Chapter 21Adrian stood beside Aunt Betty, his expression grave. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.Aunt Betty looked up at him, confusion crossing her face. "Sorry? For what?""For you encountering someone like my father." Adrian's jaw tightened. The comparison clearly pained him. "Another man who chose money and power over family. Who betrayed the people who loved him. Who sold out his own for personal gain."Aunt Betty's breath caught. The parallel was cruel but accurate. Frederick Lancaster had destroyed their family through his affair with Natasha. Anthony Webb had nearly finished what Frederick started by betraying them to that same woman."But unlike my father," Adrian continued, his voice hardening, "Anthony is here. Captured. Unable to hurt you anymore. And his fate…" he met Aunt Betty's eyes, "...is entirely up to you."The words hung in the air.Outside the window, Anthony went very still. The chains stopped rattling. Even his breathing seemed to pause."What?" Aunt Betty whisp

Chapter 23Adrian was quiet for a moment, his eyes distant as he recalled the past. The fluorescent lights of the hospital room hummed softly above them, casting a pale glow across his weathered features. Outside, the first hints of dawn were beginning to creep across the sky, painting the clouds in shades of gray and pink. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, measured."It was some years ago. I'd been assigned to a specialized training unit in the northern mountains." He paused, staring at his hands as they rested on his knees, the calluses on his palms visible even in the dim light. His fingers flexed once, twice, as if remembering actions they'd taken long ago. "We were running security exercises near a civilian ski resort when I heard screaming."The words hung in the air between them, heavy with implications.Celeste leaned forward slightly, her chair creaking under the shift in weight, listening intently. Her hands gripped the armrests, knuckles whitening. Aunt Betty's eyes

Chapter 25The Kardashian estate sprawled across ten acres in the most exclusive district of Greenville. Three-story mansion. Manicured gardens. Gates that cost more than most houses. It was the kind of wealth that had been accumulated over generations, carefully guarded and ruthlessly maintained.Inside the main hall, the atmosphere was chaotic.Two dozen family members sat in a semicircle of expensive chairs, their voices overlapping in heated argument. The chandeliers above cast harsh light on faces twisted with anger, fear, and accusation. This was supposed to be a celebration day — the family's troubled daughter finally married off, their problem solved. Instead, they'd been summoned for an emergency meeting at dawn.At the center of it all stood Kris Kardashian, still wearing the remnants of her wedding dress. The white silk was torn and stained. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders. Her eyes were red from crying, but her jaw was set with stubborn defiance."Explain yourself

Chapter 27Kris knelt on the cold marble floor where the guards had thrown her. Her wedding dress was torn and filthy, the once-pristine white fabric streaked with dirt and creased beyond repair. Her hair hung in tangled strands around her face. Her eyes were empty, hollow with despair.Everything was over. Her family was going to destroy her. Use her body as a bargaining chip. Humiliate her publicly before handing her over to be used by Natasha's allies. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.The click of heels on marble made her look up.Gina stood above her, a smug smile playing across her perfectly made-up face. She crouched down, bringing herself eye-level with Kris, her expression radiating satisfaction — the look of someone who had been waiting a very long time for exactly this moment."You know what's funny?" Gina said conversationally. "Lord Frederick — our dear departed grandfather — he always thought you were special. Thought you had a mind for business. Called you

Chapter 29The Kardashian family estate loomed before them — massive iron gates, stone walls thick enough to repel siege equipment, manicured grounds stretching into the distance in neat, deliberate arrangements that spoke of old money and older pride. But something was wrong.Adrian and Celeste stepped out of their vehicle, immediately sensing the chaos before they could fully process what they were seeing. The gates stood partially open, as though whoever had last passed through them had been moving too quickly to bother closing them properly. Servants and guards rushed back and forth in the courtyard beyond in frantic, purposeless-looking patterns, colliding with one another, shouting instructions that nobody seemed to be following. Raised voices echoed from somewhere deep inside the mansion — indistinct, overlapping, the sound of a household that had come completely undone. The air itself felt charged with tension and disorder, the way the atmosphere feels before a storm breaks."