Chapter 320: [4.138] Four Queens Against the Matriarch

I stood in that underground vault, surrounded by four women clutching letters from their dead father, and felt something shift behind my ribs. Something that had been carefully locked away for years.

This was what family looked like. Real family. The kind that planned for the worst while hoping for better. The kind that left weapons and instructions and declarations of love for the people who’d have to carry on alone.

My father had left nothing. My mother had left a text and three hundred stolen dollars.

Richard Valentine had left his daughters an arsenal.

"We should go," Vivienne said eventually, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "These documents need to reach the lawyers. Felix’s father’s team is waiting."

"Then we prepare for the meeting," Sabrina added. "Mother expects to intimidate Isaiah into running. Instead, we’re going to demonstrate that we’re finished with her games."

Cassidy folded her letter carefully, then tucked it inside her bra, directly over her heart. "Time to burn everything down."

I looked at them. Four women who’d been set against each other since birth, now standing together for the first time. Four hearts that Richard Valentine had tried to protect even from the grave.

They were incredible.

And in five hours, we’d be facing the woman who’d spent years trying to break them apart.

"One more thing," I said.

All four turned to look at me.

I pulled out my phone and called Felix. He picked up on the first ring.

"Isaiah. Please tell me you’re still breathing."

"For now. I need something."

"Name it."

"Those lawyers your dad keeps on retainer. The terrifying ones you mentioned. Can you get them to Valentine Holdings by two-thirty?"

Felix went quiet for a second. Then he laughed, genuine and delighted.

"You magnificent son of a bitch. You’re not planning to survive this meeting. You’re planning to win it."

"That’s the idea."

"I’ll have a full legal team there by two. Documents authenticated, witnesses on standby, the complete package. Mother dearest won’t see it coming."

"Thanks, Felix."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Oh, and Isaiah?"

"Yeah?"

"Destroy her."

I ended the call and looked back at the sisters. They were watching me with expressions I couldn’t quite read. Something between gratitude and awe and maybe a little fear.

"What?" I asked.

"You’re actually doing this," Vivienne said. "You’re going to war with Camille Valentine."

"We’re going to war," I corrected. "All of us. Together."

Sabrina smiled then, a real smile that reached her eyes for the first time since I’d met her.

"Together," she repeated.

And in that moment, surrounded by four women holding their father’s final words and enough legal ammunition to tear their mother’s empire apart, I realized something important.

I wasn’t just dating them anymore.

I was part of this family.

For better or worse, I was all in.

The Mercedes was waiting where we’d left it, Ricardo standing at attention beside the passenger door. He took one look at the sisters’ tear-stained faces and the box of documents Sabrina carried, and his expression softened.

"To the lawyers?" he asked.

"To the lawyers," Sabrina confirmed.

The drive to the law offices of Beaumont and Associates took twenty minutes. Felix’s father had the top three floors of a building in Midtown, glass and steel and the kind of quiet power that came with representing people who actually ran things.

Felix was waiting in the lobby when we arrived, which surprised me. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

"Couldn’t resist," he said when he saw my expression. "Also, my father wanted to meet the people who were about to take down Camille Valentine. He’s a fan of poetic justice."

We rode the elevator to the twenty-third floor in silence. The sisters clutched their letters. I carried the box of documents. Felix bounced on his heels like a kid on Christmas morning.

The doors opened onto a reception area that screamed old money and older power. The receptionist took one look at Sabrina and immediately picked up her phone.

"Mr. Beaumont, they’re here."

Felix’s father appeared thirty seconds later. Marcus Beaumont was in his late fifties, built like someone who’d played rugby in college and never quite stopped. His suit probably cost more than my entire wardrobe, and his handshake felt like a test.

"Miss Valentine," he said to Sabrina, then nodded at the rest of us. "Ladies. Mr. Angelo. Please, come with me."

He led us into a conference room that could have held thirty people. Instead, it held five lawyers, three paralegals, and enough documentation to reconstruct the entire history of Valentine Holdings from memory.

"I’ve been reviewing your father’s original will," Marcus said without preamble. "Along with the amendments filed after his death. Your mother was... thorough."

"But not legal?" Vivienne asked.

"Not entirely, no." Marcus gestured to one of the lawyers, a severe woman in her forties. "Ms. Chen specializes in inheritance law. She’ll explain."

Ms. Chen opened a folder and slid several documents across the table. "Your father’s will was quite clear. He established a trust that would distribute equal shares to all four daughters upon the youngest reaching age eighteen, with operational control to be determined by a majority vote among the four of you. Your mother filed amendments claiming emotional distress and your father’s diminished capacity at the time of signing, which a sympathetic judge granted based on medical records showing his declining health."

"But?" Sabrina prompted.

"But your father anticipated this possibility," Ms. Chen continued. "He had three independent physicians evaluate his mental capacity the day he signed the will. Their reports, which we now have thanks to the contents of his safety deposit box, conclusively demonstrate he was of sound mind. The amended will should never have been approved."

"Meaning?" Cassidy asked.

"Meaning your mother’s changes are invalid," Marcus said. "The original will stands. You four own Valentine Holdings equally. No single heir. No competition. Just four sisters who can decide together how to run their father’s company."