It was not love yet.
But it was respect, which felt almost as rare.
Emmett continued trying to control her.
Dr Callaway arrived without warning, claiming Rosalie required an urgent mental evaluation. Manuel turned him away in front of the entire household.
Two days later, Rosalie’s assistant, Naomi, mistakenly drank hot chocolate intended for Rosalie and collapsed.
An independent doctor found a dangerous amount of sedative in the cup.
“It was meant for me,” Rosalie said beside Naomi’s hospital bed.
That night, Rosalie led Manuel to her mother’s private archive room, which Emmett had been legally forced to transfer to Pinecrest.
The key opened a locked chest.
Inside were letters, bank records, and a notebook written in Lorelei’s coded language. Ordinary household words concealed illegal payments. “Candles” meant bribes. “Repairs” referred to money paid to corrupt officials.
Together, Rosalie and Manuel decoded the ledger.
Emmett had stolen the inheritance Lorelei left to Rosalie—land, company shares, and a trust that would become hers upon marriage or when she turned thirty.
