Chapter 223 - A Price Too High

  The fluorescent lights of Maine Enterprises' executive floor hummed softly as Deonna Maine tapped away at her keyboard, her brow furrowed in concentration. The clock on her sleek desktop showed 2:47 PM, but the day felt like it had stretched on for an eternity. "Mrs. Maine?" Her assistant's voice crackled through the intercom. "Your mother is on line two. She says it's urgent." Deonna's fingers froze mid-keystroke. Her mother never called her at work unless something was seriously wrong. "Thanks, Jess. I'll take it." She picked up the phone, her heart racing. "Mom? What's wrong?" "Oh, Deonna," Marjorie Vernetti's voice wavered on the other end. "It's your Aunt Vivian. She... she passed away last night." The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Aunt Vivian? The eccentric artist who'd drifted in and out of Deonna's life like a colorful butterfly? "What? How?" "Peacefully, in her sleep," Marjorie said. "But honey, there's more. Her lawyer just called me. She... she left everything t