Chapter 21 - the shattered watch
A decade after Dante and Clara passed away, Sophie ruled the massive corporate and philanthropic conglomerate with flawless, untouchable grace. The sprawling Beverly Hills estate remained a fortress of absolute peace. She had honored her parents by turning the former criminal syndicate into a highly respected global empire of light, funding hospitals and orphanages around the world.
But the darkest sins of the past are never truly buried; they merely mutate in the shadows. One rainy evening, a heavy wooden box was delivered directly to Sophie's mahogany desk in the executive penthouse. It had somehow bypassed the elite biometric scanners without triggering a single alarm, a feat that should have been mathematically impossible.
Sophie opened the box with a silver letter opener. Resting on a bed of black velvet was a completely shattered pocket watch. It was the exact antique watch that belonged to Vincenzo, the treacherous grandfather who had tried to murder her mother decades ago before Dante executed him.
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Sophie's jaw locked into unyielding stone. Vincenzo was dead, but someone was actively carrying on his toxic, venomous hatred. A single note rested beneath the watch, demanding the immediate surrender of the entire corporate empire, or the city would burn. The long era of peace was violently ending. Sophie did not panic. She inherited her father's terrifyingly cold composure, completely ready for war.
👉 read part 22 to see sophie uncover the hidden enemy.
