee.

I pushed the double doors open and walked in. I didn't rush. I took my time, letting the heavy click of the door shutting echo across the mahogany table.

Uncle Alistair was standing at the head of the table. 

He looked like he had aged ten years overnight. 

His face was gray, his hands gripping the back of the CEO chair so hard his knuckles were white.

"David," Alistair sneered. "What are you doing here? The building is swarming with reporters. Your brother was just arrested for murdering his wife and tossing her off a bridge."

"I saw the news," I said smoothly, pulling out out a chair and sitting down. "Tragic, really. I always said Richard was a little too emotional for marriage."

"This isn't a joke!" Alistair slammed his hand on the table. "The company stock is in freefall! The police are crawling through his office. The Blackwood name is ruined!"

"Richard's name is ruined," I corrected him. 

I pulled a thick legal folder from my jacket and tossed it onto the table. It slid perfectly across the polished wood, stopping right in front of Alistair.

"What is this?" he asked, not touching it.

"Those are the shareholder proxies," I said, leaning back and crossing my legs. "Combined with the debt I bought up, and the emergency contingency clauses triggered by Richard's... little homicide charge. I now hold sixty-eight percent of the voting power."

Alistair stared at me, his eyes wide.

"You orchestrated this," he whispered.

"I capitalized on it," I smiled. "I told you, Uncle. Richard was weak. I am not."

I stood up, walking slowly around the table until I was standing right next to him.

"You called me a mistake, Alistair. You said a bastard would never sit in that chair." I gestured to the leather seat he was clinging to. "Move."

"You arrogant little..."

"Move," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous, icy register. "Before I have security drag you out the front door in front of all those reporters."

Alistair looked into my eyes. He saw exactly what I was capable of. Slowly, his hands released the leather. He stepped aside, looking completely broken.

I sat down in the CEO chair. It felt perfect.

"Pack your desk, Uncle," I said, spinning slightly to look out the window at my new city. 

"You're fired."



~ANNETTE'S POV~

The steady beeping of the life support machine was the only sound in the hospital room.

I stood at the foot of my father's bed, holding a cup of bad cafeteria coffee. He looked so small wrapped in those white sheets. The great Brad Sterling was reduced to a vegetable with a tube down his throat.

I walked around the side of the bed and leaned over him.

"Hey, Dad," I whispered, keeping my voice low. "Just thought I'd give you a morning update."

His chest rose and fell mechanically.

"Your favorite daughter went for a swim last night," I said, taking a sip of coffee. "Turns out, she's not very good at it. The police are dragging the river right now. And Richard? He's currently trading his tailored suits for an orange jumpsuit."

I reached out and adjusted his blanket.

"You always said I was weak," I murmured, staring at his closed eyelids. "You said I was just the maid's daughter. You said I didn't have the stomach for the family business."

I pulled the signed transfer documents from my purse. The ones Richard had signed yesterday, handing over Blackwood backing for my takeover.

"You were wrong," I whispered. "I'm the only one left standing."

I patted his cold hand.

"Don't worry, Daddy. Sterling Corps is in good hands now. My hands. I will make sure they spell your name right on the plaque when I move into your office."

I turned and walked out of the hospital room.

As I stepped into the elevator, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

David: "The board is ours. Alistair is out. I'm officially the King of Blackwood Industries."

I smiled, my thumbs flying across the screen.

Me: "And my father's lawyers just cleared my succession. Sterling Corps is mine."

David: "Perfect. Dinner tonight to celebrate? Just us apex predators."

Me: "8:00 PM. Don't be late."

I slipped the phone back into my pocket as the elevator doors opened to the lobby. The game wasn't over. It was just getting started. 

But this time?

I wasn't a pawn. I was the Queen.



~MONICA'S POV~

Cold.

Black, freezing, suffocating cold.

My lungs burned like they were filled with acid. The current tossed me like a ragdoll, hitting my body against twisted rocks and doused branches.

Fight, my brain screamed. Move!

I tried to kick my legs, but my dress was heavy, tangled around my knees. The water dragged me down into the pitch-black darkness.

My shoulder was on fire. Richard's bullet hadn't hit my heart. It had hit my collarbone, breaking the bone before I leaned over the railing.

I kicked upward, fighting the current, fighting the freezing numbness stealing into my limbs.

My head broke the surface.

I gasped, sucking in a lungful of freezing night air and dirty river water. I choked, coughing violently as the current swept me further downstream, miles away from the industrial bridge.

"Help," I tried to croak, but the sound was swallowed by the roaring water.

My knee hit into something solid. Mud.

I reached out with my good arm, my fingers digging into the freezing, rocky sludge of the riverbank. I pulled. Agony exploded in my broken shoulder, but I didn't stop. 

I dragged myself out of the current, inch by agonizing inch, until half my body was resting on the wet stone.

I collapsed.

I couldn't move. My teeth chattered so violently I thought they would crack. Blood poured from my shoulder, mixing with the muddy water beneath me.

'I'm going to die here,' I thought, my vision blurring at the edges. I lost. Claire won.

Crunch. Crunch.

Footsteps, heavy boots stepping on the stone, walking slowly 

along the riverbank.

I tried to lift my head, but I was too weak. The boots stopped right in front of my face. Black leather. Covered in mud.

Someone knelt beside me. A hand reached out, grabbing my chin and leaning my face up. I couldn't see their face in the dark.

"Well, well," a deep, rough voice murmured. "Look what washed up."

I reached out with my freezing, mud-caked hand. I grabbed the edge of the stranger's leather boot, my fingers digging in with the last ounce of strength I had left in my body.

I coughed up a mouthful of river water.

I didn't ask for help. I didn't beg for my life. I just looked up into the darkness, my eyes burning with a hatred that was hotter than the freezing river.

"Claire," I whispered, the name tasting like blood on my lips. "I'm going to kill her."

\[THE END.......\]