CHAPTER 4: THE PENTHOUSE CAGE

~MAYA~

The red ink blurred before my eyes.

PREGNANCY TEST: POSITIVE. GESTATION: 12 WEEKS.

"No," I whispered, the word scraping against my throat like broken glass. I pushed the glowing phone away, my hands shaking so violently that my nails clicked against the leather seats of the limousine. "No, this is a mistake. It’s a fabrication. I didn't even take a pregnancy test!"

"Your mother forced you to do a routine blood panel for the wedding insurance two days ago," Julian said. His voice was a deep vibration that seemed to absorb all the oxygen in the vehicle. He didn't look angry. He looked entirely satisfied. "The Lin family was connected to the merger. Every medical, financial, and legal document related to the agreement passed through Vance security."

A cold dread settled deep into my bones. 12 weeks. Three months.

My mind violently flashed back to the night of the luxury charity gala. The sudden power outage that had plunged the entire resort into pitch-black chaos. The wrong room number I had stumbled into in the dark. The faceless stranger whose touch had made me burn, whose groans had filled the silence of a velvet suite before I fled in the panic of dawn, consumed by shame.

It wasn't a mistake. The strange nausea I had been feeling for the past three days... it was a child.

"Who..." I choked out, a tear spilling over my eyelashes, cutting a clean path through the thick bridal makeup on my cheek. "Who was he? The man from that night... did my mother set that up too? Did she sell me to one of your business partners?!"

Julian’s jaw tightened, a dangerous muscle ticking beneath his cold skin. He leaned across the short distance between us. He didn't answer my question. Instead, his hand reached out, his long fingers splaying flat and heavy over my stomach, pressing through the layers of my white silk gown.

The warmth of his palm sent a violent, electric shiver straight through my soul.

"You don't need to concern yourself with the past," Julian murmured, his dark eyes locking onto mine with a possessive intensity that made my breath hitch. "The only thing that matters is the present. You are wearing my ring. You took the vows. And you are carrying something my enemies would kill to possess."

"I won't do it!" I cried, trying to wrench myself away from his touch, pressing my back flat against the limousine door. "I'll run! I'll tell the doctors! I'll tell the media that this marriage is a fraud and that you're forcing me—"

"You won't tell anyone anything," Julian interrupted smoothly. He didn't chase me across the seat. He simply sat back, pulling a gold-plated fountain pen from his breast pocket, turning it over in his fingers with an agonizingly slow precision. "The moment you open your mouth to the press, the specialized medical facility housing your little brother Williams will lose its anonymous benefactor."

My heart completely stopped beating. Williams.

"The life-support machines will be disconnected," Julian continued, his voice devoid of a single shred of mercy. "The private doctors will walk out. Your toxic mother owes millions to underground syndicates, Maya. Do you think she will spend her remaining crumbs to keep your brain-injured brother alive? She already sold you for a corporate merger. She will let him die."

Hollow despair opened up inside my chest. He had me trapped. Legally, physically, and emotionally. He knew that Williams was the only thing in this world I loved, the only reason I hadn't swallowed my pride and run away years ago.

"You're a monster," I whispered, the tears finally flowing freely, ruining the expensive cosmetics my mother had forced onto my face.

"I am a businessman who protects his investments," Julian corrected coldly.

The limousine suddenly slowed down, veering into a private, heavily guarded underground driveway. The heavy concrete walls were painted a glossy, obsidian black, illuminated by glowing security strips. The car came to a smooth halt in front of a private executive elevator lobby.

Julian stepped out of the vehicle first, not offering a hand to help me. I dragged my heavy, stained tulle train out of the car, my legs trembling so much I could barely balance on my bridal heels. Two towering guards in black suits bowed their heads as Julian walked past them, his long strides forcing me to rush just to keep up with his shadow.

We stepped into the elevator. Julian pressed his thumb against a biometric scanner, and the doors glided shut, sealing us in a metallic cage.

The ascent to the 40th-floor penthouse was sickeningly fast. Julian stood a step ahead of me, his broad shoulders blocking my view of the digital floor counter. But as I watched his reflection in the mirrored steel doors, I noticed he was staring directly at my reflection, his gaze dropping to the heavy, lace veil crumpled in my shaking hands.

Ding.

The elevator doors slid open directly into the main foyer of his penthouse. The space was a masterpiece of cold, ultra-modern luxury—marble floors, charcoal pillars, and massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the entire city.

But before I could even take a step inside, a sharp, electronic chime blared through the penthouse speakers. The smart-glass windows automatically flashed a bright, warning crimson.

Julian’s phone violently vibrated against his palm. He swiped the screen open, and my eyes widened in terror as a live security feed from the underground garage filled the monitor.

A sleek, silver sports car had just smashed through the automated security barrier downstairs.

A sharp-featured man with his right arm wrapped in a thick medical brace stepped out of the vehicle, flanked by two burly federal marshals holding a gold-sealed document. He looked directly into the security camera, a venomous, triumphant smile on his face.

It was Damian Vance. Julian's dangerous, power-hungry cousin.

"Julian!" Damian's voice boomed through the encrypted audio link, dripping with malice. "Open the private lift right now, or the marshals will blow it off the hinges! We have a federal search warrant to inspect your penthouse for a missing person... the real Ayra Lin!"