The Last Heir Standing
1135 Words
"She wasn't ever just a girl, Damian. She was the insurance."
Julian's words cut through the study's silence like glass on floorboards. Damian braced himself against the tall windows of the Crosse estate, his reflection blurred against the black panes. In his other hand, the folder Julian had carelessly sent tumbling just minutes before remained unopened.
He already knew.
Before the first signature was signed, before the wax seal and notarized stamps—that he knew.
Designated Successor: Vara Maris Crosse
Effective Immediately.
The file actually hissed in his hand.
Luciana was always ten steps ahead. But now, she'd struck. While Damian and Ava fretted about love, children, survival—Luciana fretted about control.
And she'd given it to the last person they suspected.
Vara.
DAMIAN
"She just disappeared," I said tightly. "No press. No contact. No statement. Just disappeared from Ava's side after the academy scandal."
Julian nodded. "Luciana moved her. Quietly. Brought her into the inner house in Montauk."
I wheeled around from the window, something hard splintering inside me.
"She's been grooming her?"
"For months. Mentorship, legal tutelage, exposure to the board."
"She's a child."
"She's a Cross."
And that, apparently, was all that was needed.
AVA — LISBON
Eliana drew a crayon heart above a drawing of our family on the small table beside the bed.
She hummed. Liam lay beside her, helping her to draw a castle.
The villa we'd rented was small but had hot heavy air—like the walls knew what I'd left behind in New York.
My phone buzzed.
An international alert from Julian.
> Luciana's gone dark. But Vara's requested emergency over control of all board votes effective immediately.
****
I slowly stood up.
My chest tightened.
"They're going to kill Damian."
----
DAMIAN — CROSEE ESTAT
She strode in as though she was home.
Vara. Black leather gloves. Slate-gray coat. Chin up. Same eyes Ava used to say were "soft with fire."
Now they were pointed.
She strode into the boardroom as though she had been carved from it. She did not glance in my direction. She did not need to.
She sat down in Luciana's former chair and unbound her binder as though she had done so a thousand times.
“I called this emergency session,” she said, her voice calm. “To preserve the integrity of the Crosses.”
A shiver slid down my spine.
Because she didn’t sound like a girl.
She sounded like Luciana.
---
AVA
I walked the balcony, wind pressing against my coat, heart splitting with every step.
I was halfway across the world with our children.
Damian was fighting the wolves alone.
And somehow—I’d made peace with that.
Until now.
I wasn't prepared to go back. But I wasn't prepared to sit on my hands and let him lose everything either.
Losing control didn't imply that we lost the business.
It meant we lost Eliana.
Forever.
---
DAMIAN — CROSEE BOARDROOM
"You're out of order," I growled, voice low.
"No," Vara retorted. "You're out of time."
She thrust a packet across the table—pre-completed transition documents. She was taking charge herself as interim CEO subject to a "permanent restructure."
Board signatures already completed.
Three chairs down, Rachel glanced up—eyes inscrutable.
"Rachel," I said.
But she didn't answer.
Vara rapped her pen twice.
"We can do this professionally, Damian. Stand aside. Politically endorse the handover. And we keep your participation with Ava in effect."
My jaw set.
"And if I don't?"
She bent forward, smiling.
"Then I call on the clause."
---
LIAM — LISBON
I could hear her sobbing behind the wall.
Ava.
She did not cry often. But when she did, it was not raucous. It was glass breaking quietly.
Eliana slept.
I stayed outside her door until she opened it.
"You okay?" I asked.
"No."
"You want to go back inside?"
She shook her head.
"I have to."
DAMIAN
The clause.
Buried in the Crosse Family Foundation bylaws.
It stated:
> “Should a primary heir engage in hostile behavior toward the board, and should a secondary heir be named in absence of stability, said secondary heir may take custody of all minor Crosse descendants if a court deems instability.”
Vara didn’t need my cooperation.
She just needed a crisis.
And I’d just handed her one.
---
AVA
Rachel called at 2:04 a.m.
“She's moving quickly.”
“She has the votes?”
"She no longer needs them. The clause gives her temporary guardianship in case your marriage breaks up after more than the engagement duration."
"How long do we have?"
"Five days."
I swallowed hard.
"What will happen after that?"
Rachel hesitated.
"She cuts Eliana off from both of you. For life. It's all locked under trustee arbitration."
"Then I'm returning."
"Ava—"
"I'm returning this night."
---
DAMIAN
I ran into Rachel in the east hall.
"Why didn't you prevent her?"
"I tried."
"You signed the ballots."
"I signed to delay the damage. Without me, she'd have signed a full severance clause."
"What else is she going to do?"
Rachel paused.
"Something personal."
"Be specific."
"She's requested a public hearing."
I stood up straight.
"She's turning this into a press stunt?"
"She wants to humiliate you before she puts you out of your job."
AVA — ON THE PLANE
Eliana slept soundly on Liam's shoulder.
I looked out the window, fingers clutching at a folder Julian had sent me electronically.
In it were four signatures.
Vara. Luciana. A trustee. And…
Rachel.
> "The mother has proved unstable. Emotional inconsistency. History of vanishing."
"The father has violated ethical obligations to protection of heritage."
"Guardianship, therefore, must pass to the sole competent party: Vara Crosse."
They were portraying me incompetent.
They were portraying Damian negligent.
And the board?
Was buying it.
---
DAMIAN
I was standing outside the old conservatory, the place where I first kissed Ava when we were teenagers.
And now it was closed off. Condemned. Symbolic, in every way.
Julian found me minutes later.
“She’s back.”
I turned slowly.
“Ava?”
“She just landed.”
“And Eliana?”
“With her.”
He handed me an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“She’s filing for emergency guardianship against Vara.”
My eyes widened.
“She’s going to the court?”
“She’s going to war.”
As the Crosse estate’s lights glowed across the cliffside, Vara stood in her new office, staring out across th
e sea.
A knock came.
She turned.
Ava entered.
Face calm.
Voice low.
"This ends now."
Vara smiled, a cold and proud smile.
"No, Ava. This is where you end."
And she pulled out the final document.
Signed by Luciana before she vanished.
A full disinheritance clause.
For Ava.
For Liam.
For Damian.
- Writer
