Chapter 16: The Serpent’s Offer
The light of the flickering lamppost cast long, shifting shadows across Matteo’s face, making his dark hazel eyes look almost black in the damp gloom of the park. Natalie stood perfectly still, her breath forming faint plumes of white mist in the chilly night air. Every instinct screamed at her to step back, but she forced herself to maintain her posture of a broken, desperate woman.
"Matteo Vance," she whispered, her voice carrying a delicate tremble that was entirely manufactured. "You... you shouldn't be here. Sebastian said you were in Geneva."
Matteo let out a soft, mocking laugh, taking a step closer. The black umbrella he held now shielded both of them from the persistent drizzle. "Sebastian likes to believe his word is law, Natalie. He signs a piece of paper and thinks the universe bows to his commands. But as you’re quickly discovering, my little brother isn't a god. He's just a man who likes to play with dolls."
He reached out, his gloved hand hovering near her bare, shivering shoulder, but he didn't quite touch her. The gesture was surprisingly gentle, a stark, calculated contrast to the clinical, commanding touch Sebastian always utilized. Matteo was playing the savior.
"I saw the paparazzi photos hit the local feeds five minutes ago," Matteo continued, his voice dripping with smooth, venomous sympathy. "You looked magnificent out there. Like a woman who finally realized she’s been traded to a tyrant."
Natalie bit her lower lip, looking down at the damp gravel beneath her heels. "I didn't have a choice. My family—"
"Your family are cowards," Matteo interrupted, his tone turning sharp and fierce. "Arthur Lopez sold his own flesh and blood to cover his tracks. And Sebastian bought you just to prove he could dismantle the Lopez empire while keeping their prettiest asset as a trophy. It’s a sickening game, Natalie. And you don't deserve to be the casualty of their corporate warfare."
Natalie raised her eyes, letting a flicker of false hope cross her features. "And why do you care, Matteo? You're a Vance. Why should I trust anything a member of that family says to me?"
Matteo’s expression darkened, a flash of genuine, volatile hatred warping his handsome features for a split second before his smooth mask slid back into place. "Because I know exactly what it’s like to be stripped of everything by Sebastian. He stole my birthright, he turned the board against me, and he exiled me from the very empire I helped build. I don't just want to see him stumble, Natalie. I want to watch him lose the one thing he thinks he completely controls."
He reached into the pocket of his tailored trench coat and pulled out a small, encrypted burner phone, holding it out to her.
"There is a secondary account," Matteo whispered, leaning down so his hazel eyes locked onto hers with hypnotic intensity. "A massive pool of capital that Sebastian thinks is perfectly hidden within the Lopez acquisition. I know how to access it. But I need someone on the inside to bypass the local security grid at the estate. Give me the access logs from his study, Natalie, and I will give you enough financial independence to leave him tomorrow. I will provide the passport, the security, and a life where no one will ever treat you like property again."
Natalie stared at the small black phone resting in his palm. Her heart was hammering violently against her ribs, but inside her mind, a cold, sharp satisfaction took root. The trap had been sprung perfectly. Matteo had taken the bait exactly as she and Sebastian had predicted.
Slowly, deliberately, she reached out and took the burner phone from his hand, sliding it into her clutch.
"How do I know you won't just betray me when you get what you want?" she asked, tilting her chin up.
Matteo smiled—a dark, triumphant grin that showed he believed he had just won the ultimate piece on the board. "Because unlike my brother, Natalie, I actually know the value of an exceptional partner. Contact me when you have the logs. Don't let him see the phone."
With a polite, mocking bow, Matteo stepped backward into the shadows of the tree canopy, disappearing into the misty darkness of the park as quickly as he had arrived.
Natalie stood alone under the lamppost for a long moment, her fingers tightly gripping the burner phone inside her clutch. She didn't look back. She walked out of the park and signaled a waiting security vehicle that had been subtly tracking her from a distance—a vehicle she knew Sebastian had sent.
Ten minutes later, she was back at the Vance estate. She marched up the grand marble staircase and pushed open the heavy mahogany doors of the study.
Sebastian was standing by the desk, his charcoal jacket discarded, staring at a glowing monitor displaying the digital tabloid headlines of their restaurant fight. He turned around as she entered, his icy blue eyes instantly tracking her movement.
"Did he bite?" Sebastian asked, his deep voice slicing through the tense quiet of the room.
Natalie didn't say a word. She walked straight to his desk, opened her clutch, and slammed Matteo’s encrypted burner phone down onto the glass surface.
"He didn't just bite," Natalie said, a cold, lethal smile spreading across her lips as she looked into her husband's eyes. "He just handed us the keys to his own execution."
To be Continued...
