Chapter 12: The Execution of a Legacy
I didn't want Julian to just lose his company on paper. I wanted him to understand exactly who had taken it from him.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Sebastian and I arrived at the Kensington Trust headquarters, located in a massive, historic stone building in the heart of the financial district. The lobby was in absolute chaos. Employees were frantic, packing boxes, while private security guards stood by looking lost.
We bypassed the front desk entirely. The private security detail flanking us—led by Sebastian’s massive head of security, Vance—cleared the path directly to the executive elevators.
When we stepped onto the top floor, the atmosphere was a suffocating nightmare of panic. We walked directly into Julian Kensington’s massive corner office.
Julian was standing behind his antique desk, his tie undone, his hair disheveled, shouting hysterically into a landline.
"What do you mean the accounts are locked?! I am Lord Kensington!" Julian screamed, his face red with desperation. He threw the phone violently against the wall, shattering it, as he finally noticed us standing in his doorway.
He froze. The arrogant, condescending aristocrat from the gala the night before was entirely gone. He looked like a cornered animal.
"You," Julian choked out, his hands shaking as he gripped the edge of his desk. "You actually did it. You stole my company."
"I didn't steal anything, Julian," I replied smoothly, walking slowly into the office, my stilettos clicking sharply on the hardwood floor. Sebastian stayed by the door, a lethal, immovable barrier preventing any escape. "You executed a hostile, unprovoked attack on my firm. You were so desperate to assert your dominance over a woman you deemed weak that you didn't bother to calculate the risk. You bought a ticking time bomb because your ego blinded you."
"The estate," Julian wept, tears of pure, selfish frustration spilling down his face. "My father’s house. It's gone. I have nothing left. I am a laughingstock."
"You have exactly what you earned," I stated coldly, stopping just inches from his desk. "You looked at my empire, my peace, and my marriage, and you saw a weakness to exploit. You thought I was a figurehead. You thought Sebastian was holding my leash."
Sebastian let out a dark, booming laugh that rattled the glass windows. "She holds mine, Julian. She always has."
"I have lawyers in the House of Lords," Julian stammered, a final, pathetic attempt at defiance. "I'll have you investigated for extortion!"
"You can't afford a lawyer, Julian," I pointed out practically. "Your personal accounts were absorbed to cover the debt deficit. You are officially destitute."
I reached into my designer handbag, pulled out a perfectly pressed twenty-pound note, and dropped it onto his desk.
May you like
"For a cab," I said softly, my eyes devoid of any mercy. "Since your corporate fleet is currently being repossessed in the parking garage below us."
I turned my back on the weeping, ruined man. I walked out of the office, Sebastian falling into step perfectly beside me. We left Julian Kensington alone in a historic tower he no longer owned, screaming into the void of his own absolute destruction.
