Chapter 5

The tiny red dot burned on my forehead like a brand. I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t breathe.

I looked at my mother, waiting for even the smallest sign that she still cared about me, waiting for her to scream at Victor to stop. 

But she just stood there by her leather sofa, her knuckles white around her crystal glass, her eyes moving quickly toward the dark corners of the warehouse.

She wasn’t trying to save me. She was calculating her getaway.

“Elena,” Alexander’s voice was a low, chilling whisper that seemed to come from the shadows themselves. He hadn’t looked back at me. The dim light made his face look hard and unreasonable. “Don't move.”

“You think I won't do it, Alexander?” Victor shouted, his voice cracking with a sudden, desperate panic. 

He hadn’t expected the Ice King to be this cold. He had expected a negotiation, not a death sentence. “One word from me, and your precious little contract wife paints this floor red!”

“Then say the word, Victor,” Alexander replied.

He took a slow, casual step forward, his hands sliding back into his pockets. He looked entirely bored, but I could see the rigid tension in his broad shoulders.

“But know that the second your sniper fires, my men will break-in. You won’t even make it to the door.”

‘He’s using me,’ my mind screamed. ‘He’s using me as a distraction.’

A strange, fierce clarity washed over me, burning away the last of my fear. If Alexander was going to play the monster to save my son, then I had to play my part, too. I couldn’t let Leo pay the price for my family’s greed.

“Do it, Victor,” I called out, my voice ringing very clear through the roof beams.

Victor blinked, momentarily thrown off. “What?”

“Kill me,” I said, taking a deliberate step away from Alexander, drawing the red laser dot fully into the center of the spotlight.

“If I die, Alexander has absolutely no reason to negotiate with you. He’ll unleash everything he has and you and my mother will rot in a federal prison forever. You lose either way.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alexander’s jaw tightened. His stormy eyes flashed with a sudden, intense heat as he looked at me angrily. My refusal to back down hadn’t been part of his plan, but it worked.

Victor hesitated, his eyes moving quickly between Alexander and me. In that one second of doubt, the red dot on my forehead moved slightly.

Bang!

A deafening gunshot echoed through the warehouse, but it didn’t come from the roof beams.

Alexander had pulled the silenced handgun from his waistband and fired with deadly accuracy. 

High above us, a loud heavy sound echoed against the metal roof, followed by the sound of a body falling onto the rusted platform. The red laser dot disappeared completely.

“Marcus, go!” Alexander shouted.

The dark warehouse suddenly became filled with panic and confusion.

Flashlights cut through the darkness as Alexander’s security team forced their way through the side doors.

Victor gasped, dropping his cane and turning to grab Leo from the chair to use him as a human shield. But I was already moving. Fueled by a sudden rush of energy, I moved forward, throwing my body across the concrete floor.

I grabbed Victor’s leg, pulling with all my strength.

He stumbled backward and fell into the wooden chair.

“Leo!” I screamed, reaching out and lifting my crying baby into my arms. He was awake now, screaming in fear as loud noise exploded around us. I pulled his little head against my neck and covered his body with mine as I crawled away on my knees.

“Elena, get down!”

Alexander was suddenly there. He stepped between Victor and me, his large body completely blocking us from danger.

Victor got up quickly, pulling a small silver pistol from his pocket, but Alexander didn't hesitate. He brought the butt of his gun down across Victor’s face.

A horrible cracking sound echoed through the warehouse, and my stepfather collapsed onto the concrete floor, groaning in pain as blood rushed from his nose.

“Victor!” my mother screamed.

She turned to run toward the back exit but Marcus was already there, blocking her path with two armed guards. She froze, her face pale, realization finally hitting her that the game was completely over.

The warehouse went strangely quiet, save for the sound of the rain outside and Leo’s soft, shaky sobs against my chest.

I sat on the cold concrete, trembling from head to toe, holding my son so tightly I was afraid I’d hurt him.

“It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s here. I’ve got you,” I whispered over and over, my tears soaking into his blue blanket.

A shadow fell over us.

I looked up through my blurred vision. Alexander stood over me, his chest heaving slightly, his tailored suit ruined by the damp warehouse air. He looked down at us, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking from the look on his face, his gun still held tightly at his side.

“Is he harmed?” Alexander asked.

“No,” I said, kissing the top of Leo’s head. 

“He’s just scared. Thank you... Alexander, thank you. You saved him.”

Alexander didn’t answer. He knelt down on the dirty floor, his large hand reaching out toward us.

For a second, I thought he was going to comfort me. But his fingers bypassed me completely, his knuckles gently brushing against Leo’s soft, tear-stained cheek.

Leo stopped crying for a moment, his big, dark eyes, so like his father Julian’s, staring up at the intimidating man in front of him. To my surprise, Leo reached a tiny, chubby hand out of the blanket and wrapped his fingers around Alexander’s thumb.

Alexander paused in shock. For a moment, something deep and painful broke through his cold expression. His eyes widened slightly as he looked down at the little boy holding onto him.

For the first time, I saw the wounded man hidden beneath all that power and money.

But the moment disappeared quickly and he became cold again. He gently pulled his hand away and stood up, looking down at me with a cold, absolute authority.

“The threat is over,” Alexander said flatly. “But our contract still stands, Elena. Now more than ever. Your parents are going to a secret holding facility until my legal team decides how to handle the press.”

“And you and the boy are coming back to the penthouse,” he added.

I nodded, too exhausted to fight him. I let Marcus help me up to my feet, keeping Leo tucked firmly against my shoulder.

An hour later, we were back in the sixty-fifth-floor penthouse. The luxurious room felt unreal after everything we had just seen in the dirty warehouse. The rain had stopped and the city lights outside looked peaceful, completely ignorant of the nightmare we had just survived.

Alexander had called an elite private pediatrician, who had already checked Leo over in one of the guest rooms, pronouncing him perfectly healthy before administering a mild sedative to help him sleep.

Now, Leo was fast asleep in a brand-new, luxury mahogany crib that had been delivered to the adjoining room while we were gone.

I stood by the glass window of the living room, a cup of untouched herbal tea cooling in my hands. I was wearing one of Alexander’s oversized white silk shirts because my own clothes have been ruined.

The heavy click of the penthouse door opening made me turn.

Alexander walked in. He had taken off his jacket and tie, the top three buttons of his white shirt undone, rolling up his sleeves to reveal his muscular, dark-haired forearms.

He looked tired but his powerful presence still filled the room the moment he entered.

“Your mother and stepfather have signed a non-disclosure agreement and a full confession,” Alexander said, walking over to the crystal bar to pour himself a glass of scotch.

“They will be quietly processed through a private federal court. They will never trouble you or Leo again.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. “And my mother’s health? The bills?”

“The clinic was in on the fraud, Elena,” he said, taking a slow sip of his drink. “There are no bills. She was never sick but I will make sure she receives whatever specialized isolation she requires.”

I let out a shaky breath, looking down at the floor. The relief was overwhelming but the betrayal still cut like an open wound.

Alexander walked over to me, his footsteps silent on the expensive rug. He stopped just a foot away, the rich scent of scotch and cedarwood wrapping around me. He looked down at my face, his eyes dropping to my mouth before rising to lock onto mine.

“You acted like a fool tonight,” he said. He spoke in a deep, rough voice that always made my heart race. “Standing in front of a sniper, you could have been killed.”

“I was saving my son,” I challenged, looking right back at him. “You said a Blackwood doesn’t beg. Well, a Vance doesn’t let her child die.”

A dark, dangerous smile slowly appeared at the corner of his lips. He reached out, his long fingers wrapping around the back of my neck, pulling me slowly toward him until my chest brushed against his.

The heat radiating from him was intoxicating, melting away the lingering chill in my bones.

“You are not a Vance anymore, Elena,” he whispered. His thumb brushed slowly across my lower lip, sending a strong shiver down my spine. “You signed the contract. You are a Blackwood now. And I protect what belongs to me.”

His face leaned down, his breath warm against my lips. The tension between us was unbearable, a desperate, forbidden attraction born out of fear and survival. I wanted him to kiss me. I needed him to erase the horror of the night.

“Alexander…” I breathed his name like a prayer.

His eyes darkened with a deep, consuming obsession. He leaned in, his lips just a millimeter from mine.

Suddenly, the landline phone on the bar desk rang loudly, the sharp sound breaking the seductive silence.

Alexander froze. He let out a harsh breath, his grip tightening on my neck for a second before he let me go and stepped over to answer it.

“What?” he asked sharply into the phone.

I watched him as he listened, expecting it to be Marcus with a routine update. But as the seconds ticked by, the color completely drained from Alexander’s face. His hand tightened around the phone until the plastic creaked under the pressure.

“Are you sure?” Alexander whispered, his voice suddenly sounding hollow, stripped of all its power.

He slowly lowered the phone, turning to look at me. The look in his stormy eyes wasn’t anger or desire. It was an absolute, paralyzing shock.

“Alexander? What is it?” I asked, my heart dropping into my stomach all over again. “Is it about Leo?”

“No,” Alexander said, his voice barely audible as he stared at me like I was a ghost. 

“That was the forensic team at the Swiss storage facility. They just finished unlocking the encrypted backup files from the night my brother died.”

He took a step toward me, his hands shaking slightly.

“Julian didn’t store one embryo, Elena. There were two and the records show that the second child... the twin... was stolen by a rival family that exact same night.”

He stopped, his eyes burning into mine with a terrifying new obsession.

“Leo has a twin brother. And he’s currently in the hands of my worst enemy.”