SECRETLY The Billionaire Tycoon

KILL him now! Bring me his HEAD

Adrian sat alone in his penthouse as dawn broke over the city, Sophia's words echoing in his skull like a curse he couldn't shake.

Two billion dollars. Walk away. Prove you're better than this.

His phone buzzed. Ryker.

"Sir, refusing the Laurent offer could create serious problems. Sophia's father has ties to half of Europe's political elite. But there's something else—breaking news just came through. Isabella Thornton was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital an hour ago. Stress-induced complications with her pregnancy. Doctors are saying she might lose the baby."

Adrian's hand tightened on the phone. "How bad?"

"Critical. The media's already running with it. 'Billionaire's Revenge Costs Unborn Child' is trending. Sir, public opinion is turning fast. People are saying you've gone too far."

Adrian hung up. Stared at his reflection in the window. When had he become the villain in this story?

He grabbed his keys. "I'm going to the hospital."

"Sir, I'll send security—"

"No. I'll go alone." Adrian needed to think. Needed to face what his revenge actually looked like without an army watching. "Have the car ready downstairs."

The elevator descended through the building. Adrian's mind raced through calculations—the optics, the strategy, what Sophia would say, what his father would have done. None of it felt right anymore.

The parking garage was empty. His car sat in its reserved spot, sleek and expensive and completely out of place in his current thoughts. Adrian walked toward it, keys in hand.

Two black SUVs suddenly screeched around the corner, tires squealing on concrete. They blocked both exits, trapping him in the center of the garage. Doors flew open. Men emerged—twenty of them, maybe more. Professional. Military bearing. Armed with guns that looked military-grade.

Adrian stopped walking. Assessed. Calculated his chances without his security team. Not good.

The leader stepped forward, a scar running down his jaw, dead eyes that had seen too much death. "Mr. Kane. Nothing personal. But we need your head. It costs quite a fortune."

"Hired killers." Adrian's voice was calm despite his racing heart. "How much?"

"Three million. Someone really wants you dead."

"Who?"

A third vehicle appeared—a Mercedes sedan Adrian recognized. It pulled up behind the SUVs. The door opened. Richard Thornton stepped out, looking ten years older than he had yesterday, his face carved with lines of desperate determination.

Adrian felt something inside him crack. "Why?"

"I'm sorry." Richard's voice trembled. "I can't watch my family torn apart anymore. I'm doing my duty as the head of my family."

"I thought you were different." The words came out flat, emotionless. But underneath, something Adrian hadn't felt in years stirred—betrayal. Real betrayal, because he'd actually believed Richard might be redeemable. "I gave you a way out. A chance."

"I read the contract. Every clause. Every condition." Richard pulled out the one he'd signed yesterday. "Your death resets everything. All debts forgiven. All claims voided. My family goes free. Since you won't change your mind, since you won't stop destroying us, my only escape is your death."

Margaret appeared from the car behind him, her face twisted with rage and something like madness. "All of this is your fault! You were once our family dog, but now you're a monster! My daughter is in the hospital fighting for her baby's life because of you! I won't let a monster destroy my family!"

Adrian looked at the twenty armed men. At Richard's shaking hands. At Margaret's desperate fury. And he felt something unexpected—not fear. Not anger. Something almost like disappointment that they'd miscalculated so badly.

"So you brought just twenty thugs to kill me?" A smile started forming at the corner of his mouth. "Richard. Did you really think this through?"

"What?" Richard's confidence wavered.

"I'm Adrian Kane. Heir to the Kane Empire. You think my father raised me to be soft?" Adrian's smile widened, cold and sharp as a blade. "You think five years of playing poor erased thirty years of training?"

The lead killer shifted, suddenly less certain. "Boss, maybe we should—"

"I don't care who he is!" Margaret screamed. "He's one man! You're twenty armed soldiers! Kill him now!"

Richard raised his hand, his voice cracking with desperation and finality. "Kill him now! Bring me his head!"

The killers raised their weapons. Twenty guns aimed at Adrian's chest. Their fingers moved to triggers. This was it—the moment Richard had chosen to cross a line he could never uncross.

Adrian's smile didn't waver. Instead, it grew.

Because they'd made one critical mistake. They'd assumed he came to the garage alone.

And Adrian Kane was never really alone.