The air in the back of the tinted luxury SUV was quiet—unnervingly so. The smooth rumble of the powerful engine was the only sound breaking the silence between Kaelen and Rhys. The twins, exhausted by the sensory overload of the airport and the raised voices, were both fast asleep, their silver-streaked heads resting on Kaelen's lap.
Kaelen ran a weary hand over Silas's soft hair. She wasn't just tired; she was vibrating with residual terror. Elias Thorne had always been a danger to her heart, but now he was a threat to her entire existence, a threat Rhys's fists couldn't solve.
"He won't stop," Rhys stated flatly, his profile rigid as he stared out the window. "He named Silas. That wasn't luck, Kaelen. That was recognition. He knows."
"He knows nothing," Kaelen snapped, her voice tight. "He knows the name of his long-lost great-uncle, maybe. He doesn't know their birth date, their favorite color, or how Seth got that scar on his knee."
"He doesn't need to," Rhys countered, turning his intense gaze on her. "He needs motive, means, and money. He has all three. He saw the hair, Kaelen. He saw himself."
Kaelen finally slumped back against the supple leather seat, admitting the defeat. "I told him we'd talk. That buys us time."
"Time for what?" Rhys's tone was accusatory, but laced with genuine worry. "Time for him to subpoena your financial records? Time for him to use his media contacts to leak a story about you abandoning his children?"
Kaelen took a deep, stabilizing breath. She had to shift from panic to strategy. Elias Thorne understood only one thing: power. And she had to meet him on his own terms.
"I need a meeting," Kaelen said, her eyes fixed on a point far away. "A contained environment. One hour. No grand gestures, no media, no lawyers. Just him and me."
Rhys's skepticism was evident in the deep furrow of his brow. "You think he'll agree to those terms?"
"He has to," Kaelen asserted, a spark of the old fight returning. "I hold the access. I'm the one who can tell him if they're his or not. And he is desperate enough now to agree to anything. But he won't be desperate forever."
She reached for the secure phone Rhys had provided. The call was answered by Elias's assistant on the first ring, a testament to the chaos she had just caused at Thorne Industries.
"This is Kaelen Vance. Tell your boss I have agreed to meet him. I have conditions." Kaelen's voice was clear and cool, a stark contrast to the trembling woman he'd seen moments ago.
A few tense minutes later, she had the meeting set.
The Terms:
Location: The neutral, highly secure penthouse conference room of the Alden Group, Rhys's company. This put Elias on Rhys's turf, guaranteeing zero chance of manipulation or public spectacle.
Attendees: Strictly Kaelen and Elias. Rhys would be outside the room, but present on the premises.
Time Limit: One hour. If the limit was exceeded, Rhys would enter the room, and the conversation would end immediately.
The Topic: No begging. No apologies for the past. The conversation would focus only on the logistics of coexistence—how to manage their relationship going forward, and what Elias's role, if any, would be in the children's lives.
"He accepted?" Rhys asked, astonished, after she hung up.
"He accepted," Kaelen confirmed, looking down at her sons. She gently brushed the rare silver streak from Silas's forehead. This was her final, desperate move to control the narrative. She had to maintain the fiction that Rhys was the children's father and that Elias was simply a dangerous, interested stranger.
I am here to tear down the walls you built and demand a new future. Elias's words from the airport echoed in her mind.
No, Kaelen thought fiercely, hardening her resolve. I will not let him near those walls. I will not let him near their future.
She knew the meeting would be painful, chaotic, and possibly disastrous. But she had to look him in the eye and make him understand the reality of his mistake: He had broken their relationship beyond repair, and though he might be the biological father, she was the sole parent, and she had a new partner who had shown her more loyalty in four years than Elias had in a lifetime.
"We have twenty-four hours until the meeting," Kaelen told Rhys, her voice steeling. "I need you to tell me exactly how we are going to manage this lie. He will try to break me."
Rhys met her gaze, his expression unwavering. "Then we don't break. We stand together. We give him nothing."