CHAPTER 45 – THE INTERCEPTION
R I N A.
I stood by the window, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard I thought it might give me away. The house was too quiet the kind of quiet that pressed on my chest and made breathing feel like a crime.
I couldn't stay here anymore. Not another second, not another day.
My hands trembled as I shoved a few clothes into my small box the zipper almost too loud in the dead of night. I took only what I needed money I had been saving for months,my ID, and the kid's,every creak of the floorboards sounded like a gunshot. My ears strained for footsteps, for voices, for anything that might stop me. But the silence stayed, heavy and watchful.
By the time I reached the door, my palms were slick with sweat. I turned the knob slowly, praying it wouldn't squeak. When the door finally opened, the dawn air rushed in like a cold slap, sharp enough to jolt me awake.
I stepped out and didn't look back.
My feet carried me faster and faster until I was running running down the street, running from the suffocating walls, running from the life that would probably crush me.
The night swallowed me whole, and for the first time in a long time, I could breathe.
I had never moved so fast in my life.
The apartment was dark except for the glow of the kitchen light. I worked silently, my hands shaking as I shoved clothes into a duffel bag, folded the girls' pajamas, grabbed their favorite plush toys from the couch.
Liora's voice still echoed in my head her plea for me to stay, her quiet insistence that Lucian wasn't the enemy.
But she didn't understand.
She didn't know what it felt like to have everything ripped away before.
I would not gamble with my daughters' lives.
Not with him.
Not with anyone.
I woke the girls gently, whispering that it was a special adventure, that we were going to see someplace new. Lila blinked up at me with sleepy confusion, Isla hugged her stuffed rabbit tight but didn't protest.
By the time the sun was still an hour from rising, we were slipping into a cab bound for Arden International Airport.
I had timed everything perfectly.
Or so I thought.
The Turn
Halfway across the bridge into the airport district, the driver's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, then at me in the mirror.
"Ma'am," he said, his tone too careful, "I have to take a detour."
I frowned. "What? Why?"
Before he could answer, another car appeared out of nowhere black, sleek, cutting across lanes until it blocked our path.
The cab screeched to a halt.
My heart stopped.
The back door of the black car opened.
And Lucian Dreven stepped out.
He didn't shout. He didn't slam the door.
He simply stood there in the predawn gloom, his black coat brushing his legs, his expression carved from ice.
Silas was there too, tall and silent, his presence a wall of steel.
Lucian opened my cab door himself.
"Out," he said, his voice low and lethal.
I froze. "No."
His jaw tightened. "Rina. Out of the car. Now."
The girls were awake now, looking between us with wide, frightened eyes.
"Mommy?" Isla whispered.
My chest squeezed.
"Stay buckled, baby," I said softly, my voice trembling.
But Lucian reached in and unbuckled Lila's seatbelt himself, lifting her out with terrifying gentleness.
Lila clung to him, confused but silent.
"Give her to me," he said, his tone brooking no argument.
"No!" I snapped, clutching my youngest to my chest.
That was when he turned to me fully and the fire in his eyes made my blood run cold.
"Slapping me wasn't enough?" he asked, his voice sharp enough to cut. "You think you can run away with my daughters now? Disappear into whatever hole you crawled out of five years ago and pretend I don't exist?"
"Don't you dare"
"Don't I dare?" His laugh was harsh, humorless. "You don't get to dare me, Rina. You don't get to decide I don't get to know my children. Not anymore."
"Lucian please let us go," I whispered, my throat closing.
He stepped closer until I could feel the heat radiating off him.
"You had five years to hate me," he said quietly, dangerously calm. "Five years to raise them without me. That time is over."
Then, before I could stop him, he reached into the car and plucked Isla from my arms with the same effortless strength he'd used with her sister.
"Lucian!" I screamed, trying to follow, but Silas was suddenly there, blocking my way with a single step.
I beat my fists against his chest, panic clawing through me.
"Get out of my way!"
"Rina." His voice was firm, but not unkind. "Don't make this harder than it already is."
Lucian was already walking back to his car, both girls in his arms, their sleepy heads pressed against his shoulders.
He didn't look back.
He didn't give me a chance to fight.
The car door shut.
And just like that he was gone.
I stood in the middle of the empty road, my chest heaving, tears streaming down my face.
The dawn was just breaking over Arden City, washing the sky in pale gold.
And somewhere beyond that horizon, my daughters were being driven away to a world I had spent five years trying to keep them from.
I sank to my knees on the cold asphalt, the sound that tore from me raw and guttural.
Liora's words, the gala, everything blurred into static.
All I knew was that Lucian Dreven had just taken my children.
And this time, I didn't know if I could ever get them back.