Chapter 7 - THE SIX-BILLION-DOLLAR CHILDI screamed Noah’s name.
I reached her before Marcus could stop me.
“Elena!”
His hand caught the back of my shirt as another gunshot cracked from the trees.
I dropped beside Chloe.
Blood covered her shoulder.
“Help me!”
Marcus fired toward the darkness while Adrian and two guards dragged Chloe inside.
The doors slammed shut.
“Lockdown!” Adrian shouted.
Metal shutters began descending over the windows.
Noah and Eli were upstairs with Mrs. Harper.
Thank God.
I knelt beside Chloe.
For four years, I had dreamed about seeing her again.
Sometimes I slapped her.
Sometimes I screamed.
Sometimes I walked past her without speaking.
I never imagined holding pressure against a bullet wound while she cried into my lap.
“Stay awake.”
“Elena.”
“I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Save your energy.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Chloe!”
Her eyes fluttered.
Marcus knelt beside us.
“Medic is coming.”
Chloe saw him and panicked.
“No!”
She tried to crawl away.
“Don’t let him—”
“He isn’t hurting you.”
“You don’t understand.”
Her voice cracked.
“They said he would kill me.”
Marcus’s expression became unreadable.
“Who?”
“Victor.”
“Why come here?”
Chloe looked at me.
“Because he wants the boys.”
My blood turned cold.
Marcus leaned closer.
“Explain.”
“He doesn’t just want them dead.”
“What does he want?”
Chloe began shaking.
“He wants one alive.”
I stared.
“Why?”
She looked at Marcus.
“For the trust.”
Marcus went completely still.
“What trust?”
Chloe laughed weakly.
“You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Your grandfather changed the Vale inheritance.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
“And left instructions.”
The medic arrived.
Chloe grabbed my wrist before anyone could move her.
“Don’t let them take Noah.”
“Who?”
“He knows Noah was firstborn.”
I could barely breathe.
“How?”
“I told him.”
The words hit me like a slap.
“You what?”
“I didn’t know what he wanted!”
“You told Victor about my children?”
“Only after he found the festival picture. He already knew there were twins. He asked which was older.”
“Why would you answer?”
“Because he had Damian holding a gun to my head!”
Anger and fear battled inside me.
The medic cut open her sleeve.
The bullet had passed through.
“She’s lucky,” he said.
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“I haven’t been lucky in years.”
Marcus stood.
“Adrian. Find everything on my grandfather’s estate.”
“I already have people working.”
“No. Everything. Private trusts, foreign accounts, sealed wills.”
Adrian nodded.
I stayed beside Chloe as the medic cleaned the wound.
“Why did you do it?”
She knew which betrayal I meant.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Because I hated you.”
The honesty hurt.
“You hated me?”
“I loved you too.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I was twenty-four. Broke. Angry. Dad always compared us. You had the apartment, the career, Marcus. Everyone thought you were perfect.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
She looked toward Marcus.
“Victor’s people found me at a casino. I owed money.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
My mouth fell open.
“Jesus, Chloe.”
“They offered to erase it.”
“In exchange for destroying my relationship?”
“I thought it would be photographs.”
I stared at her.
“You drugged him.”
“They gave me the powder.”
“You put it in his drink.”
“Yes.”
“You climbed on top of him.”
She began crying harder.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“I can’t do this.”
“Elena—”
“I spent four years thinking the two people I loved most had chosen to humiliate me.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
I walked away.
Chloe called my name.
I kept going.
Marcus found me in the library.
I stood beside a window staring at the metal security shutter.
“I should hate her.”
“You probably do.”
“I also almost lost her.”
“Yes.”
“I hate that too.”
Marcus remained near the door.
“You can feel both.”
I laughed weakly.
“When did you become emotionally intelligent?”
“Approximately three years after you vanished.”
Despite myself, I smiled.
He stepped closer.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For giving you reasons not to trust me before that night.”
I looked at him.
“You didn’t cheat.”
“No.”
“But you lied about your life.”
“Yes.”
“You controlled everything.”
“Yes.”
“You shut me out whenever I asked questions.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not doing a great job defending yourself.”
“I’m not trying to.”
That startled me.
Marcus looked at his hands.
“I spent years believing protecting you meant keeping you ignorant. I was wrong.”
Silence stretched.
“You loved me?”
His eyes lifted.
“Love.”
Present tense.
My heart stumbled.
“Marcus.”
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“I just won’t lie when you ask.”
Before I could respond, Adrian entered.
“We found the trust.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“Your grandfather created a bloodline trust in 1989. It was sealed in Switzerland.”
“Amount?”
“Original value: seventy-eight million.”
“That’s nothing compared to Vale Group.”
“It grew.”
“How much?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Estimated current value: $6.2 billion.”
I stared.
Marcus didn’t react.
“Beneficiary?”
“The first legitimate male descendant of your generation.”
Marcus frowned.
“That would be me.”
“No.”
Adrian placed the document on a table.
“Your grandfather excluded his grandchildren because of the war between your father and Victor. The trust skips one generation.”
Marcus stared at the page.
Adrian continued.
“It goes to your firstborn legitimate son.”
The room became silent.
Noah.
My knees weakened.
“That’s why Victor wants him.”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
Marcus read faster.
“But Victor can’t inherit through him.”
“Not directly.”
“Then why?”
“If Noah dies before age twenty-one, the trust transfers to the next eligible bloodline branch.”
Marcus looked up.
“Victor’s grandson.”
I felt sick.
“So he kills Noah and gets six billion dollars?”
“Eventually,” Adrian said.
“And Eli?”
“Secondary beneficiary if Noah dies but Eli survives.”
Marcus’s expression turned murderous.
“So Victor needs both of my sons dead.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Chloe stood there, pale, her arm bandaged.
Everyone turned.
She held onto the frame.
“You’re missing something.”
Marcus’s gaze hardened.
“Talk.”
“Victor changed the plan.”
“How?”
“He learned the trust has another clause.”
Adrian grabbed the papers.
“What clause?”
“If the firstborn heir is raised outside the Vale household for more than three consecutive years…”
Chloe swallowed.
“…custodial control of the trust can be challenged.”
I stared.
“By who?”
“The closest adult male blood relative.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Victor.”
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“He doesn’t need Noah dead.”
Chloe shook her head.
“He needs custody.”
“Over my dead body.”
Marcus said it quietly.
Nobody doubted him.
Chloe looked at me.
“That’s why I ran. Victor plans to take Noah and make it look like Marcus is too dangerous to raise him.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He is dangerous.”
Marcus didn’t react.
Chloe continued.
“Victor has judges. Social workers. Attorneys.”
“He can’t just steal a child.”
“He can if he creates evidence.”
“What evidence?”
She looked ashamed.
“Evidence that Marcus ordered the Bellhaven shooting.”
Silence.
I turned slowly toward him.
Marcus’s face became stone.
Chloe said, “Victor wants you to believe Marcus brought the danger to you. Then he wants child services involved.”
I stared at Marcus.
“Did you?”
His eyes hardened.
“No.”
Chloe reached into her pocket.
“I have proof.”
She handed me a flash drive.
“Records. Payments. Names.”
“Why didn’t you give this to police?”
“Because Victor owns people everywhere.”
Marcus extended his hand.
Chloe pulled the drive back.
“No.”
His gaze sharpened.
“I’m not giving it to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll use it to kill him.”
Marcus didn’t deny it.
Chloe looked at me.
“I’m giving it to Elena.”
I took the drive.
My fingers closed around it.
For the first time since this began, I held something powerful.
Not Marcus.
Not Victor.
Me.
I looked at both of them.
“We do this legally.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Elena.”
“You promised.”
His jaw flexed.
Then he nodded.
“Fine.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You actually listen to her now?”
Marcus looked at me.
“I’m learning.”
A scream came from upstairs.
“Mom!”
I ran.
Marcus was beside me instantly.
We reached the twins’ room.
The window was open.
Curtains whipped in the wind.
Eli stood crying beside the bed.
I grabbed him.
“Where’s Noah?”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“A man took him.”
My world stopped.
Marcus went completely still.
Then his phone buzzed.
A video message appeared.
Noah sat in the back seat of a car, crying.
Beside him was Victor Hale.
The older man smiled into the camera.
“Hello, Marcus.”
May you like
He rested one hand on my son’s shoulder.
“You finally have something worth losing.”
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