Chapter 6 - THE BLOODLINE'S PRICE
The fire took three days to fully extinguish.
The Lake Geneva mansion,
the symbol of the Montgomery power,
was reduced to a blackened skeleton of stone and ash.
Eleanor had been found on the balcony,
refusing to leave until the smoke took her.
She died as she lived—surrounded by her own pride and a legacy that was already dead.
I stood at the edge of the property,
the smell of burnt wood and expensive history clinging to the air.
Ethan stood beside me,
holding Liam’s hand.
"She didn't leave a will,"
Ethan said,
his voice hollow.
"Just a note in the safe."
"What did it say?"
"It said 'A Montgomery never surrenders'."
I looked at the ruins.
"She didn't surrender."
"She just lost."
The fallout of the scandal and the fire sent the Montgomery stock into a freefall.
The company would have been liquidated if I hadn't stepped in.
I merged Montgomery Logistics with Vance Digital.
I rebranded it: The Triad Group.
Named for the three boys who were now the sole heirs to everything.
But the transition wasn't easy.
The Hastings family tried to sue for breach of contract,
blaming me for the wedding’s collapse.
Senator Hastings appeared on every news channel,
calling me a "secretive manipulator."
But he underestimated my reach.
I released the recordings Maya had gathered—
The ones from the wedding planners.
The ones of Eleanor and the Senator discussing the "price" of Caroline’s hand.
The Senator’s career didn't survive the week.
Caroline,
however,
surprised me.
She came to my office in Chicago a month later.
She looked different—no pearls,
no silk.
Just a woman in a trench coat.
"I wanted to say thank you,"
she said.
"For what?"
"For showing me the truth before I walked into that fire."
"My father is...
he's a complicated man."
"He didn't care about my happiness."
"I know the feeling,"
I said,
gesturing to the chair.
"What will you do now?"
"I’m moving to New York."
"Starting over."
"I just wanted you to know...
the boys are beautiful."
"They have your eyes."
I smiled.
"No, Caroline."
"They have their own."
As she left,
I felt the last of the old Montgomery weight lift.
The enemies were gone.
The rivals were silenced.
But the real work was just beginning.
Ethan was working for Triad now,
in a junior position.
He had to earn his way back up,
just like I had.
Every weekend,
he took the boys.
He was a father,
slowly and painfully.
But as I sat in my office overlooking the city,
I realized I wasn't waiting for him to save me anymore.
May you like
I had built my own castle.
And I was the only one with the keys.
