THERON POV
I'm watching the security footage when Seraphine bursts through my office door.
Her face is pale. Her hands shake. Her amber eyes are wild with fury and fear.
She's never looked more beautiful.
"You KNEW!" She slams her phone on my desk. The video of Mother switching the babies plays on loop. "You sent me this. You've known the whole time that your mother—"
"Our mother," I correct quietly, "did this deliberately."
"WHY?" Her voice breaks. "Why would she swap two babies? Why would she give away her real daughter and keep me?"
I stand, move around the desk. She backs up instinctively.
Good. She should be afraid of me. Of what I'm capable of doing for her.
"Sit down, Seraphine."
"Answer me!"
"Sit. Down." I use my CEO voice—the one that makes grown men obey without question.
She sits. But her eyes burn with defiance.
I've missed that fire.
"Mother was twenty-three when she got pregnant with Octavia," I begin. "Father's business was failing. They needed money desperately. Then Mother had an affair with someone powerful. Got pregnant again—with you."
Seraphine's face goes even paler. "What?"
"You're not Father's biological daughter. You're the illegitimate child of Senator Kaelen Harwick."
The name makes her flinch. Everyone knows Harwick—the most powerful politician in the country. Ruthless. Connected. Untouchable.
"That's impossible," she whispers.
"It's true. I had DNA tests run six months ago. Not the fake ones Octavia showed everyone—real ones." I pull out a file, slide it across the desk. "You're Harwick's daughter. And Mother knew it."
Her hands tremble as she opens the file. Reads the results.
"So she... what? Swapped me with someone else's baby to hide the affair?"
"No." I lean against the desk, watching her process this. "She swapped you because Harwick paid her to."
Seraphine's head snaps up. "What?"
"Harwick was married. Running for Senate. A secret baby would destroy him." I pull out another document—a bank statement from twenty-seven years ago. "He paid Mother five million dollars to make you disappear. She was supposed to give you to an adoption agency. But then she had an idea."
"Keep me," Seraphine breathes. "Raise me as an Aldric."
"And swap her real daughter—Octavia—with a poor nurse's baby. That way, if anyone ever questioned the DNA, she could claim hospital error." I watch understanding dawn on her face. "Brilliant, really. Cold-blooded, but brilliant."
"But why keep me at all? Why not just give me away like Harwick wanted?"
This is the part that makes me sick.
"Because you were valuable," I say quietly. "Harwick's blood means political connections. Power. Mother thought she could use you later—marry you off to someone useful, leverage Harwick's guilt for favors." I pause. "She never expected you to actually be... you."
"What does that mean?"
"It means she thought you'd be like Octavia. Hungry for status. Easy to control. But you weren't." I step closer. "You were kind. Compassionate. You cried over injured birds and gave your allowance to homeless people. You were nothing like her. Nothing like any of us."
Tears stream down Seraphine's face. "So she never loved me because I wasn't really hers. And she couldn't use me the way she planned."
"No one in this family loved you the way you deserved," I say. "Except me."
She laughs bitterly. "You call what you did love? Destroying every relationship I tried to have?"
"Yes." No hesitation. "Because they didn't deserve you. None of them saw what I saw."
"And what's that?"
I pull her to her feet. She doesn't resist.
"Someone worth burning the world down for."
Her breath catches.
I've imagined this moment for twelve years. Twelve years of torture. Wanting my sister. Hating myself for it. Believing I was sick, wrong, broken.
But she's not my sister.
She never was.
"Did you know?" she asks, voice shaking. "Before six months ago. Did you know we weren't related?"
"No." Truth. I cup her face in my hands, thumbs wiping away tears. "But now that I do... do you understand what this MEANS?"
Her amber eyes widen.
"You're not my sister, Seraphine. You never were. There's nothing wrong with this anymore. Nothing stopping me from—"
I kiss her.
Finally. FINALLY.
Twelve years of forbidden hunger pours into it. My hands slide into her hair. I pull her closer, desperate to prove she's real, she's here, she's MINE.
For one perfect second, she kisses back.
Her lips move against mine. Her hands clutch my shirt. She makes a small sound that drives me insane.
Then she shoves me hard.
I stumble back. She wipes her mouth, chest heaving.
"Are you INSANE?" she gasps.
I smile—slow, dangerous. "Probably. But I'm done pretending I don't want you."
"I have a boyfriend!"
"You have an architect in London who I can destroy with a phone call." I step forward. She backs up. "Face it, Seraphine. There's nowhere you can run that I won't find you. No one you can turn to that I can't take away. You belong to me. You always have."
"I'm not PROPERTY!"
"No. You're so much more than that." I back her against the wall. "You're the girl I've been protecting since you were seven years old. The woman I've loved since you were sixteen. The only person in this toxic family worth saving."
"This isn't love," she whispers. "This is obsession."
"Then call it what it is. But it doesn't change anything." I lean close, my lips brushing her ear. "You need me, Seraphine. Octavia wants you destroyed. The Aldrics want you gone. Your biological father doesn't know you exist. Where else will you go?"
"Anywhere but here."
"Try it." My voice drops. "See how far you get before I drag you back."
She slaps me.
The crack echoes in the office.
I don't move. Don't react. Just let the sting settle.
"Feel better?" I ask calmly.
"Go to hell, Theron."
"I've been there for twelve years. Wanting you. Hating myself for it." I grab her wrist—gentle but firm. "But now? Now there's no sin keeping us apart. And I'm going to make you mine whether you like it or not."
"You can't force me—"
"Can't I?" I pull out my phone, show her the screen. "One call and Dashiell's entire firm collapses. One call and your London apartment is sold. One call and every friend you've made disappears." I tilt her chin up. "Or you stay. Work for me. Let me protect you. And maybe—just maybe—you'll realize I'm the only one who's ever truly wanted YOU. Not the Aldric name. Not the connections. Just you."
Her eyes search mine. Looking for humanity. For mercy.
She won't find it. Not when it comes to her.
"I hate you," she whispers.
"I know. But you'll forgive me eventually." I release her wrist, step back. "You have until morning to decide. Stay and accept my protection. Or leave and lose everything you've built."
I walk to the door, pause with my hand on the handle.
"Choose wisely, little sister. Because this is the last choice I'm giving you."
I leave before she can respond.
Outside my office, I pull out my phone. Three missed calls from an unknown number.
A voicemail starts playing automatically:
"Mr. Aldric, this is Senator Kaelen Harwick. I believe we need to discuss your... sister. I've recently learned she exists. And I have a proposition regarding her future. Call me back. Immediately."
My blood runs cold.
Harwick knows about Seraphine.
And if he's calling me, it means he wants something.
Something I will never, ever give him.
I turn back toward my office—and freeze.
Through the glass wall, I see Seraphine on her phone.
She's not crying anymore.
She's smiling.
And then I hear her words, muffled but clear:
"Dashiell? I'm coming back to London. Tonight. Book the tickets."
She hangs up. Grabs her bag. Heads for the door.
She's running.
My hands curl into fists.
She thinks she can escape me?
She's about to learn exactly how far I'll go to keep what's mine.
But as she passes my office window, she looks directly at me through the glass.
And mouths three words:
"Watch me leave."
Then she's gone.
My phone buzzes.
A message from an unknown number:
**"Your sister just got into a car. Black sedan. License plate 7KM-443. They're not heading to the airport. They're heading to the docks. Shipping container
warehouse. Thought you should know. — A Friend"**
The docks.
Where people disappear.
Where bodies are never found.
Someone's taking Seraphine.
And I have exactly ten minutes to stop them.