Strip off that coat and go clear dirty plates in the banquet hall, Nia—you're staff tonight, not family, my mother-in-law Evelyn snapped, her voice echoing across the candlelit grand ballroom.
Evelyn collapsed back into her chair, a choked sob escaping her lips. Her polished facade had shattered completely. Her former business partners, sensing the shift in power, actively avoided her gaze, many of them already on their phones, likely restructuring their own allegiances.
Marcus, finally finding his voice, tried to interject. “But Cassius, my mother… this is a mistake! Our family has served the syndicate for generations!”
Before he could say another word, two of Cassius’s enforcers moved to him, grabbing him firmly by the arms. Marcus struggled, but their grip was like iron. He was not being detained for the same reason as Evelyn, but as a flight risk or for further questioning.
Cassius, his attention now solely on me, stepped away from the microphone. He walked to the center table, where the original covenant and the modern printouts lay side by side. He reached into a small velvet pouch and retrieved a heavy, ornate signet ring—the mark of the Obsidian Vault’s true authority.
He held it out to me.
“Nia Hollis,” Cassius stated, his voice ringing with formal recognition, “as the legal heir to Elias Hollis, and by the terms of the 2014 Vault Charter, I officially hand you the master signet ring and administrative rights to the Obsidian Vault.”
The weight of the ring felt foreign, yet strangely right, as it settled into my palm. Its cool metal against my skin felt like destiny.
“You are now recognized as the sole legal authority over this venue’s shadow revenues and its operations,” Cassius concluded, his gaze steady, assessing. “May you rule with the same adherence to the law as your father.”
A wave of murmurs, a mix of shock and grudging respect, swept through the room. A formerly disgraced felon, cast out and humiliated, now sat at the head of one of Atlanta’s most critical underworld assets. It was an unprecedented power shift.
Evelyn watched, her eyes burning holes through me, as I slid the signet ring onto my finger. Her empire had crumbled, not with a bang, but with the quiet turning of an old parchment.
The fall of Dupree Capital was complete.
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