Chapter 3

Rain lashed against the car windows as Elena sat silently in the backseat. Her hands rested protectively over her stomach.

She still could not fully process what had just happened.

Five entire years of loving Damian Lancaster… five years of being a good wife… Gone in a single night.

The driver glanced at her nervously through the rearview mirror. “Mrs. Lancaster—”

Elena closed her eyes. “Please not anymore.”

The driver immediately fell silent.

A sharp ache spread through her chest at the words. Not anymore.

She was no longer Elena Lancaster.

Just Elena.

Alone again. No family. No friends.

She leaned back against the car seat as everything slowly sank in.

“Oh, Maya... I wish you were here,” she whispered softly.

The words shattered something inside her.

Three years ago, she had walked away and cut ties with Maya because Damian didn’t want his wife associating with “people beneath the Lancaster family.”

She had abandoned the only person who truly cared about her for a man who had never loved her.

And now, there was no one left beside her.

Outside, the city lights blurred through heavy rain as the car sped through downtown Manhattan.

Her phone buzzed suddenly.

Elena looked down slowly.

Unknown Number.

For one second, hope flared inside her.

Damian.

Maybe he regretted it. Maybe he realized what he’d done. Maybe—

The message appeared. You should know your replacement already moved into the mansion. Don’t embarrass yourself by trying to come back.

Attached beneath the message was a photograph.

Victoria standing beside Damian and his mother smiling inside the Lancaster mansion celebrating her coming home.

Elena stared at the image numbly. Then locked her phone without replying.

Her chest hurt so badly she could barely breathe.

The driver carefully cleared his throat. “Where would you like to go, ma’am?”

The reality hit her again.

Elena forced herself to think. She had no family. No friends. No home outside Damian’s world.

Because Damian had become her entire life. And now even that is gone.

“…A hotel,” she whispered finally.

“Yes, miss.”

The car disappeared into the rainy Manhattan streets.

****

Inside a private penthouse overlooking Paris, silence filled the massive glass office.

Alexander Whitmore stood beside the window in a perfectly tailored black suit while city lights glowed beneath him.

Cold. Elegant. Untouchable.

The eldest heir of the Whitmore Consortium rarely showed emotion but the moment his phone rang, his expression changed.

“What is it?” he asked sharply.

The voice on the other end sounded shaken. “We found the necklace.”

Alexander froze completely. Even his breathing stopped for a second.

For the first time in years, real emotion cracked through his calm exterior. “What did you say?”

“There’s a woman in New York wearing Lady Evelynn’s crescent moon pendant.”

Alexander’s grip tightened around the phone instantly.

Impossible.

That necklace belonged to his missing sister.

The little girl stolen from the Whitmore family twenty years ago.

The child they never found.

The child whose disappearance destroyed their mother before eventually killing her.

Alexander’s voice dropped dangerously low. “Who is she?”

“We’re still confirming her identity. But there’s more.”

A pause.

“She just left the Lancaster estate.”

Alexander’s eyes darkened immediately. “Lancaster?”

“Yes. Damian Lancaster’s wife.”

Wife?

Alexander turned slowly toward the wall-sized monitor displaying global stock markets. His mind worked rapidly.

The Lancaster family is powerful but nowhere near the level of the Whitmore Empire.

How could his missing sister possibly end up there? And why now?

“Get me everything,” Alexander ordered coldly. “Surveillance, medical records, financial history, school records. I want every second of her life uncovered.”

“Yes, sir.”

Alexander ended the call slowly. Then stood completely still.

A memory flashed suddenly through his mind. A little girl laughing while running through a garden.

Silver moon necklace bouncing against her tiny chest. Big brother, catch me!

The memory hit harder than expected. Alexander shut his eyes briefly.

For twenty years, the Whitmore family searched endlessly. Private investigators. Governments. Interpol contacts. Millions spent across continents.

Nothing.

Until tonight.

The office doors burst open suddenly.

Dominic Whitmore entered first. Sharp-eyed. Dangerously intelligent.

“What happened?” Dominic demanded.

Behind him came Matteo, Raphael, Julian, and Noah.

The six brothers gathered instantly the moment Alexander summoned them. Alexander looked at his brothers carefully.

For years, grief had united them.

Tonight… Hope returned.

“We may have found her.”

Silence exploded across the room.

Raphael actually staggered backward.

Noah went deathly still.

Julian whispered quietly, “…Alive?”

Alexander nodded once. “She’s in New York.”

Matteo immediately grabbed his coat. “We leave tonight.”

But Dominic’s attention narrowed. “You said ‘may.’ What’s the problem?”

Alexander’s expression darkened. “She’s connected to the Lancaster family.”

The atmosphere automatically changed.

Everyone in elite business circles knew Damian Lancaster. Cold. Ruthless. Emotionally detached.

Exactly the kind of man the Whitmore would never trust near their sister.

Noah swore violently under his breath. “She married that bastard?”

“We don’t know the full story yet,” Alexander replied.

Dominic’s fingers moved rapidly across a tablet already pulling information.

Then suddenly he stopped. His eyes widened slightly.

“What?” Dominic slowly turned the screen toward the others.

A headline filled the display.

BREAKING: Damian Lancaster Divorces Wife After Five-Year Marriage. Beneath it was a photograph.

Elena standing in the rain outside the Lancaster mansion with a suitcase in her hand.

The silver crescent moon necklace rested against her throat.

Every Whitmore brother went completely silent.

Alexander stared at the image.

Rain soaked her hair. Her expression looked devastated. Alone.

Something cold and dangerous entered his eyes. Their sister had been crying in the rain while they lived comfortably across the world.

Noah’s eyes flashed murderously. His hand slammed against the table hard enough to shake the glasses on it. “They threw her out?”

Matteo’s voice became terrifyingly calm. “I’m going to kill him.”

Alexander remained silent for several long seconds. He picked up the photograph slowly.

His thumb brushed once over Elena’s rain-soaked face before his expression turned ice cold again.

“Prepare the jet.” His voice dropped to something dangerous.

“No one hurts a Whitmore and walks away from it.”