Chapter 7

The woman who stepped out of the shadows was beautiful.

Not the kind of beautiful that made you smile. The kind that made you want to run. Blonde hair, gold earrings, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was holding a silver gun — smaller than Alexander's, but just as real.

"And you must be Isabella," she said, tilting her head. "The virgin who wasn't a virgin. The heiress who's playing poor. The mother of three heartbeats my stepson will never deserve."

Alexander raised his gun again. "Take one more step, Elena."

"I'm not here to hurt her." Elena smiled. "If I wanted her dead, she wouldn't have left the masquerade."

My blood ran cold.

"You," I whispered. "You were the woman at the bar. The one who spilled my drink."

"I told you exactly where you needed to be." She stepped closer, heels clicking on the concrete. "And you delivered beautifully. A virgin. A hidden heiress. The perfect weapon against a boy who rejected me."

"You did this to hurt Alexander."

"I did this to win." Elena stopped ten feet from the car. Close enough to see the lines around her eyes, the cruelty behind her smile. "His mother stole everything from me. My husband. My future. My chance at children of my own. And now her son will watch his own children be raised by someone else."

"You're insane."

"No, dear. I'm patient." She looked at my belly. "I waited sixteen years for this moment. I can wait a few more months."

Alexander stepped between us, blocking her view of me.

"She's not the target, Elena. I am. Always have been."

"Finally. Something we agree on." Elena lowered her gun. Not put it away — just pointed it at the ground. "I don't want the girl. I don't want the babies. I want you to suffer, Alexander. And nothing would make you suffer more than watching someone else raise your only heirs."

My stomach turned.

"You're going to take my babies?"

"I'm going to take everything." Elena's smile widened. "Your father already signed over his shares to me. Your company is mine by the end of the month. And these three little heartbeats?" She nodded at my belly. "Their grandmother — your mother, Isabella — has already agreed to help me raise them."

The world stopped.

"My mother?"

"Who do you think sent you to the masquerade? Who do you think told me exactly when and where you'd be vulnerable?" Elena laughed — a cold, brittle sound. "Your mother has been working for me for six years, dear. Ever since your father disappeared."

I couldn't breathe.

Alexander grabbed my hand. Squeezed.

"She's lying," he said quietly.

"She's not." Elena pulled out her phone. Swiped once. Turned the screen toward us.

A photograph.

My mother. Sitting across from Elena. In a café. Smiling.

The date stamp was three days ago.

"She's been reporting on you since you were eighteen," Elena said. "Your boyfriends. Your failures. Your desperation. When we learned you were a genetic match for Alexander's children, we knew exactly what to do."

"You drugged him," I whispered. "That night. You drugged him so he'd sleep with me."

"Drugged? No." Elena tucked her phone away. "I just made sure he was lonely. Isolated. Desperate enough to touch someone. The rest was biology."

I looked at Alexander.

His face was white. His hand was shaking in mine.

"You planned this for years," he said. His voice was hollow.

"Sixteen years, my darling stepson. And now —" Elena raised her gun again. Pointed it at Alexander's chest. "Now I get to watch you lose everything."

---

The garage was silent.

Three guns. One pregnant woman. Two families worth of betrayal.

"Isabella," Alexander said quietly. "Get back in the car."

"No."

"Get in the car."

"I'm not leaving you."

"You're not leaving our children." He turned his head just enough to meet my eyes. "Please, Isabella. For once in your life — just listen to me."

I saw it then.

The fear in his eyes wasn't for himself.

It was for me.

It was for the three heartbeats.

It was for the first time in his life — the first time since his mother died — he was afraid of losing someone he loved.

He didn't love me.

Couldn't love me.

But in that moment, I believed he could.

I got back in the car.

---

Elena watched me close the door.

"That's right, dear. Run. It's what your family does best."

Alexander raised his gun.

"I'm going to give you one chance," he said. "Walk away. Sell the shares. Leave Isabella alone. And I won't destroy you."

"Destroy me?" Elena laughed. "You can't even destroy your own father."

"I'm not talking about money, Elena." His voice dropped — low, dangerous, final. "I'm talking about the truth. The real reason my mother died. The secret you've been hiding since I was twelve years old."

For the first time, Elena's smile faltered.

"You wouldn't."

"I have the medical records. I have the witness statement. And I have the DNA test that proves —"

A gunshot.

Elena fired.

Not at Alexander.

At the car.

The bullet hit the window inches from my face. The glass spiderwebbed but didn't break.

Alexander fired back.

Elena was already running.

He ran after her.

And I was alone in the car, three heartbeats pounding in my belly, and a dead man's photograph burning in my memory.