Darius felt a tightness behind his ribs. While he was fiercely protective of his younger sister, who hadn't looked at a man with that level of soft, unguarded trust since her husband passed away, he was also deeply sympathetic to the sheer weight of Gill's position. Coming face-to-face with the man she had loved and lost, only to watch his heart clearly beating for someone else, had to be an incredibly brutal pill to swallow. Yet, from everything Darius could read in the room's shifting dynamics, Owen's heart had truly and permanently moved toward Isabel. There was no lingering romantic static between the past and the present—only a profound, respectful closure.
Still, Darius resolved to keep a very close eye on the situation. Isabel had walked through enough emotional storms in her life; she did not deserve a broken heart, especially not from a complicated past she had no part in creating.
And that, in truth, was the exact defensive logic that had driven their secrecy from Owen and Isabel. It wasn't just corporate security; it was deeply personal. Linda, Penny, Maggie, and even Martin had spent the last few weeks watching the quiet, beautiful romance budding between Owen and Isabel. The very last thing any of them had wanted was to throw a wrench into that delicate foundation by forcing Owen into an abrupt, high-intensity confrontation with his long-lost love before they had a chance to secure the perimeter.
"Right after I called Linda to ask her to meet me for lunch, my personal cell rang," Darius explained, leaning forward to keep the timeline perfectly straight. "It was Baxter. He called to warn me that Dr. Wineberg had caught wind of our structural delay and intended to head straight to the Hearts Hotel to aggressively pitch her analysis company for the excavation."
"I tried to tell her it might be wiser to schedule an official appointment," Baxter took over, a faint, dry grimace touching his lips. "But Debbi had other ideas. She was convinced that an unannounced arrival was the superior tactic. She actually told me that surprise is the best angle because at least it prevents people from fabricating things before she gets a look at the site. Her plan was to snoop around the digging perimeter. It’s the swimming pool area, after all, and since it’s a public hotel, she figured she had every right to simply stroll the grounds."
Darius offered a tight nod. "That's when Baxter casually mentioned to her that the Wayne Group was already actively scouting a different independent analysis firm to audit the initial survey data."
"And Debbi snapped at the bait immediately," Baxter continued. "She said that was perfect, because she could personally recommend her uncle Hyrum’s renowned firm to handle thecontract. I told her I couldn't authorize a vendor shift on my own and would have to run the proposal by Darius first."
"Baxter did everything in his power to stall her and buy us time," Darius told the table, his analytical gaze resting briefly on Linda. "He explicitly reminded her that my sister was living on the property, and that I had been intentionally getting close to Ms. Heart. He warned her that he didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble, especially since Linda still had no idea who I actually was."
"I absolutely didn't like the sudden, predatory look in her eyes when I dropped that piece of information," Baxter admitted. "The second she realized Darius had a vulnerability, she smelled blood in the water. I hung up and immediately dialed Darius to warn him that she was already on her way across the causeway."
Darius let out a quiet, dangerous chuckle. "I told Baxter that if she wanted a performance, we might as well give her a show."
"Darius refused to let Debbi get the drop on him," Baxter explained, looking at Isabel and Owen. "He knew she wouldn't hesitate to use his real corporate identity to leverage or blackmail him with Linda if she got to the hotel first."
"That is exactly the kind of toxic game she would play," Owen muttered under his breath, his jaw tightening as his long-buried memories of his ex-wife surfaced.
"So we chose to preempt her strike entirely," Darius said, a smooth, confident ring returning to his tone. "The second I got off the phone with Baxter, I called Linda and asked her to come over to the beach house immediately. Then I reached out to Michael, Martin, Penny, Anna, and Maggie. But I specificallyasked Linda to arrive thirty minutes before the rest of the group."
Linda offered a small, remarkably tight smile from her corner of the table. "I went over there, and I must admit, I was... well, I was not amused. But I chose to sit down and hear him out."
"Then the rest of us arrived in a rush," Penny took over, her professional focus sharp. "Darius laid out the layout. He told us Debbi was already en route to the Hearts Hotel to corner Linda. To counter it, Darius needed to show up in the lobby right on time, and Baxter would 'innocently' introduce him to the Heart siblings in front of her."
"Creating that massive, chaotic scene in the lobby," Isabel finished for them, the pieces finally aligning in her mind.
"Exactly," Baxter nodded. "We needed Debbi to believe with absolute certainty that Darius had no personal or romantic interest in Linda—that she was nothing more than a local obstacle in his path. It forced her to focus entirely on the commercial angle."
"We had to make her think Darius was all-in on a hostile corporate takeover," Penny added. "Which became totally believable because he’s been secretly buying up every fraction of the outstanding hotel debt that was still hanging over the property."
Isabel sat back, her eyes wide as she processed the sheer scope of the trap. "So you're basically herding the entire Wineberg family right toward you, using their own greed to lock them down on the harbor tract in Charleston and the land right here in the bay."
"Yes," Darius confirmed, his expression turning thoroughly lethal. "Now I hold the upper hand."
"I have to admit, that is quite brilliant, big brother," Isabel drawled, her tone dripping with a mix of reluctant admiration and lingering annoyance. "I still don't like the fact that you kept Owen and me entirely in the dark." She pursed her lips, clearly impressed despite herself. "But I can see the structural logic. Now the Winebergs will move heaven and earth to ensure their neatly placed 'artifacts' in Charleston are authenticated as real to force our hand..."
"And the authentic Calusa findings found right here at the Hearts Hotel will be publicly branded as planted fakes," Owen finished, leaning back in his chair as the academic strategy clicked into place. "And since they have already successfully discredited one of Anna's historical claims here at the hotel decades ago..."
"Their public claims of the findings being fraudulent at the Hearts Hotel will carry immense weight with the state heritage board," Isabel realized, a chill running down her spine.
"And my name is also heavily linked to the original ownership files at the Charleston harbor dig," Anna noted with a soft, humorless snort. "Which will only help them authenticate that site, too. They'll tell the press that I’m the corrupt factor trying to sabotage both developments."
"But they're walking into a complete lockdown," Darius told them, his eyes shining with cold triumph. "Myself and Gill's father privately control two entirely independent, un-affiliated auditing firms. The moment the Winebergs file their official reports, our teams will come in on the quiet and perform a definitive forensic assessment on both properties. While theydo that, I will feign total corporate panic with Baxter, who will ensure that Rory and his technical team continue to leak our fabricated metrics."
"You're going to catch them red-handed on two separate properties at the exact same time," Isabel concluded, a sudden surge of adrenaline hitting her chest.
"Yes," Darius nodded.
"It's incredibly elaborate," Isabel said, her brow knitting as she studied her brother's face. "But couldn't you have just bypassed the drama and ordered standard independent analysis audits from the start? Why orchestrate this entire theatrical layout?"
Darius’s expression turned unusually grim, the corporate mask dropping to reveal a hard, protective reality. "Because standard regulatory audits only result in civil fines and administrative delays for people with the Winebergs' level of political backing. We have spent the last six months uncovering the fact that this family will not hesitate to financially ruin, legally bankrupt, or completely destroy the reputation of anyone who stands in their path. If we just filed a complaint, Thompson’s campaign office would have buried it in committees before the ink was dry."
Baxter shifted in his seat, his gaze sweeping over Anna, Owen, and Gill. "Darius is running the operation this way to ensure there is minimal legal or financial impact on the Heart family. And more importantly, it's the only way we can legally clear Gill's name, expose Debbi's plagiarism, and permanently erase the toxic stain that has hung over Anna and Owen for the last ten years."
