chapter 20

Louis’s POV

The press room was a sea of lights and murmured questions. I stood just offstage, my hand firmly wrapped around Sierra’s. Her palm was damp, her fingers cold. She wore a deep blue dress that made her eyes look like midnight. She was breathtaking, and she was trembling.

“Look at me,” I said softly, turning her to face me. The noise of the room faded into a distant buzz. “You don’t have to say a word. Just stand beside me. Hold my hand. Smile at Katie when they show her picture. That’s all.”

She took a shaky breath and nodded, her gaze locking onto mine. “I can do that.”

“I know you can.” I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, not caring who saw. It was a gesture for her, a touchstone. “Remember, they want a story. We’re giving them a better one.”

My mother appeared, a serene, elegant presence. She gave Sierra’s shoulder a brief, firm squeeze. “Chin up, dear. You look like you belong there.” From Nia Trevane, it was the highest praise.

We walked out together. The flash of cameras was instantaneous, a blinding wall of light. I kept my grip on Sierra’s hand, leading her to the podium. I could feel the eyes of the world on us, dissecting her, wondering who she was.

I leaned into the microphone. “Thank you for coming. I’ll be brief. Recent days have seen much speculation about my business, my character. Today, I’m not here to talk about business.”

I paused, letting the curiosity build. “I’m here to introduce you to the reason I breathe.”

I nodded to Marcus at the side of the stage. A screen behind us lit up with a single photograph. It was the picture from my desk—Katie asleep in the pillow fort, peaceful and perfect.

A collective gasp rippled through the room, followed by a frenzy of clicking shutters.

“This is my daughter, Katie. She is five years old. She is my greatest achievement, my most profound joy.” My voice, which never wavered in a boardroom, thickened with real emotion. I looked at Sierra, pulling her slightly forward. “And this is her mother, Sierra Savalini. The bravest, most remarkable woman I have ever known. She has raised our daughter alone with a strength I can only admire.”

I turned fully to Sierra then, blocking out the cameras, seeing only her. “For five years, I missed everything. But I am here now. And my focus, my entire purpose, is now on them. To that end, I am dissolving my previous charitable foundation and launching the ‘Katherine Hope Initiative,’ a fully transparent venture focused on supporting single parents and children’s health. Because every child deserves the safety and love I am now so blessed to give mine.”

The room erupted. Shouted questions overlapped. “Is this a response to the Hale allegations?” “When did you find out about the child?” “Ms. Savalini, are you and Louis Trevane together?”

I held up a hand for silence. “We are a family. That is all you need to know. Our privacy, especially our daughter’s, will be respected. Thank you.”

I didn’t take questions. I simply put my arm around Sierra’s waist and guided her off the stage, through the back corridors, and into the waiting car. The moment the door closed, the professional mask fell away.

Sierra was shaking. “Did we do it?”

I pulled her into my arms, feeling the adrenaline crash through both of us. “We did. Perfectly.”

Her phone started buzzing incessantly. So did mine. We ignored them. The car sped toward the house, a sanctuary that now felt more like a bunker.

My sense of victory was short-lived. As we turned onto our street, I saw it. A delivery van, idling across from our gates. Not one of ours. My body went rigid.

“Get down,” I ordered Sierra, pushing her gently toward the footwell.

Before our driver could react, the van’s side door slid open. No one emerged. Instead, a large object was shoved out onto the road in our path.

Our driver swore, wrenching the wheel. The car swerved, tires screeching. Sierra cried out. We missed the object by inches and slammed to a halt against the curb.

I was out of the car before it fully settled, my eyes on the van. It was already speeding away. My security detail, following in the car behind, didn’t pursue. Their priority was us.

“Louis!” Sierra scrambled out, her face white.

“Stay behind me.” I walked toward the object left in the road. It was a life-size mannequin. Dressed in a cheap replica of the blue dress Sierra had just worn on television. Its face was a blank, featureless oval. Around its neck was a single, stark sign.

**NEXT TIME IT WON’T BE PLASTIC.**

Ice water flooded my veins. This wasn’t a financial move. This wasn’t a leaked document. This was a direct, visceral threat of violence.

Sierra saw it and made a choked sound, her hand flying to her mouth.

Rage, pure and black, obliterated every other thought. Victor wasn’t just trying to ruin me. He was promising to hurt what was mine. He had seen her on television, beautiful and brave at my side, and his answer was to show me her effigy, discarded in the street.

I turned and pulled Sierra into my chest, shielding her eyes from the grotesque sight. “Get that out of here,” I snarled at my security head. “Now. And I want Victor Hale’s location. I don’t care what it takes. Find him.”

Back in the house, the atmosphere was shattered. The triumphant return was now a grim lockdown. Katie, thankfully, was upstairs with Diamond, oblivious.

My mother saw our faces. She didn’t ask. She simply picked up the phone and began making calls, her voice steely. Mobilizing her own considerable resources.

In my study, Sierra finally broke. The tremors turned into full-bodied shaking. I poured a glass of whiskey and made her drink it.

“He’s going to kill me,” she whispered, staring at nothing.

I knelt in front of her, taking her icy hands. “Look at me. He is not going to touch you. This was a message because he’s scared. We took his scandal and drowned it in a better headline. He’s desperate.”

“That was a promise, Louis. He promised.”

“And I am making you a promise,” I said, my voice low and absolute. “By this time tomorrow, Victor Hale will be in handcuffs, or he will be in the ground. This ends. Now.”

I stood and went to my safe. I input the code and pulled out a small, sleek handgun. I checked the magazine with practiced ease.

Sierra’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“What I should have done the moment he looked at you in my hallway.” I slid the gun into the holster at the small of my back and covered it with my suit jacket. “I’m not waiting for the law. I’m not waiting for another ‘message.’ I’m finishing this.”

“Louis, no! You can’t! It’s what he wants! He wants you to make a mistake!”

“The only mistake I made was not eliminating him as a threat the second I knew about you!” The words exploded from me, fueled by a primal fear I had never known. “He sees you, Sierra. He sees your face and he thinks it’s a weakness he can exploit. I need to show him how wrong he is.”

She stood up, facing me, her fear morphing into a fierce determination that mirrored my own. “Then we do it together. The right way. You have the resources. You have the proof he threatened Katie. We take it to the police. We use the media. We bury him legally so deep he never sees the sun again. Don’t throw everything away on a street fight. Be the king, not the soldier.”

Her words cut through the red haze of my fury. She was right. A public, legal annihilation was a more lasting punishment. And it would keep me here, with her and Katie, not in a cell or a courtroom on a murder charge.

I let out a long, controlled breath. The weight of the gun against my back felt both comforting and shameful. I nodded slowly.

“Okay,” I said. “We do it your way. But we do it tonight.”

I called Marcus, my orders clear and cold. “Compile every threat. The photo, the note, today’s incident with the mannequin. Get the security footage from every angle. Contact the district attorney. Tell him I’m coming in, and I’m bringing him the case of the century.”

As I worked, Sierra sat quietly, her eyes never leaving me. The scared girl from the bakery was gone. In her place was a woman forged in fire, a partner in the truest sense.

The war was no longer just about money or power. It was about the woman in the blue dress and the little girl asleep upstairs.

And for them, I would become the storm that wiped Victor Hale from the earth.