Chapter 4

"Miss Sienna, I have a meeting. If that's all, get out of my way."

Sienna turned ghost-white.

"Sienna, come here."

Caspian was standing nearby. He shot me a look so cold I could've been his sworn enemy.

Fine by me.

I pulled away and walked off.

Less than an hour later, my phone blew up.

"Miss Aurora, it's a disaster!" The family's consigliere sounded frantic. "The offshore investment your father brokered went south!"

My blood went cold.

It was a billion-dollar project. On paper, it was real estate. In reality, it was the family's biggest money-laundering pipeline.

My father pulled every political string he had as Senator to greenlight it.

"What happened?" I forced myself to stay calm.

"The offshore accounts leaked. The FBI is sniffing around."

I nearly dropped my phone.

Only three people had access to those accounts: Caspian, Sienna, and me.

And I never touched the actual operations.

An emergency family meeting was called in ten minutes.

I rushed to the boardroom. All the capos and underbosses sat at the long table, their faces grim.

Caspian sat at the head, looking like a thunderstorm.

Sienna sat on his right, keeping her head down.

"You all know the situation," Caspian started, his voice chilling. "Someone leaked the intel."

A capo slammed his fist on the table. "How does a rookie mistake like this happen?"

"Now is not the time to point fingers," another capo said. "The Feds are looking at the books. We need to cut our losses now."

All eyes turned to Caspian, waiting for his call.

I looked at Sienna. She was pale as a sheet, her hands shaking violently under the table.

"It was my mistake." I watched Sienna's shaking hands. I suddenly wanted to see just how far Caspian would go for her. So, I spoke up coldly. "I used an unsecured network while checking the offshore books."

Sienna’s head snapped up. She looked shocked, like she’d just been thrown a lifeline.

But before I could say another word, Caspian’s ruthless voice cut me off:

"No. It wasn't Aurora."

I almost breathed a sigh of relief, until he dropped the hammer.

"It was my father-in-law's political funds. His people leaked it. I'm handing the Senator over to the FBI to shut down the investigation."

The room went dead silent.

I couldn't believe my ears. My blood turned to ice.

"Caspian, you know that's a lie," I hissed.

He didn't even glance at me. "Shut up, Aurora. It's family business."

After the meeting, Sienna practically ran out.

The others filtered out until only Caspian and I were left.

"Are you insane?" I stood up, glaring at him. "You know it was Sienna! Only the three of us had clearance! You're sacrificing my father just to protect her?!"

Caspian towered over me, his eyes full of exhaustion and disappointment:

"Is this your idea of a game, Aurora?" Caspian sneered. "Did you think taking the fall would make the capos suspect Sienna? Since when did you get so manipulative?"

He looked at me like I was a psycho. "Sienna took a bullet for this family. All you do is shift the blame and set people up. Burning a senator to save my second-in-command is just good business."

I stared at him blankly. It felt like a knife was carving up my heart piece by piece.

"You're burning my father to save her." It wasn't a question. It was a fact.

"I am protecting the family," he said coldly. "A senator's career is a fair trade for the family's survival."

My fingers absentmindedly touched my chest.

There was no physical wound, but the pain was killing me.

The next day, the news was everywhere.

State Senator Under Investigation for Dirty Money

Rising Political Star Falls: Senator Charged with Money Laundering

The entire elite circle was treating my family like a joke.

My phone rang non-stop. Reporters wanting a scoop, friends wanting gossip.

I ignored them all.

At 3 PM, I changed into casual clothes and packed all my personal stuff into a cardboard box.

I bumped into Caspian at the elevators.

He saw my box and scoffed. "You're throwing a fit over this?"

"The FBI took my father," I said, completely deadpan.

He actually looked relieved. He reached out to ruffle my hair, just like old times.

"Don't worry, baby. Once the heat dies down, I'll put your dad in an even higher seat."

"What's a senator? If I want to, I can make him Governor. Stop throwing a fit and wait for me at home tonight."

He said it so casually. Like my father's entire life was just a pawn on his chessboard.

Like my family's twenty years of hard work could be trashed and replaced on a whim.

"Okay," I said quietly.

Then I walked out of the building that had trapped me for twenty-five years, without ever looking back.

As the elevator doors closed, I saw him standing there, a flash of confusion in his eyes.

He thought I was just throwing another tantrum. That I'd be back in a few days.

He didn't know I was never coming back.