Chapter 5

Panic flooded him. He dialed the colleague immediately.

“Where is she right now?!”

“Oh, Attorney Sanchez, no need to come. Attorney Henson already boarded her flight.”

Otto shot to his feet and started calling, one number after another.

Call after call to Ann, none of them connecting.

He refused to give up and switched to texting.

“Ann, I know you’re upset I haven’t been around much lately, but you can’t just do this.”

“Where did you go? Answer me!”

Two glaring red exclamation marks stared back at him.

Ann had blocked him. That was impossible.

No matter how many fights they’d had before, no matter how bad things got, she had never

blocked him. She always replied within seconds. How could this be happening?

He grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

Maria walked out of the kitchen carrying a cake and caught him mid-stride.

She set it down and seized his sleeve.

“Otto, where are you rushing off to?”

He didn’t turn around. His voice was ice.

“I’m going back to Harbor City.”

The color drained from her face. She grabbed tighter.

“Why would you suddenly go back to Harbor City? You promised you’d stay here with me!”

“You’re going to find Ann, aren’t you? I’m your lawfully wedded wife!”

Otto wrenched free of her grip, his tone cutting.

“Ann resigned out of nowhere. Something happened. I need to find her.”

“She and I were together for years. I can’t just pretend she doesn’t exist.”

He left without looking back.

Maria stared at his retreating figure in disbelief, stamping her foot so hard the floor shook.

“Ann Henson, you miserable wretch! I won’t let you take him from me!”

She snatched up her phone and dialed, seething.

“Dad! When are you going to deal with Ann Henson? If she finds out who I really am, we’re

both finished.”

Adam’s voice came through the line, calm, telling her to be patient.

“Relax. I’ve already arranged a car accident. Once she’s dead, everything the Henson family

owns will be yours. She won’t threaten your position ever again.”

“Otto’s young. It’s normal that he can’t let go right away. Give it time. You’ve already married

him. That’s enough.”

The call ended. Maria lost it, sweeping everything off the counter in a frenzy, screaming at the

top of her lungs.

“Ann Henson! You’d better die, or I swear I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands!”

London.

1 stepped out of the airport, and there it was: a Rolls-Royce gleaming under the gray morning

light, impossible to miss.

“Miss Henson. I’ve been waiting for you.”

The man standing before me carried himself like old money. A simple black shirt, yet on him

it looked worth a fortune.

“I should be the one thanking you, Mr. Vance, for coming out here so early.”

Nicholas Vance.

The Crown Prince of Capital City. Every link in London’s commercial chain ran through his

hands. Anyone who mattered addressed him with deference.

The last time I saw him, I was three years old. If my mother hadn’t left behind that betrothal

agreement, I never would have found him.

“Ann, if you ever need help, you must go to him.”

“He will help you. I promise.”

The car pulled up to a sprawling estate. Servants lined both sides of the driveway and called

out in unison.

“Welcome home, Miss Henson.”

Nicholas waved a hand, a satisfied look on his face.

“Your grandfather’s assets here in London. I’ve kept every last one of them safe, just waiting for you to come claim them.”

He held out a thick stack of documents.

“Every domestic asset of the Henson Group has been transferred into your name. As for

Adam Swanson, his reckoning is coming.”

“Ann Henson, the Henson legacy is yours. No one can take it from you.”

I looked at everything laid out before me and, for the first time in a long while, I smiled.

Mom, I will avenge you.

The empire you and Grandpa built with your lives, I won’t let them steal a single piece of it. I’m

the one who truly deserves the Henson name.