Chapter 4

The rain had turned into a thick, suffocating mist by the time I reached Pier 17. The smell of salt and rotting wood filled my lungs, a sharp contrast to the sterile, expensive scent of the Vance Headquarters.

I was late. Being an intern meant I didn't have a driver; I had to take two buses and walk half a mile. My feet were soaked, and my dignity was nonexistent.

"You're late, Xander. Failure looks even worse on you than that cheap jacket."

A figure stepped out from behind a rusted shipping container. I squinted through the gloom. It was a woman, her face obscured by a wide-brimmed hat and a silk scarf. As she stepped into the flickering light of a streetlamp, my heart hammered against my ribs.

"Melanie?"

My "fiancée"—the woman my mother had insisted was the only match for the Thorne legacy—stood there looking perfectly dry and utterly lethal.

"I thought you were at the club waiting for me," I said, my voice raspy.

"The club? Please." She scoffed, pulling a slim cigarette from a silver case. "I don't waste time on sinking ships. The moment Seraphina Vance stepped out of that Rolls Royce, the Sinclair-Thorne merger was dead. And so were you."

"You said you had information about my father," I pressed, stepping closer. "And about the Vances."

Melanie took a long drag, the cherry of her cigarette glowing like a predatory eye. "Your father didn't die of a heart attack, Xander. He was poisoned. Slow-acting, untraceable. And your 'sweet' little ex-wife? She’s been sitting on the evidence for years. Why do you think she married you so quickly after he died? It wasn't love. It was a takeover."

"You’re lying," I snarled, though a seed of doubt began to sprout in the dark corners of my mind. "She saved my life. She gave me her kidney."

"Did she?" Melanie stepped into my personal space, her perfume cloying. "Or did she just ensure that the 'Thorne Heir' stayed alive long enough to sign over the keys to the kingdom? Think about it, Xander. She has the files. she has the money. She has your child. She didn't just eclipse you; she erased you. And now, she’s going to use that 'evidence' to put you in prison so she can raise a Vance heir with no Thorne blood to interfere."

My head was spinning. Was the woman I had neglected actually a mastermind? Or was Melanie playing one last game to salvage her own interests?

"What do you want, Melanie?"

"I want the Vance Empire," she whispered. "And you want your life back. I have the keys to Seraphina’s private server—the one she keeps at the Vance estate, not the office. If you can get me into that house, I can wipe the evidence against you and find the real files on your father."

"You want me to rob my ex-wife?"

"I want you to survive," she corrected.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from Seraphina.

“Where is my car, Intern? You have five minutes to get to the restaurant or I’m calling the police to report the company vehicle as stolen.”

I looked at Melanie, then at the text. I was caught between two fires. If I trusted Melanie, I was a thief. If I stayed with Seraphina, I was a slave heading for a jail cell.

"I'll do it," I said, the words feeling like ash in my mouth. "But if you're lying to me, Melanie, I'll make sure you go down with me."

---

I arrived at the five-star restaurant exactly four minutes and fifty-nine seconds later. Seraphina was standing under the awning, her brother Julian beside her. She looked at my disheveled state—the mud on my shoes, the wild look in my eyes—with a mixture of pity and disgust.

"You look like a drowned rat, Xander," she said, stepping into the back of the car I had just parked. "I hope you didn't get the upholstery wet."

I didn't answer. I held the door for her, my eyes lingering on her stomach. Beneath that silk dress was a secret that changed everything.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Miss Vance," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "It won't happen again."

As I drove them back to the Vance Estate—a place I had never been allowed to visit—my hand brushed the pocket where Melanie had slipped me a flash drive.

We pulled into the grand driveway of the Vance mansion. It was a fortress. Julian got out first, but as Seraphina went to follow, she stumbled.

I reacted before I could think. I reached out, catching her by the waist. For a second, her body was pressed against mine. I felt the warmth of her, the familiar scent of her hair, and for a fleeting moment, the tension in her body vanished.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, my hand instinctively moving toward her belly.

She froze. Her eyes snapped to mine, and for the first time, I didn't see the CEO. I saw the girl who used to cry when I forgot our anniversary.

"Don't touch me," she breathed, but she didn't pull away immediately.

"Sara... the sonogram. I saw it."

She shoved me back, her face turning into a mask of ice. "If you ever mention that again, I will have Julian bury you in the foundation of this house. Do you understand me?"

She turned and ran up the steps. Julian stepped toward me, his hand around my throat before I could even draw a breath. He slammed me against the car.

"I know what you're thinking, Thorne," Julian hissed. "But that child isn't a Thorne. It’s the next King of the Vance family. And if you so much as breathe in its direction, I’ll kill you myself."

He tossed me aside like trash and followed his sister.

I stood in the driveway, the flash drive heavy in my pocket. I looked up at the darkened windows of the mansion. Somewhere in there was the truth about my father, my company, and my child.

But as I turned to leave, I noticed a light flick on in the third-floor library. A figure was standing there, looking down at me. It wasn't Seraphina.

It was my mother.

And she wasn't being evicted. She was holding a glass of wine, nodding toward me with a terrifying, knowing smile.

Why is Xander’s mother—the woman who supposedly hated Seraphina—comfortable inside the Vance mansion? Is the "Secret Heiress" reveal part of a much larger plan involving both families?