Inheritance ✔

Chapter 21 - Divide

"Sixty."

"Seventy."

I waited. Let the tension breathe.

Then I pressed again.

"One hundred."

The room went still.

The auctioneer's eyes gleamed. "We have a top bidder."

The countdown began.

Three. Two—

The lights cut.

All screens blinked out.

Gasps. Murmurs. Then—

A slow clap.

That voice.

Like whiskey and ash.

Dagon Stallard stepped onto the stage.

He looked different now. Sharper. Leaner. Dressed in tailored black, his hair slicked back, a ring glinting on his left hand—an ouroboros wrapped around a red stone.

He didn't even glance at the crowd.

He looked only at me.

"Roxanne," he drawled. "Or should I say... Laurier Ashford?"

My stomach dropped.

But I didn't move.

Didn't blink.

He smiled. "You really think you could walk into my house, dressed in someone else's face, and steal from me?"

My voice was low. Cold. "I don't steal what's already mine."

Dagon chuckled. "Possession is nine-tenths of the law, darling. And he"—he gestured to Renzo, still chained—"belongs to me now."

I stood.

Guards stepped forward, weapons shifting.

But Dagon raised a hand.

"Not yet," he said. "Let her come."

I moved to the stage slowly.

Each step calculated.

Each breath a held blade.

When I was close enough, I looked at Renzo.

His head lifted.

Barely.

But his eyes—they locked on mine.

He saw me.

"Laurier..." he rasped.

My heart broke in a hundred places.

But I didn't cry.

I faced Dagon.

"Let him go."

Dagon tilted his head. "Why should I?"

"I'll take his place."

A silence swept the room.

Then laughter.

Dagon raised an eyebrow. "You'd what?"

I stepped closer. "Release him. Take me instead. You want revenge, don't you? You want someone to break. So break me."

Renzo growled behind me. "Don't. You're not—"

"I'm not asking," I said without turning. "I'm ending this."

Dagon stepped forward, hand brushing my jaw.

"You'd really trade your life... for him?"

I stared him down. "I'd trade everything."

He smiled.

And for a terrifying moment—I thought he'd say yes.

But then his gaze shifted.

Hardened.

"No," he said quietly. "I want both."

He snapped his fingers.

The guards moved.

One raised a weapon.

I reached for the blade hidden in my thigh holster—too slow.

A shot rang out.

But not from them.

From above.

Silas's sniper.

Chaos erupted.

People screamed. Glass shattered. The guards spun.

And in the chaos—I moved.

Straight to Renzo.

He was barely standing.

I hit the shackle release code Silas had given me. They popped open with a hiss.

Renzo collapsed into me.

But his hand found my wrist.

"Behind," he breathed.

I spun—just in time to see a guard raise his gun.

Renzo kicked.

Straight through the man's kneecap.

He dropped, howling.

"I thought you were drugged," I whispered.

Renzo smirked—blood in his teeth. "Acting."

I pulled him up.

We ran.