DOMINIC'S POV
The police station smelled like bad coffee and broken dreams.
I sat in a gray interrogation room for three hours, answering the same questions over and over. Yes, Robert Chen had manipulated evidence. Yes, I'd been drugged at the gala—they found traces in my blood work from that night. Yes, I'd slept with Ava Chen. Yes, she was pregnant with my child.
That last admission felt like swallowing glass.
"Mr. Kane, you're free to go," Detective Morrison finally said. "But stay in the city. We may have more questions."
I walked out of the station at midnight, exhausted and hollow.
Marcus waited by his car. "Come on. I'll drive you home."
"Thanks for saving my life back there."
"That's what best friends do." Marcus pulled into traffic. "Though I have to say, you really screwed up with Ava Chen."
"I know."
"Do you? Because that woman spent three weeks building up the courage to tell you about the baby, and you called her a liar to her face." Marcus's voice was harsh. "Her own father tried to kill her tonight because of your family's business drama. She's been through hell."
"I was being manipulated—"
"So was she! But she didn't accuse you of lying when she learned the truth. She just walked away." Marcus pulled up to my building. "You want my advice? Give her space. Let her decide if she wants you in that kid's life. Don't push."
He was right. I hated it, but he was right.
I rode the elevator to my penthouse, every muscle aching. All I wanted was sleep.
The lights were on inside my apartment.
My hand went to my phone, ready to call security. But then I heard humming. Familiar humming.
I opened the door carefully.
Celeste Chen sat on my couch, drinking my whiskey, looking completely at home.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "How did you get in?"
"You gave me a key, remember? For emergencies." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I heard about what happened at the warehouse. Are you okay?"
"How did you hear? It just happened—"
"I have friends at the police station. They called me when they brought in my—" she paused, "when they brought in Robert Chen."
Her father. Thomas Brennan. The man my family supposedly destroyed.
"You should leave," I said coldly.
"Dominic, please. I know you're upset, but we need to talk." Celeste stood, moving closer. "Everything Robert said—the sabotage, the virus in Thomas Brennan's company—it's all lies. Your father was a good man. He didn't destroy anyone."
"How do you know what he said? You weren't there."
Another pause. "Like I said. Friends at the police station."
Liar. She was there. Or she had someone watching us.
"Get out of my apartment."
"Not until you listen." Celeste's voice turned hard. "My real father—Thomas Brennan—he did lose everything. His business failed. His wife left. His son died. That part was true. But it wasn't your father's fault. Thomas made bad choices. Gambled away the company money. Lied to investors. He destroyed himself."
"Then why did Robert Chen say—"
"Because Robert is crazy!" Celeste's mask cracked. "He convinced himself that Richard Kane sabotaged Thomas. Spent twenty years planning revenge. He adopted me just to use me as a weapon. Do you know what that feels like? Being raised as someone's revenge plot?"
For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her.
Then I remembered Ava's face when Celeste showed those fake records. The way Ava's voice broke when she said "I'm not confused."
"You helped him," I said quietly. "You gave Ava that drugged drink. You produced fake evidence. You destroyed your own sister."
"Half-sister," Celeste corrected. "And she's not innocent. Ava knew about the plan. She agreed to seduce you, to get pregnant, to trap you—"
"Stop lying." My voice came out deadly calm. "The police have everything. Robert's emails. The security footage. They know you drugged her. They know you faked the Tokyo records. You're going to prison."
Celeste's face went very still. "No, I'm not."
"The evidence—"
"Is gone." She smiled. "I have friends in very high places, Dominic. Friends who owe me favors. By morning, all the evidence against me will disappear. Robert will take the fall. He's already in custody, already confessed. Nobody will believe I was involved."
My blood ran cold. "You're going to let your own father go to prison alone?"
"He's not my father. He's the man who used me." Celeste finished her whiskey. "I'm done being a weapon. Time to be a queen instead."
She moved closer, trailing a finger down my chest. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to forget about Ava and her baby. She'll disappear—I'll make sure of it. You and I will get married. Combine our families' companies. Build an empire together."
I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "You're insane."
"No. I'm practical." She leaned in, whispering. "Because if you don't marry me, I'll destroy you. I have evidence of every illegal deal Kane Industries ever made. Every bribe. Every blackmail. Every secret your father kept. I'll release it all and watch your empire burn."
"You're bluffing."
"Try me." Celeste pulled her wrist free. "You have forty-eight hours to decide. Marry me, or lose everything."
She walked to the door, then paused. "Oh, and Dominic? Don't bother trying to warn Ava. I've already made sure she won't be a problem."
"What did you do?"
"Let's just say she's taking an unexpected trip. Somewhere far away. Somewhere you'll never find her." Celeste's smile was poison. "You wanted her gone anyway, right? Now she is. You're welcome."
She left, locking the door behind her.
I immediately called Ava's phone. Straight to voicemail.
Called Grace. No answer.
Called the police station. "Ava Chen? She left an hour ago. Said she was going home."
I called Marcus. "I need your help. Now."
Fifteen minutes later, we broke down Ava's apartment door.
Empty. Clothes gone. Laptop gone. No sign of where she went.
But on the kitchen table, a note in handwriting that wasn't Ava's:
"Stop looking. She's safe. She's leaving the city. If you try to find her, I'll kill the baby and make it look like a miscarriage. Back off, Kane. You lost."
Marcus read over my shoulder. "Who sent this?"
"Celeste." My hands shook with rage. "She's taking everything from me. My reputation. My company. The mother of my child."
"So what do you do?"
I stared at that note, at Celeste's threat, at the choice she'd given me: my empire or my family.
For the first time in my life, the choice was easy.
"I burn it all down," I said quietly. "Every illegal deal my father made. Every secret. I release everything before she can. Then I find Ava, and I beg her to forgive me."
"That'll destroy Kane Industries. Destroy your reputation. You could go to prison."
"I know." I pulled out my phone. "But my father's sins aren't mine to protect anymore. And I won't build a life on lies and threats."
I started typing an email to the FBI, attaching every file I could find.
Marcus watched me. "You're really doing this? Throwing away everything you built?"
"I'm not throwing it away. I'm choosing something better." I hit send. "I'm choosing to be the man I should have been from the start."
The email went through.
No taking it back now.
My phone buzzed immediately. Unknown number. Text message: "Big mistake, Kane. Now everyone pays."
Below it, a photo that made my heart stop.
Ava, unconscious, in the back of a car.
And Celeste in the driver's seat, smiling at the camera.
Another text: "Told you not to be stupid. Now she dies. And it's all your fault."
The photo was timestamped five minutes ago.
They were still in the city.
I could still save her.
"Marcus, I need your car. Now."
"Where are we going?"
I pulled up the GPS data from the photo's metadata. "To finish this."
What I didn't know was that Ava wasn't unconscious.
She was awake, aware, and had a plan of her own.
And Celeste was about to learn that you should never underestimate the woman protecting her unborn child.