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My Family Sold Me for $7 Million. I Owned Their Building
Novelix
Completed
"My family called me a curse. The day I was born, my father's company nearly collapsed. They shipped me off to my grandmother and forgot I existed—until they needed a daughter to sell. Eighteen years later, they dragged me home, kicked my bag across the marble floor, and tossed me a debit card with $15,000. ""Marry Victor Warren. Take the money. Disappear for good."" I signed their agreement. I walked into their boardroom. I let them sneer at my dusty sack and call me insane. Then Adrian Hawthorne picked up the deed that fell out. And my family learned that the ""curse"" they threw away actually owned their building. My Family Sold Me for $7 Million. I Owned Their Building."
Chapters (3)
第1章
My entire family believed I was cursed.
The day I was born, my father's company nearly went bankrupt. Before the hospital even discharged my mother, they sent me to live with my grandmother in a forgotten town upstate.
Eighteen years later, the company was in trouble again. Victor Warren had agreed to rescue it on one personal condition. He wanted a Monroe daughter as his wife. Chloe refused to go through with the bargain, so my family brought me home and ordered me to take her place.
My father, Richard Monroe, kicked aside the battered woven sack at my feet. Disgust twisted his face.
"Get that filthy thing out of my house. Our stock dropped the minute you walked through the door. You really are bad luck."
My mother, Diane, pulled my sister behind her as if I carried a contagious disease.
"If Victor weren't willing to pay seven million dollars for this marriage, I would never have let you poison this house again."
Chloe tossed a debit card at me. It skidded across the marble floor and stopped beside my sneaker.
"There's fifteen thousand in the account, and the PIN is on the back. Take the money and go marry him. Consider it payment for getting our family curse out of our lives for good."
I ignored her. My attention was on the sack Richard had knocked open.
Just last month, Grandma had left me ten furious voice messages.
"Come get these closing files out of my house, Avery! You buy apartment buildings like other people buy groceries. I don't have another feed sack big enough for all this paperwork."
If any of them had bothered to glance at the burgundy closing binders and certified title abstracts peeking through the zipper, they might not have assumed fifteen thousand dollars was enough to make me disappear.
"Not enough for you?"
Chloe planted the heel of her designer pump on the toe of my canvas sneaker. The debit card lay beside us.
She folded her arms and raised her chin.
Diane covered her nose and turned to the house manager.
"Mr. Lewis, put on gloves and throw out that sack. I don't want whatever is on it getting into the rug."
Mr. Lewis obeyed. He pulled on a pair of gloves and bent for the handles.
I closed my hand around them first.
He tugged twice. The sack did not move. Finally, he straightened and frowned at me.
Richard sat on the sofa and crushed out his cigar.
"Avery, letting you take Chloe's place in this deal is more generosity than you deserve. Victor is worth over a hundred million dollars. You'll live better with him than you ever did in that backwater town."
He nodded toward the card on the floor.
"Use that money to buy a decent dress. I won't have you embarrassing the Monroe name at the courthouse."
I tucked the exposed corners of several burgundy closing binders back into the sack and zipped it shut.
If they saw the documents now, the show would end before it began.
"I'll marry him," I said. "Give me my birth certificate and every identity document you kept when you sent me away."
Chloe laughed.
"Listen to her. She hears Victor is rich and suddenly she can't wait to become Mrs. Warren."
Diane's lip curled.
"That is all girls like her understand. Give her the papers and get her out of here."
Richard signaled to Mr. Lewis. A few minutes later, the house manager returned from upstairs with a document envelope.
I did not take it.
"I also want a family settlement and mutual release. I disclaim any inheritance from you, resign from every Monroe family trust, and waive any right to challenge your wills. In return, all three of you waive any claim to my property or income and acknowledge that I owe you nothing. Sign it, and I'll be at the marriage bureau tomorrow."
第2章
The living room went quiet.
Richard lit another cigar.
"Is this your idea of blackmail?"
"You said I was a curse." I set the sack beside my foot and took out my phone. "You also said the stock fell because I walked through your door. Cutting me loose should be good for Monroe Holdings."
Chloe thrust a finger toward my face.
"If we didn't need Victor's seven million, no one would care if you died in a ditch. Mom gave birth to you. You owe this family more than you could repay with your life."
Her fingernail came within an inch of my eye.
I caught her wrist and pressed it down.
Chloe cried out and dropped to one knee.
Diane swung her Hermès bag at my head. I stepped aside. The bag struck the coffee table and sent a crystal decanter and two glasses crashing to the floor.
Richard shot to his feet.
"Get out! Take your trash and get out of my house."
He rounded on Mr. Lewis.
"Call our attorney. Have him draft the agreement now. I want to see how long she lasts without the Monroe name and that fifteen thousand dollars."
Mr. Lewis hurried away to make the call.
I glanced at my phone. A message from Daniel Carter, my personal attorney, waited on the screen.
[Monroe Holdings has fallen below its initial offering price. Victor Warren is liquidating assets. He plans to use the South Harbor parcel as collateral for the rescue financing.]
I typed back.
[Let him try. The property's real owner will introduce herself tomorrow.]
Then I pocketed my phone and picked up Chloe's debit card.
Money was money. Fifteen thousand dollars would just about cover the ceramic coating Grandma wanted for her new Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
The attorney arrived half an hour later.
The agreement was comprehensive. I disclaimed any future inheritance from Richard and Diane, resigned as a beneficiary of every trust they controlled, and waived the right to contest their estate plans. They released me from every alleged family debt and permanently waived any claim to my property, income, trusts, or companies.
In exchange, I had to appear with Victor at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau before noon the next day. His attorney had already arranged an expedited judicial waiver of New York's waiting period and reserved a civil ceremony.
Richard signed, initialed each page, and threw the pen onto the table.
"Take your things to a hotel when you're done. I don't want to see you in this house again."
I picked up the pen and signed my name.
Avery Monroe.
Black ink on white paper. Eighteen years of obligation ended with two words.
From that moment on, when the Monroes went bankrupt, they would not be able to blame their cursed daughter.
第3章
At ten the next morning, I waited outside the Manhattan Marriage Bureau.
A black Maybach pulled up to the curb.
Two bodyguards got out first. Then a heavyset man nearing sixty climbed from the back seat.
Victor was two years older than my father.
Chloe had come with him. She slipped her arm through his and smiled.
"Avery can be stubborn, Victor. Once she's your wife, you'll have to teach her how to behave."
Victor looked me up and down. Then he reached for my waist.
"Do what you're told after we get married and I'll make sure you're comfortable. First, throw away that ugly sack."
I stepped out of reach.
His expression darkened.
Chloe took a folder from one of the bodyguards and tossed it at my feet.
"Drop the innocent act. Sign the prenup so we can get this over with."
"Has the seven million reached Monroe Holdings?" I asked.
"Sign the papers and get the license. Then the money gets wired."
I nudged the folder away with my shoe.
"I'm not signing a document no one gave me time to review."
The two bodyguards moved behind me and blocked the sidewalk.
Victor gave a cold laugh.
"Your father already delivered the collateral agreement for the South Harbor parcel. Back out now, and the Monroe company will be insolvent by this afternoon."
I almost smiled.
My grandfather had placed that land in a trust for my sole benefit. The recorded owner was an entity I controlled.
Richard apparently believed it belonged to Diane. He had been reckless enough to pledge property he did not own.
"What's in the agreement?"
Chloe looked delighted.
"You waive every claim against Victor, and you agree to serve as chief executive and authorized signatory for two Warren Group subsidiaries. Victor thinks so highly of you that he's giving you companies to run on your first day."
Daniel had sent me those companies' financial statements that morning. Both were involved in massive tax fraud and illegal fundraising.
They wanted a disposable figurehead.
"I don't understand legal documents," I said, lifting my sack. "I won't sign the agreement, but I'll get the marriage license."
Victor's face hardened.
"Are you playing games with me?"
"You want the collateral. The Monroes want seven million. Everyone gets what they came for. If you insist on making me the fall person for your companies, the wedding is off."
I turned to leave. One bodyguard reached for me.
I drove my heel into the side of his knee, then swung the sack into the other man's chest.
The zipper split. The corners of several burgundy closing binders appeared, but no one noticed.
Victor stumbled backward.
"You dare put your hands on my men?"
Chloe shrieked.
"Dad will destroy you for insulting Victor."
"Tell him to come try."
I picked up my sack.
"No wire, no collateral. Victor, decide which matters more."
A Rolls-Royce Phantom with matching custom plates stopped behind the Maybach.
The rear window lowered, revealing the severe profile of Adrian Hawthorne.
He controlled Hawthorne Global. He was also my largest tenant. His company leased all three of my premier office towers in Midtown.
Victor changed his expression at once and hurried to the car with a broad smile.
"Adrian, what a coincidence."
Adrian did not acknowledge him. He glanced at my sack through the side mirror and tapped one finger against his knee.
His chief of staff, Ethan Cole, got out.
"Mr. Warren, the South Harbor development must undergo a new review. Hawthorne Global will not release any funding until that review is complete."
"But we settled the terms yesterday. You said once the Monroe collateral arrived..."
The window rose before Victor could finish. The Phantom pulled away.
Victor's face drained of color.
Chloe grabbed his arm.
"What about the seven million?"
"Get off me."
He flung her aside and glared at me.
"You win today, Avery. There will be no wedding. Tell Richard I want that collateral agreement in my office tomorrow. If I don't get it, he gets nothing."
He climbed into the Maybach with his bodyguards and sped away.
Chloe stared at me with naked hatred.
"Happy now? The financing is dead. If Monroe Holdings collapses, it will be your fault."
I brushed dust from the sack.
"Monroe Holdings was always going to collapse."
