Chapter 3 - The Secret in the Vault
I woke up the next morning to the sound of seagulls crying over the lake and sunlight streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows.
The guest suite was larger than my entire apartment. On the silk-covered armchair sat a fresh set of clothes—a soft cream cashmere sweater, tailored charcoal trousers, and leather boots. They fit me with terrifying precision, down to the exact size of my waist.
After changing, I walked down the long corridor, guided by the rich smell of brewing coffee.
I found Mason in a sunlit library on the ground floor. He was wearing a dark gray dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing thick, corded forearms covered in subtle black tattoos. He was sitting at a massive mahogany desk, reviewing a stack of blue blueprints.
"Good morning, Emily," he said without looking up, gesturing to a silver tray set with coffee, fresh pastries, and fruit. "Did you sleep well?"
"Mason," I said, ignoring the food and walking straight to his desk. "I need to go back to my gallery. I have a job. I have a life."
He set his pen down and looked up, leaning back in his leather chair. "Your gallery was purchased two hours ago."
I blinked. "What?"
"The owner, Mr. Higgins, was eager to retire," Mason said casually, taking a sip of his black coffee. "I bought the building, the inventory, and the lease. You are no longer an employee, Emily. You are the sole director and curator of the Bennett Fine Art Foundation."
"You can't just buy my life!" I shouted, anger suddenly flaring through my confusion. "You can't just pull me out of my world, buy my workplace, and decide who I am!"
Mason stood up slowly, his tall frame blocking out the sunlight behind him. He walked around the desk until he was standing directly in front of me.
"I didn't buy your life to control you, Emily," he said, his voice dropping into a serious, heavy tone. "I bought it to protect you."
"Protect me from what? Victoria?"
"From what's inside this," Mason said, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a heavy, antique steel box sealed with a heavy brass lock.
He set it on the desk between us.
"What is that?" I asked, my anger faltering as a cold knot of anxiety formed in my stomach.
"Three days ago, my men intercepted a safe deposit box belonging to your late mother," Mason said. "Your family thought she died penniless fifteen years ago, leaving you and Victoria in the care of your uncle."
"She did die penniless," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "We spent years paying off her medical debts."
"She didn't die penniless, Emily," Mason said, picking up a silver key and sliding it into the lock. "She was the primary trustee of the Vance-Cassel Estates—a four-hundred-million-dollar land trust holding forty percent of the commercial real estate in downtown Chicago."
The lock clicked open with a heavy metallic sound. Mason lifted the lid.
Inside lay stacks of old leather-bound deeds, stocks, and a sealed yellow envelope addressed to Emily Cassel.
Not Victoria.
Emily.
"Your mother didn't leave her estate to your uncle or Victoria," Mason revealed, his gray eyes locking onto mine with fierce intensity. "She left it exclusively to you. But your uncle and Victoria hid the will, forged your signature on bankruptcy documents when you were eighteen, and have been living off the interest while keeping you broke and dependent."
I stumbled back, my hands gripping the edge of the mahogany desk to keep from collapsing.
Four hundred million dollars? My mother had left me an empire? And the sister I had spent my life deferring to—the family I had served and sacrificed for—had stolen my life, lied to my face, and forced me into poverty while they lived in luxury?
"Why..." I choked out, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. "Why would they do that to me?"
"Because you were quiet," Mason said, coming around the desk and pulling me firmly against his chest, his arms wrapping around me like an impenetrable shield. "Because they knew if you ever realized your own strength, you would crush them. But they made one mistake."
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"What mistake?" I sobbed against his shirt.
"They didn't know I was going to find out," Mason growled softly into my hair. "And now, my sweet Emily... we are going to take back everything they stole from you."
