Chapter 2

New York City hadn’t changed. It was still loud. Still full of people who never gave a damn about others. 

Luna stood outside the towering glass building that held Thorne Enterprises like her feet had been nailed to the sidewalk. She hadn’t been back in this city since the night everything fell apart. The night he humiliated her.

Her fingers clenched the thin folder tucked under her arm. Emery’s medical records, a copy of the lab results and the doctor’s letter.

She took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and stepped inside.

The lobby was exactly how she remembered, white marble, high ceilings, cold lighting that made everyone look like they belonged in a Vogue shoot. She walked up to the front desk, her heart pounding in her chest.

The receptionist looked up, her perfect smile faltering. “Can I help you?”

“I need to see Atlas Thorne,” Luna said calmly, though nothing inside her felt calm.

The woman blinked. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Thorne doesn’t take unscheduled meetings.”

“He will today.”

The receptionist frowned. “May I have your name?”

“Luna Rivera.”

There was a beat of silence, a flash of confusion. Then something shifted in the woman’s expression, recognition.

Without a word, she picked up the phone and dialed. “Mr. Thorne… There’s someone here to see you. A Luna Rivera.”

There was a pause. Then the receptionist’s eyes widened slightly. “Yes, sir. I’ll send her up.”

She hung up and gave Luna a tight nod. “Top floor. You’ll need the private elevator.”

“Thank you,” Luna said softly, her voice barely steady.

The receptionist gave her a once-over, not unkindly. “Good luck.”

Luna’s legs felt wobbly as she walked across the sleek lobby. The elevator ride felt endless. Her reflection stared back at her in the polished metal walls, dark circles under her eyes, tired skin, and the haunted look of a mother who hadn’t slept properly in weeks.

She whispered to her reflection, “Be strong. Do it for Emery.”

When the doors opened, she stepped into silence.

The top floor was nothing like the rest of the building. It was colder. Sharper. Everything screamed power and control, from the black furniture to the floor-to-ceiling windows with a view that stretched over Manhattan like a kingdom.

And there he was.

Atlas Thorne.

Sitting behind a massive desk, dressed in a tailored suit the color of midnight. He didn’t stand, didn’t speak. He just stared at her.

Luna’s breath caught in her throat.

He looked the same… and completely different. Still sharp-jawed. Still intense. But there was something harder in his face now. It was colder. 

“What are you doing here?” His voice was low and dangerous. 

“I didn’t come to fight,” Luna said quietly. “I came because I need your help.”

His eyes narrowed. “You think you can disappear for three years, then walk into my office and ask for help?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” he said sharply. “You chose to vanish. You chose silence.”

“I chose survival.”

He leaned back in his chair. “You’re still dramatic.”

She opened the folder and placed it on his desk. “This isn’t about us. It’s about her.”

Atlas didn’t look at the folder. “Her?”

“My daughter. Emery.”

That name. That one word made something flicker in his eyes.

“You had a child?” he said slowly.

Luna nodded. “Yes.”

His jaw clenched. “Whose is it?”

“Yours.”

The silence that followed was unbearable.

“Don’t lie to me again, Luna,” he said coldly. “I’ve had enough of your games.”

“I’m not lying,” she said, voice steady. “I wouldn’t come here if I wasn’t telling the truth.”

“You’re good at pretending. You always were.”

“And you were good at destroying people without proof,” she snapped.

He stood then, walking slowly around the desk, coming closer. Too close. His presence was suffocating.

“I saw the video,” he said. “You and my brother.”

“It was fake,” she snapped. “You know that now, don’t you? You just didn’t want to believe it then.”

His eyes searched hers. “You think I wanted to believe it? You think it didn’t kill me?”

“You didn’t even ask me,” she whispered, pain bleeding into every word. “You just turned your back.”

“I was angry.”

“You were cruel.”

She opened the folder and pulled out a paper. “She’s sick. Emery. She has a rare blood disorder. She needs a genetic match for a transplant. I’m not a match but you might be.”

He glanced at the document. His face didn’t change, but something shifted in the air between them.

“You’re telling me I have a daughter,” he said, slowly, “and you hid her from me.”

“I protected her from you,” Luna replied. “From this. From your world. From the cameras. From the hate. From being called what you called me.”

Atlas’s expression darkened. “You should have told me.”

“You gave me no choice.”

“I was broken too.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have shattered me,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Where is she now?” he asked, after a moment. 

“In the hospital. She collapsed. She’s weak, and I’m running out of time.”

He walked to the window, back facing her. “I want a DNA test.”

“I already brought a sample,” she said. “Dr. Patel arranged everything. You’ll have it by tomorrow.”

Then, finally, he turned back to her.

“I’ll help,” he said. “But not without conditions.”

Luna’s stomach dropped. “What conditions?”

He came closer again. “You’ll move into my penthouse. With Emery. You’ll stay under my roof, where I can see you. And…” He paused. “You’ll marry me, for one year.”

Luna flinched. “What?”

“I want answers,” he said calmly. “I want control and I want to make sure you’re not lying again. If my daughter’s life is really at stake, you’ll do what it takes.”

She stared at him, stunned. “This isn’t a negotiation…..”

“It is now.”

Luna’s lips parted. “You’d use your own daughter’s life to trap me?”

“I’m protecting her. The only way I know how.”

“And what about Emery? What about what’s best for her? You think dragging us into your world, your control games, your cold house, that’s what she needs?”

He didn’t flinch. “What she needs is a father who will fight for her and that’s what I’m doing.”

Luna’s vision blurred, but she held her ground. “You don’t trust me, fine. But don’t make this about revenge.”

His voice dropped. “Everything I do is about control, Luna. You should remember that.”

And for a second, he looked like the boy she used to love, and the man who broke her all over again.

The elevator behind her dinged.

A nurse stepped out holding a

clipboard.

“Mr. Thorne?” she said. “The lab’s ready. We just need your DNA sample to begin the match test.”

Atlas looked at Luna, then back at the nurse.

“Do it.”