The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 275

Chapter 243: The Marchetti Succession

Bella POV

“This is something you deserve to hear from me directly,” Sebastien said. His image was steady on my laptop screen. His study behind him was perfectly neat, just as it always was. “You should not hear this from a lawyer in a letter, or from a board member in a meeting you were not invited to.”

I shifted slowly on the couch. I put one hand against the curve of my stomach. It was already sticking out quite a bit now at four months. My lower back had a new, constant ache, and it was hard to find a position that did not pull on my muscles.

“Go ahead,” I said, leaning back against a pillow.

“As my eldest biological child,” Sebastien said, leaning closer to his camera, “your position in the Marchetti succession is legally significant. It is not just an idea on paper, Bella. It is significant. The structure of our family trust and the chairmanship pathway were built decades ago. It was all based on the assumption of one line of children. You are part of that line, whether either of us expected it or not.”

“You are not pressuring me,” I said. It was more of a statement than a question. I watched his eyes through the screen to find the truth.

“I am informing you,” he corrected gently, shaking his head. “The option exists. It is yours to consider on your own timeline. There is absolutely no obligation attached to just thinking about it.”

Beside him on the screen, slightly out of frame but still visible at the edge, Olivier sat very still. His jaw was clenched tight.

He was holding himself together through pure force of will.

He had clearly been told this conversation was going to happen today. He had chosen to be present anyway, which told me how far we had come since our talk in that café.

Somewhere further back in the room, barely in frame, Enzo waved his arm wildly at the camera. His mouth was totally full of food. He was eating directly out of a plastic container with no plate anywhere near him.

“Hi, Bella!” Enzo called out. He did not care at all about the serious mood unfolding three feet away from him.

“Hi, Enzo,” I said. I felt some of the tight tension in my chest loosen up. It was so silly. Only Enzo could ruin a heavy family moment like that, and nobody even minded.

“Is Caleb looking after you?” Enzo asked, swallowing his food. “He better be making you those little sandwiches you like.”

“He is,” I smiled. “He is watching me like a hawk.”

“Good!” Enzo shouted. “Tell him I will fight him if he does not.”

Sebastien cleared his throat, looking back at his papers. “Ignore your brother, Bella. Take all the time you need. This is a very massive choice for your future.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I will take a few days to think it through properly.”

Chapter 2 The Marchetti Succession

Sebastien accepted that without pushing at all.

It took me three days to decide. I spent most of that time talking it through with Caleb late at night. We always waited until Tom and Grace were fast asleep and the house went completely quiet.

On the third night, we were both lying in the dark. Caleb’s large, warm hand rested flat against my stomach.

“What do you want, Bella?” Caleb asked me softly. His thumb rubbed a small circle on my skin. “Forget about the lawyers and your father. What does your gut tell you?”

“I do not want the chairmanship,” I said. The moment the words came out of my mouth, the truth felt solid and certain. “I have my own empire, Caleb. I built Hart Worldwide from nothing because nobody was ever going to hand me a single thing. I am not interested in walking into a company that was just handed to me, even if it is technically mine by blood.”

“But you are still thinking about it,” Caleb noted quietly in the dark. “What is the ‘but’?”

“But I do not want to be erased from it either,” I said slowly, working out the thoughts as I spoke. “I want a seat at the table. Not as charity. Not a token chair they give me just to look generous to the press. I want an actual equal partnership, structured the way a real, powerful board seat should be.”

“That sounds exactly right for you,” Caleb said, his voice full of pride. “You belong at any table you choose. What else is on your mind?”

I stayed quiet for a moment, my chest felt a little tight as I thought about the past.

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