Chapter 4

I looked at Lewis. His phone was still in his hand, his thumb hovering over the dial pad to call the police. He expected me to fall to my knees. He expected me to beg for mercy. He wanted me to fight so he could prove I was crazy.

Instead, I turned my back on him.

I tightened my grip on Kevin, shielding his face from the harsh hospital lights, and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Lewis demanded. "Ruby! I said I'm calling the police! You are not taking him!"

I didn't look back.

I simply walked out, leaving him standing with the monster he chose over his own flesh and blood.

The storm had finally passed by the time I returned to Kensington Manor. Lady Tiara was waiting in the grand foyer.

She stood perfectly still, her sharp eyes taking in my muddy clothes and Kevin’s pale, exhausted face. She knew instantly.

"He didn't believe you," Tiara stated.

"He threatened to have me arrested," I replied, my voice devoid of all emotion. "He protected Chloe. He blamed me."

A dangerous, terrifying shadow crossed Tiara’s eyes. Her jaw clenched.

"I bought you to fix my son," Tiara said, her voice trembling with a rare, raw fury. "I thought you were just a pawn. But I was wrong. Lewis is a weak, foolish boy who will let this family's true heir die for a manipulative parasite. You are the only one with the strength to protect my grandson's life. The Kensington bloodline survives through him, not Lewis."

She turned and walked into her private study. I followed her, holding Kevin tightly against my chest. She approached a massive, oil-painted portrait of the Kensington ancestors.

She reached behind the heavy gold frame, pressing a hidden panel. The wall slid open with a soft click, revealing a steel safe.

She pulled out a thick leather folder and pressed it firmly into my hands.

"Inside are new passports for you and Kevin," Tiara said. "There is also access to a private, untraceable fortune. It is entirely yours."

She reached back into the safe and pulled out a small, silver flash drive.

"This contains every dark secret, every hidden sin of the Kensington family empire," she said, placing it gently in my palm. She looked at me, her eyes blazing with a grandmother's wrath. "Take my grandson and run, Ruby. Disappear. And when you are strong enough, come back and destroy him. I’m sorry for bringing you into this mess."

I didn't hesitate. I carried Kevin upstairs, bathed him in warm water, and tucked him into my bed.

I packed nothing but the clothes on our backs.

Then, I picked up my phone and dialed the one man I knew could get us out of London before sunrise.

Charles Harrington.

He was Britain’s most ruthless aristocratic lawyer. He was cold, brilliant, and lethal in a courtroom. He was also the man who had secretly loved me for five years.

He had stood in the shadows, watching Lewis break my heart over and over again, waiting patiently for the day I finally had enough.

He answered on the first ring.

"I need to leave, Charles," I whispered into the receiver. "Tonight. With Kevin."

"I will have a private jet waiting on the tarmac in one hour," Charles said, his voice a smooth, comforting anchor in the dark. "I am drafting the ironclad legal documents right now. No one will ever find you, Ruby. I promise you that."

"Thank you," I breathed, a single tear finally escaping my eye.

"I would burn the world down for you," Charles replied smoothly. "Just say the word."

---

The morning sun was shining brightly when Lewis finally returned to the manor. He expected to find Ruby crying in the foyer. He expected her to be on her knees, begging for his forgiveness for her insane stunt at the hospital.

He was ready to punish her.

He pushed open the heavy mahogany doors.

"Ruby!" Lewis called out, his voice echoing off the pristine marble floors.

No one answered. The house was eerily, terrifyingly empty. The maids were gone. The nanny was gone. There was no sound of his son playing in the halls.

Frowning, Lewis walked into the grand dining room. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Sitting alone in the center of the massive oak table were three items.

His mother’s priceless heirloom wedding ring. A divorce paper, signed flawlessly in black ink. And a tablet, its screen glowing brightly.

Lewis slowly approached the table. His heart began to pound a frantic, irregular rhythm against his ribs. He picked up the tablet and tapped the screen.

A video began to play.

Ruby appeared on the screen. She was holding Kevin safely in her arms. The boy was dressed in a warm sweater, resting his head against her chest.

"You chose your mistress over your son’s life, Lewis," Ruby said. Her voice was a lethal, icy blade that sliced straight through the speaker. "You are dead to us now."

Lewis stared at the screen, his breath catching painfully in his throat.

"Don't bother looking for us," Ruby continued, her eyes staring directly into his soul with a promise of absolute ruin. "Because the next time we meet, I will be the one taking everything from you."

The video abruptly cut to black.

Lewis opened his mouth to scream her name.

But before a single sound could leave his lips, a deafening gunshot ripped through the air, and the massive glass windows of the dining room violently shattered inward.