Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Refused the Crown
By Monday morning, Sarah Collins had become the most photographed woman in New York.
Reporters surrounded NYU.
Cameras waited outside the hospital.
Strangers analyzed her clothes, her childhood, her grades, and even the inexpensive apartment she rented.
Sarah hated every second.
Gabriel offered security.
She accepted only after someone followed her from the subway.
He offered a driver.
She refused.
“You’re being unreasonable.”
“I take the subway.”
“You are currently the disputed heir to almost two billion dollars.”
“I still have a MetroCard.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Sarah stared back.
Marco, standing nearby, suddenly became fascinated by the ceiling.
Gabriel finally sighed.
“Fine. Two guards on the subway.”
Sarah smiled.
“Deal.”
The legal battle moved quickly.
Nathaniel’s DNA records confirmed paternity.
Rebecca’s preserved documents proved that Nathaniel had acknowledged Sarah privately.
The trust was authentic.
Arthur’s attorneys fought everything.
But the most damaging evidence came from Arthur himself.
The recorded terminal conversation triggered investigations into fraud, kidnapping, obstruction, and Nathaniel Collins’s death.
Sarah’s twenty-third birthday arrived with reporters waiting outside the courthouse.
Her attorney placed a stack of papers before her.
“Sign these and Collins Atlantic becomes yours.”
Sarah stared at the signature line.
Two billion dollars.
Her entire life had been spent worrying about money.
Now a pen stroke could make money irrelevant.
She thought she would feel powerful.
Instead, she felt sad.
Her father should have been there.
Her mother should have been healthy.
She signed.
Then she did something nobody expected.
At her first board meeting, Sarah walked into a glass conference room filled with executives who expected an inexperienced girl.
She remained standing.
“I’m not qualified to run this company.”
Several directors exchanged glances.
“So I’m not going to pretend I am.”
That surprised them.
“I will finish nursing school.”
More surprise.
“I’m appointing an independent executive team. Every company account will undergo forensic audit.”
Now people looked nervous.
“And if anyone stole one dollar from an employee, pension fund, customer, or shareholder, I want it found.”
Afterward, Gabriel waited outside.
“You terrified them.”
“I told them I don’t know how to run a corporation.”
“Exactly.”
She laughed.
Gabriel realized he liked the sound.
They walked through Central Park that evening without photographers for the first time in days.
Sarah wore jeans and a gray coat.
Gabriel wore a black overcoat that probably cost more than her old semester tuition.
“You’re staring,” she said.
“I’m thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
He almost smiled.
“Why nursing?”
“My mom.”
Sarah looked ahead.
“When she got hurt, I spent months in hospitals. Some doctors barely looked at her. But one nurse remembered how she liked her tea.”
Gabriel listened.
“I decided I wanted to be the person who remembered the tea.”
He was silent.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You have a face.”
“I always have a face.”
“That one means something.”
Gabriel looked away.
“My mother died when I was nine.”
Sarah stopped.
He rarely spoke about her.
“She got sick. We had almost nothing then. My father borrowed money for treatment.”
“From Nathaniel?”
“Apparently.”
“Did she survive long?”
“Eleven months.”
Sarah touched his hand.
Gabriel stared at their fingers.
People touched him for many reasons.
Fear.
Sex.
Manipulation.
Loyalty.
Sarah touched him because she thought he was sad.
That was more dangerous than all of them.
“Sarah.”
“Yes?”
“You should stay away from me.”
Her expression changed.
“Why?”
“Because the headlines are not completely wrong.”
She waited.
“I am not a good man.”
Sarah released his hand.
“I know.”
The immediate answer surprised him.
She continued walking.
Gabriel followed.
“I’m not asking whether you know rumors.”
“I know you built your life around fear.”
She faced him.
“I know people obey you because they’re afraid of what happens if they don’t.”
“Yes.”
“And I know you’re trying to change things now.”
His jaw tightened.
“You cannot know that.”
“Then tell me I’m wrong.”
He could not.
Since the night at the restaurant, Gabriel had started dismantling operations his father once considered necessary.
Extortion.
Illegal gambling.
Political bribery.
He had begun separating Moretti Holdings from the criminal organization that created it.
Sarah somehow saw it.
“You make me want things I stopped wanting,” Gabriel admitted.
“What things?”
He looked at her.
“A life that doesn’t require locked doors.”
Sarah’s breath caught.
Gabriel moved closer.
But before he could kiss her, three black SUVs stopped beside the curb.
Marco exited the first.
His expression was grim.
“Gabriel.”
“What happened?”
“We found the missing audit.”
Sarah frowned.
“What audit?”
“The one Nathaniel ordered before he died.”
Marco handed Gabriel a folder.
Gabriel read the first page.
Then his face went cold.
Sarah noticed.
“What?”
He closed the folder.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Sarah.”
“Tell me.”
Gabriel hesitated.
The report documented Arthur’s theft.
But it documented something else too.
Antonio Moretti had discovered it.
And instead of immediately stopping Arthur, Antonio had accepted millions to remain silent for nearly a year.
Sarah read Gabriel’s face.
“My father trusted yours.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Her voice dropped.
“What did your father do?”
Gabriel handed her the folder.
Sarah read.
Her expression slowly changed.
When she looked up, tears filled her eyes.
“Your father helped him.”
“For eleven months.”
“He let Arthur steal from my father.”
“Yes.”
Sarah stepped away.
“And you knew?”
“I found out five minutes ago.”
She shook her head.
“I need time.”
“Sarah—”
“No.”
She walked toward the waiting car.
May you like
Gabriel did not follow.
Because for the first time, he understood that protecting Sarah from bullets might be easier than protecting what existed between them from the truth.
