Isla's POV
"We're going in." I pull Ethan closer to me, my voice steady even though my heart is hammering. "Victor wants a family reunion? He's going to get one."
"Isla, no." Dominic grabs my arm. "It's too dangerous. He has your mother, he has Aiden, and he's already proven he'll hurt anyone who gets in his way."
"Exactly. Which is why we can't wait around making plans." I look down at Ethan, who's being far too brave for a five-year-old. "Baby, I need you to stay here with Aunt Lily—"
"No!" Ethan's face crumples. "I want to meet my brother! And save Grandma!"
"Sweetheart—"
"You said I was smart, Mama. You always say I'm too smart for my own good." His silver eyes—Dominic's eyes—fill with determination. "Maybe I can help. Maybe I can trick the bad man."
Dominic kneels down to Ethan's level. "Son, this man is very dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you."
"But he already has my brother!" Ethan's voice breaks. "Aiden's been alone for his whole life. He thinks nobody wants him. I have to show him that's not true. I have to tell him he has a family."
My heart shatters. How did I raise such a brave, compassionate child? And how can I possibly let him walk into danger?
James clears his throat. "Actually, sir, the boy might have a point."
"What?" Dominic and I say in unison.
"Victor expects you to try something clever—backup teams, FBI, secret plans. What he won't expect is for you to actually do what he asks." James pulls up building schematics on his laptop. "The warehouse has multiple exits. If we plant tracking devices on both boys, we can follow them if Victor tries to separate you. And I can have a team on standby just outside Victor's radar range."
"You want to use my sons as bait?" Dominic's voice is deadly quiet.
"I want to use Victor's arrogance against him." James meets his gaze steadily. "He thinks he's won. He thinks he has all the power. But he's never dealt with two parents who would burn the world down for their children."
Lily steps forward, pulling something from her purse. "I have an idea. It's risky, but it might work."
She shows us two small devices—no bigger than a button. "I designed these for my tech company. They're emergency trackers with built-in listening devices and they can deliver a mild electric shock if activated remotely. We put one on each twin. If Victor tries to hurt them or take them away, we can track them anywhere in the world and temporarily disable whoever's holding them."
"You invented spy equipment?" I stare at my best friend.
"I got paranoid after the first kidnapping attempt." Lily shrugs. "These can be sewn into clothing. Victor will never know they're there."
Dominic looks at me. Really looks at me, with an intensity that makes my breath catch. "Isla, I know I have no right to ask you to trust me. I threw you out when you needed me most. I called you a liar when you told me the truth. But I'm asking now—please. Trust me to keep our sons safe."
Our sons. The words still feel strange, but they're starting to feel real.
"I trust you to love them," I say carefully. "Because a father who didn't care wouldn't look the way you did when you saw Aiden's video. But Dominic, if anything happens to either of my boys—"
"I'll die before I let Victor touch them." His voice is fierce, certain. "I swear it on everything I have."
Ethan tugs on both our hands. "Are we going to get my brother now?"
I look at the clock. Twenty minutes until Victor's deadline.
"Yes, baby. We're going to get your brother."
The warehouse district is exactly as creepy as I expected—abandoned buildings, broken windows, shadows everywhere. Dominic drives us in his car, with James following at a distance in a separate vehicle. Ethan sits between us in the back seat, unusually quiet.
"Mama?" he whispers. "What if Aiden doesn't like me?"
My heart clenches. "Baby, he's going to love you. You're his twin brother."
"But what if Uncle Victor told him bad things about us? What if he thinks we're the bad guys?"
Dominic reaches back and takes Ethan's small hand. "Then we'll show him the truth. We'll show him what family really means."
The warehouse looms ahead—massive, dark, threatening. Dominic parks the car and we all get out. The tracking devices are sewn into both Ethan's jacket and hidden in my pocket—ready to give to Aiden when we see him.
"Remember the plan," Dominic says quietly. "Stay calm. Keep Victor talking. Give James time to get into position."
"And if things go wrong?" I ask.
"Then we improvise." He looks at me with something that might be respect. "You've survived six years as a single mother in hiding. If anyone can improvise, it's you."
We walk toward the warehouse entrance together. Ethan holds both our hands, and despite the terror coursing through me, there's something right about this moment. The three of us, united, ready to save our family.
The warehouse door opens before we reach it.
Victor Ashford stands in the doorway, smiling. He looks nothing like the villain I expected—just a handsome older man in an expensive suit. He could be anyone's kindly uncle.
"Dominic! Isla! And this must be young Ethan." Victor crouches down, his smile widening. "My goodness, you look exactly like your father did at your age."
Ethan steps slightly behind me. "Where's my brother?"
"Straight to business. I like that." Victor stands, gesturing us inside. "Come in, come in. The whole family is here."
We step into the warehouse, and my blood runs cold.
The space is huge and mostly empty—except for a circle of chairs in the center. Sitting in those chairs, tied and gagged, are people I never expected to see.
My mother, yes—older but unmistakably alive.
But also: my father, Richard Chen, looking terrified.
Marcus, beaten and bloody but conscious.
Sarah, unconscious and slumped forward.
And in a small cage off to the side—a little boy with Ethan's face, hugging a stuffed rabbit and watching us with wide, scared eyes.
Aiden.
"What is this?" Dominic's voice is tight with rage.
"This," Victor says pleasantly, "is a family meeting. You see, I've been cleaning up loose ends. All these people know too much about my plans. They've all tried to interfere." He pulls out a gun, checking it casually. "So I've gathered everyone who matters to you both. Everyone you love."
"You're insane," I breathe.
"I'm practical." Victor's smile never wavers. "Here's how this works. You're going to sign over custody of both boys to me, along with control of Ashford Global. In exchange, I'll let you all live. You can walk away, start new lives, and forget this ever happened."
"And if we refuse?" Dominic asks.
Victor points the gun at my mother. "Then I start killing people. One every five minutes. We'll see how long your principles last when your loved ones are dying in front of you."
Ethan starts crying. In the cage, Aiden presses against the bars, reaching toward his twin.
"Don't hurt anyone," I say quickly. "We'll do whatever you want."
"Isla, no—" Dominic starts.
"I said we'll do it!" My voice rises. "Just don't hurt them. Please."
Victor's smile widens. "I knew you'd see reason. Mothers always do." He pulls out some papers from his jacket. "Sign here, here, and here. Then you can all leave. Except the boys, of course. They stay with me."
He's lying. I can see it in his eyes. He has no intention of letting any of us leave this warehouse alive.
Dominic takes the papers with shaking hands. He looks at me, and I see the same realization in his face. We're trapped. Victor has thought of everything.
But then Ethan does something extraordinary.
He pulls away from me and walks straight toward the cage where Aiden sits. "Hi," he says loudly. "I'm Ethan. I'm your brother."
"Ethan, get back here!" I reach for him, but Victor blocks me with his gun.
"Let the boys meet," Victor says, amused. "They'll have plenty of time to bond later."
Ethan presses his hand against the cage bars. Aiden mirrors him, their small palms touching through the metal. "I've been waiting my whole life to meet you," Ethan says.
"Me too," Aiden whispers.
And then Ethan does something that changes everything.
He pulls off his jacket—the one with the tracking device sewn inside—and pushes it through the bars to Aiden. "Here. You're probably cold."
It looks like a sweet brotherly gesture. Victor doesn't even blink.
But I understand immediately. Ethan just armed his twin with our only weapon.
"Such good boys," Victor says. "They'll make excellent heirs once I've... reshaped them properly."
Dominic signs the papers with jerky movements. "There. You have what you want. Let everyone go."
"Almost." Victor takes the papers, studying them. "But first, let's talk about your parents, Dominic. Let's talk about that car accident fourteen years ago."
Dominic freezes. "What about it?"
"It wasn't an accident. I cut their brake lines myself." Victor says it casually, like he's discussing the weather. "They were going to change their will, you see. Leave everything to charity instead of you. I couldn't allow that."
"You murdered them?" Dominic's voice breaks.
"I saved your inheritance!" Victor snaps, his pleasant mask cracking. "You should be thanking me! Instead, you've been ungrateful, questioning my decisions, refusing to let me run the company the way it should be run!"
He's unraveling. Getting angry. Making mistakes.
"And Isla's mother?" I ask, keeping my voice steady. "Why fake her death?"
"She saw me tamper with the brakes. I had to eliminate her. But she escaped, the clever woman." Victor glances at my mother with grudging respect. "Took me years to track her down. She's been watching you both this whole time, gathering evidence against me."
My mother's eyes meet mine. Even gagged, she's trying to tell me something. Her gaze flicks to Victor's left pocket, then to the boys.
What is she—
Oh.
The key to Aiden's cage. It's in Victor's left pocket.
I look at Dominic. He's seen it too.
"So now what?" Dominic asks, drawing Victor's attention back to him. "You kill us all and take my sons? Raise them to be your puppets?"
"Essentially, yes." Victor raises his gun toward Dominic's head. "Starting with you, nephew. I've waited fourteen years for this moment."
"Wait!" I scream.
But I'm not looking at Victor.
I'm looking at Aiden, who's wearing Ethan's jacket now. The jacket with the tracking device that has a remote shock feature.
And I'm holding the remote Lily gave me, hidden in my palm.
I press the button.
The device activates, sending an electric shock through the jacket—not enough to hurt Aiden, but enough to surprise him.
Aiden yelps and jumps backward, away from the metal cage bars.
The electricity conducts through the bars to the lock.
There's a spark, a click, and the cage door swings open.
Everything happens at once.
Dominic lunges at Victor, going for the gun.
James crashes through a window, security team behind him.
The prisoners start fighting their restraints.
And both twins run—straight toward me, their small faces determined and terrified.
But Victor is faster than I expected. He dodges Dominic's attack, spins, and fires.
The gunshot echoes through the warehouse like thunder.
Someone screams.
And Dominic falls.