Chapter 7: The Patriarch's Demand

The iron shutters on the windows allowed no daylight into the west wing, but the tension inside the villa reached a breaking point by mid-afternoon.

A sudden rumble of engines echoed from the courtyard,armed guards in formal suits, pulled up to the main entrance.

There was a visitor but it doesn’t seem like Roman was expecting them.

I sat at the edge of the bed in my locked room, listening to the sharp sound of heavy leather boots echoing through the grand hallway down below. Minutes later, the electronic lock on my bedroom door beeped, and two guards pushed the double doors wide open.

"Come with us, Miss Jane," one of the guards ordered flatly. "Lord Sterling wants to see you."

I stood up slowly, my heart pounding against my ribs with so many things running through my mind as I was led down the marble corridor toward Roman's reception hall.

When I entered the room, the atmosphere was thick with suffocating tension.

Standing near the marble fireplace was an older man with silver hair brushed strictly back, wearing a bespoke pinstripe suit. He is Lord Sterling the patriarch of sterling empire.

Lord sterling carried the exact same cold, icy-blue eyes as Roman, but his face was set in a scowl of pure, aristocratic disgust.

Roman stood just a few paces away, his hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets, his broad frame relaxed—yet every muscle in his body was visibly coiled like a striking viper.

Lord Sterling turned his sharp gaze toward me as I entered. His eyes swept over my simple cream dress, my bare feet, and my pale, exhausted face with absolute contempt.

"So," Lord Sterling spoke, his voice dry and biting. "This is the gutter girl you picked to carry the future of our bloodline?"

I froze in the doorway, my hands clenching into tight fists at my sides.

"She was chosen because her medical record and background were cleared," Roman said, his deep voice smooth, flat, and completely devoid of warmth.

"Cleared by who? A third-rate agency?" Lord Sterling sneered, slamming his silver-headed walking cane against the hardwood floor. Thud. "I just learned about her existence an hour ago, Roman! She is an unknown, low-class girl with no pedigree, no standing, and no family backing. She is a complete liability!"

"Her pedigree does not matter," Roman replied coldly, taking a slow step to place himself directly between his father and me. "She is healthy and under my complete control. She will bear my heir."

"She will bear nothing!" Lord Sterling roared, his face flushing red with anger. "The Sterling legacy cannot be tainted by a nobody! You will cast this woman aside immediately!"

The patriarch took a step closer to his son, his voice dropping into a harsh, commanding growl.

"I have already arranged a match for you with the Willington family," Lord Sterling declared. "A proper woman of status. Send this girl back to the gutter, pay off whatever quiet settlement she requires, and throw her out. I forbid her from bearing the family's heir."

My breath hitched in my throat.

Cast me aside? Send me back?

For a brief second, a rush of desperate hope surged through my chest. This was it. The head of the Sterling family was ordering my release. I could go home. I could go back to the city. Back to Aiden.

I looked at Roman, waiting for him to step aside and obey his father.

But Roman did not move an inch.

Slowly, Roman leaned in closer to his father. His pale ice-blue eyes hardened into solid stone. A terrifyingly dark aura settled over the entire room.

"Don’t forget you gave me control of the Sterling empire three years ago, Father," Roman whispered, his deep voice cutting through the quiet room like a serrated blade. "Which means you no longer issue orders on St. Jude’s Island."

Lord Sterling’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you daring to defy me for a captive girl?!"

"I am telling you how it is going to be," Roman said flatly. "Sunny stays right here. She is mine, no other woman will ever step foot into this house, and no other woman will carry my child."

"She is a nobody!" the patriarch shouted, pointing his cane furiously at me. "She has no value!"

"She has value because I decided she does," Roman growled, stepping into his father's space until the older man was forced to back up. "If you ever step onto my island again to dictate my personal choices, I will strip your remaining access before sunset. Do not test me."

Lord Sterling stood frozen, trembling with pure rage. He looked at his son, realizing with terrifying clarity that Roman was no longer a man who could be controlled.

“Leave father before I tell my security to escort you out”

Without another word, Lord Sterling turned on his heel, his silver cane clicking loudly against the floor as he stormed out of the reception hall. His guards quickly followed, and the heavy front doors slammed shut behind them.

The room fell into a heavy, ringing silence.

I stood near the doorway, my whole body trembling as my brief dream of freedom shattered into pieces.

Roman turned around slowly to face me. His chest was rising and falling with controlled breaths, his pale eyes burning down into mine with a possessive fury. He walked toward me with long, unhurried strides until his tall shadow completely consumed me.

"You heard him," I whispered, my voice cracking as tears filled my eyes. "He ordered you to let me go! Why won't you just let me leave?!"

Roman reached out, his large hand wrapping firmly around the back of my neck. He tilted my face up to his, his thumb pressing lightly against my jaw.

"No one dictates what I keep, Sunny," Roman murmured, his breath brushing warm against my cold skin. "Not even my father. Not the law. And certainly not you. You are never leaving this island, until I get what I want."