Chapter 5

My breath caught in my throat. My heart stopped completely.

Sitting in the back of the luxury cabin, illuminated by the soft ambient light, was Lily.

Not the broken, bleeding woman I had abandoned in the hospital corridor. Not the hysterical, grieving mother I had paid doctors to lock away in a remote, high-security psychiatric ward.

She was dressed impeccably in a tailored, razor-sharp black suit. Her hair was perfectly styled, her posture rigid and commanding. She looked down at me like I was an insect.

And sitting right beside her, his arm resting casually behind her seat, was Jackson Russo. The ruthless American billionaire corporate raider.

My mind violently short-circuited.

"Lily?" I choked out, my teeth chattering uncontrollably. "How... how are you out? I had you committed!"

Lily didn't even blink. Her eyes were empty, completely devoid of the love and warmth she used to shower me with.

"You thought a few bribed doctors could hold the true Lancaster heir?" Jackson’s deep, gravelly voice cut through the freezing night air. He leaned forward, his dark eyes locking onto mine with lethal intent. "You stole a proxy, Yohan. You didn't steal the bloodline. And you certainly didn't account for me."

The true Lancaster heir.

The realization hit me like a physical blow. I had spent years thinking Lily was just a wealthy girl whose parents' company I could easily usurp once they were out of the picture.

I thought my forged proxy was ironclad. But with Jackson backing her, my forged documents were nothing but toilet paper.

"Lily, please!" Diana shrieked from the mud beside me, crawling toward the car on her bare knees. "Tell them to stop! I'm your sister! I just had a baby!"

Lily’s gaze shifted to Diana. The temperature in the air seemed to drop another ten degrees.

"My sister died the night you murdered my parents and my child," Lily said, her voice a flat, terrifying monotone.

"Lily, be reasonable!" I scrambled forward, the wet dirt caking my bare chest and boxers. "We can make a deal! I still have the shares! I'm the father of—"

"You have nothing," Jackson interrupted smoothly. He snapped his fingers.

The doors of the black SUVs behind the Maybach swung open. A dozen heavily armed men stepped out into the driveway.

I flinched, throwing my arms over my head, expecting a bullet. Expecting them to end it right here.

But they didn't draw their weapons. Instead, one of the guards walked up and threw a bundle of shredded, muddy fabric directly into my face.

It was my ruined dress pants, the ones they had ripped off me in the master suite.

"We aren't going to kill you, Yohan," Jackson said, a cruel, predatory smile forming on his lips. "Death is too quick. Too easy."

Lily finally looked back at me. "You took my family. I am going to take every single breath of your future. Your nightmare has just begun."

The Maybach door opened.

Jackson stepped out first, extending a hand. Lily placed her hand in his and stepped out onto the gravel. She didn't look back at us again.

Flanked by Jackson’s private army, Lily walked up the grand steps of the Lancaster estate. The massive front doors opened.

The senior staff, the guards, the very people who had just thrown me out, all bowed their heads in deep respect as she crossed the threshold.

The heavy doors slammed shut, echoing like a gunshot in the quiet night.

The Maybach and the SUVs seamlessly backed down the driveway, the iron gates locking automatically behind them.

We were completely alone in the freezing dark.

"Yohan, do something!" Diana sobbed hysterically, shivering in her underwear, her arms wrapped around herself. "Call someone! Call your lawyers!"

"Shut up!" I snapped, my entire body shaking violently from the cold and the sheer shock. "My lawyers are useless against Jackson Russo! We have nothing!"

I grabbed the shredded remains of my dress pants from the mud, desperately trying to wrap the ruined fabric around my freezing shoulders for warmth.

As I pulled the fabric tight, my frozen fingers brushed against something stiff inside the torn pocket.

I paused. I dug my hand into the silk lining.

It was a crumpled, folded piece of paper.

My brows furrowed. I hadn't put anything in my pockets before the banquet. Diana had been wearing my jacket earlier in the evening, slipping her hands into my pockets to keep warm on the balcony.

With trembling hands, I unfolded the paper, holding it up to the dim, yellow light of the streetlamps filtering through the estate gates.

It was a printed email. A bank transfer confirmation and a direct message thread.

My eyes scanned the words, my blood running colder than the freezing mud beneath my feet.

Target confirmed. The Lancaster car is on Route 9. I will hit them at the intersection. Wire the remaining $500,000 to my offshore account immediately after the crash.

The sender was Diana's brother.

The recipient was Diana.

Make sure Lily doesn't survive, Diana's printed reply read. I need Yohan to myself. If the parents die too, the empire is ours.

I stopped breathing.

Diana had told me she lost control of the wheel. She had cried in my arms, swearing she was terrified, swearing it was an accident.

I had blackmailed Lily, murdered her parents, and let my own unborn child die to protect Diana from going to prison for a "mistake."

I slowly turned my head to look at the woman shivering in the mud beside me. The fragile, innocent victim I had burned my entire life to the ground for.

Diana looked back at me, her mascara running down her face. "Yohan? What is it? What are you looking at?"

My fingers crushed the paper. A new, terrifying rage ignited in my chest.