haven

Chapter 4 - The Walk of Shame on the Marina Docks

By 4:15 PM, The Golden Sovereign was docked at Pier 54 in Manhattan under the watchful escort of two NYPD Harbor Unit cruisers.

The dock was swarming with private port authority security, federal bailiffs, and photojournalists from the New York Financial Chronicle who had been tipped off by Kira’s legal team.

Julian rushed down the gangway behind me, his sunglasses gone, his hair disheveled by the Atlantic wind, looking desperate and completely shattered.

“Sienna! Wait! Please!” Julian cried out, catching my arm on the wooden pier.

Two private security guards in black suits stepped in front of him instantly, their hands resting firmly against their tactical holsters.

“Let him speak,” I told the guards, turning around slowly.

Julian fell to his knees on the wooden planks of the dock, tears glistening in his eyes. “Sienna... I swear I didn't know! If I had known you were the Sienna Vance of Vantage Capital, I would have never let my mother speak to you like that! I would have protected you!”

I looked down at him with quiet, unshakeable pity.

“That’s the difference between you and a real man, Julian,” I said softly. “You only think someone deserves respect when you find out they hold power over you. When you thought I was just a barista making six dollars an hour, you watched your mother push me toward the ocean and told me to go downstairs so I wouldn't upset her.”

“I was scared of losing my inheritance!” Julian wept, clutching the hem of my coat. “My dad told me if I defended you, he’d cut off my trust fund! I love you, Sienna! We’ve been together for eight months!”

“You loved the convenience of having an obedient girl in private while you performed for your arrogant family in public,” I answered, pulling my coat from his grasp. “The trust fund is gone, Julian. The yacht is gone. The brownstone will be padlocked by sunset.”

Behind him, Charles and Eleanor were being escorted down the gangway by port police officers, forced to carry their designer luggage by hand past dozens of flashing press cameras. Eleanor’s makeup was ruined by frantic tears; Charles was shouting hoarsely at the reporters, desperately trying to shield his face with a damp linen napkin.

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“Madam President,” Kira said, holding open the door of a black armored Maybach idling at the curb. “The board of directors is assembled at the Midtown tower for the emergency liquidation vote.”

I stepped into the car without looking back.

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