LOGINChristopher"Sign the final dissolution decree, Mr. Lambert," the court receiver says, sliding a thin stack of paper across the bare table."It's finished," I reply, my voice flat as I press my pen to the bottom line without reading a single word.One year has passed since Cecelia's heart stopped in that dingy motel room. The legal and financial destruction she set in motion finished its work with absolute, terrifying precision. Poseidon Group and Lambert Holdings no longer exist. The corporate vaults were drained, the stock crashed to zero, and every piece of real estate was sold off at public auction to cover the massive federal fines.Elizabeth's suicide attempt in her cell failed, leaving her to serve forty years in a federal penitentiary alongside Jessica. The names that once ruled this city are spoken only in the past tense now, whispered by reporters as a cautionary tale of greed and mutual destruction."You have thirty days to vacate the corporate housing," the receiver adds,
"Drink this, Cecelia, please," Christopher whispers, his voice breaking as he holds a glass of lukewarm water to my dry, cracked lips."I can't," I choke out, a sharp stab of heat tearing through my throat as I push the glass away with my trembling hand."Just a sip," he begs, his eyes bloodshot, his face pale and hollow as he sits beside me on the edge of the sagging mattress. "Please, baby. For me."The final days pass inside the walls of this dingy motel room on the industrial edge of the city. Christopher never leaves my side. He sleeps on the cracked wooden chair beside the bed, waking up the second I stir or gasp for air. He brings me clean water, wipes the cold sweat from my forehead with a damp towel, and holds my shivering body against his broad chest whenever the violent pain spikes deep in my gut. He listens silently whenever I still have enough breath left to speak, absorbing every ragged word like a man collecting sacred relics."The baby is quiet today," I whisper, resti
"You weren't supposed to find me yet, Christopher," I say, my voice raspy and thin as I sit on the edge of the sagging mattress.He pushes the unlocked wooden door open, his massive frame blocking out the flickering yellow light of the industrial motel hallway. His sharp black suit is soaked, his dark eyes bloodshot and raw, filled with a wild, terrifying desperation that makes my pulse hammer against my throat."Did you really think you could hide from me in a fifty-dollar room on the edge of the city?" he growls, taking three heavy steps toward me, his voice shaking with a terrifying blend of rage and absolute agony.A violent, racking cough suddenly tears through my lungs, buckling my posture forward until my head almost touches my knees. I quickly grab a white hand towel from the nightstand, pressing it tightly over my mouth to muffle the sickening sound.When the spasm finally stops, I fold the towel inward to hide the dark red blood soaking into the cotton, but his sharp eyes ca
"Sign the paper and get out, Cecelia," I tell myself softly in the cold, empty room as I slide the black ink pen into my coat pocket.I fold the letter three times, my fingers trembling slightly as I slide the crisp white page into a plain manila envelope. I press my thumb against the adhesive seal, locking my final words away where no human eye can see them until my pulse stops completely."No forwarding address," I whisper to the silent walls of the bare apartment. "No message to the press. No trace left behind."I grab my heavy tote bag, leaving the key to the Third Street apartment sitting in the middle of the bare wooden table. I do not look back as I step out into the dark hallway, my boots making no sound against the worn floorboards.I walk out into the cold morning mist and simply vanish from the city. I do not call my legal defense teams. I do not log into my mother's private biotech servers. I do not send a single text message to the remaining board members of Poseidon, and
"Wake up, Cecelia! Stay with me!" Minaj's shrill voice cuts through the sudden, suffocating darkness pressing down on my skull."Get her legs up!" Sal shouts from somewhere above my head, his heavy boots slamming against the scuffed wooden floorboards of the dressing room.My eyes flutter open, the harsh fluorescent light of the club dressing room burning straight into my retinas. The sudden dizziness that has been lurking at the edges of my brain all week hits me like a freight train, turning my stomach upside down.A sharp surge of severe pregnancy nausea twists my gut, making me choke as I struggle to sit up against the cold wall."Don't move," Minaj commands, pressing a damp, ice-cold paper towel against my sweaty forehead. "You went down like a sack of bricks right between your second and third shift.""I am fine," I force out, my voice coming out as a dry, weak rasp. "It's just exhaustion. I haven't slept in three days.""That wasn't a normal faint," Nikki says, crouching beside
"Get in the car, Cecelia," Christopher says, his heavy voice cutting through the steady patter of cold raindrops hitting the concrete.He waits outside the back door of the club in the pouring rain, standing tall beside the idling black sedan under the dim yellow glow of a single streetlamp. It is the exact same freezing rain that fell on me six years ago, on the miserable night we first met when I had nothing to my name and nowhere left to run."I am not getting into your car," I reply, my hand clutching the strap of my bag, my body shivering inside my thin coat."The court order is already filed," he says, taking a heavy step forward, his dark suit soaking up the water, his hair plastered flat against his forehead. "You can't run from the paternity injunction, and you can't run from me.""Watch me," I say, my pulse hammering wildly in my throat as I step back toward the metal doorframe."Listen to me!" he roars, stepping directly into my space, his broad frame blocking the freezing







