Hermione's POV
I threw the music box at Senator Kingston's head.
He ducked, and it smashed against the wall behind him. The ballerina broke into pieces, scattering across the floor.
"No!" I dropped to my knees, scrambling for the pieces. "No, no, no!"
"Looking for this?" Rebecca held up a tiny key that must have fallen from the broken base. "How predictable. Maria always did love her little hiding places."
Senator Kingston grabbed my arm, yanking me to my feet. "The letters. Hand them over."
"Never!" I clutched them tighter.
He twisted my arm behind my back. Pain shot through my shoulder.
"Give them to me, or I'll break it."
"Senator, please!" Rebecca's voice held fake concern. "We don't want to hurt the poor girl. She's been through so much already."
"Then she should make this easy." He twisted harder.
I screamed.
Glass shattered downstairs. Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs.
"Let her go!" James burst into the room, and he wasn't alone. Two large men in black suits stood behind him.
Senator Kingston released my arm instantly. "Blackwood. This is private property. You're trespassing."
"So is she, according to your security footage." James pointed at me. "But I don't see you breaking her arm."
"The girl broke in. She's stealing family property."
"The letters belonged to my father." James stepped closer. "Which makes them mine now. And she's simply returning them to their rightful owner."
Rebecca's face went white. "You're Thomas Blackwood's son."
"The very same." James smiled, but it was dangerous. "I believe you knew my mother too. Before she died in that convenient car accident."
The room went silent.
"That was investigated." Senator Kingston's voice shook slightly. "The brakes failed. It was nobody's fault."
"Funny thing about brake lines." James pulled out his phone, showing a photo. "They don't cut themselves. But I'm sure you already knew that."
Rebecca grabbed the wall for support. "You can't prove anything."
"Can't I?" James nodded to his men. They handed him a folder. "Brake fluid analysis from the accident. Witness statements that were mysteriously lost. And a mechanic who's suddenly very willing to talk about the Senator who paid him to stay quiet twenty years ago."
Senator Kingston lunged for the folder, but James pulled it away.
"Touch me, and every news station in the city gets a copy." James turned to me. "Come on, Hermione. We're leaving."
"The police are coming!" Rebecca blocked the door. "She's going to jail!"
"No, she's not." James pulled out his own phone. "I called them too. Told them about the forged documents you used to steal the Hale estate. Told them about the medical fraud Linda's committing. Told them everything."
Sirens wailed in the distance, getting closer.
Rebecca's face twisted with rage. "You'll regret this, Blackwood!"
"The only thing I regret is not destroying you sooner." James grabbed my hand. "Now move, or I'll have my men move you."
Rebecca stepped aside, and we ran.
We made it to the stairs when Senator Kingston shouted behind us. "You think you've won? Jerry and Linda are getting married right now! The merger is happening! There's nothing you can do to stop it!"
James didn't answer. Just kept pulling me down the stairs, through the house, out the front door.
His car sat in the driveway, engine running. We jumped in, and the driver took off before the police arrived.
I watched through the back window as red and blue lights flooded the house.
"Did you really call them?" I asked.
"Yes." James handed me a bottle of water. "But it'll take time to build a real case. Rebecca's good at covering her tracks."
"What about the letters?" I looked down. They were crumpled and torn from Senator Kingston's attack, but still readable.
"We'll use them." James took them carefully. "But first, you need to tell me everything your mother wrote."
So I did. I told him about the hidden will. About my mother's fears. About Rebecca's threats.
James listened to every word, his face getting harder with each sentence.
"She knew," he said finally. "My father told her what Rebecca was capable of. But she confronted her anyway."
"Why didn't your father stop her?"
"He tried." James's voice cracked slightly. "He went to your house that night. The night your mother died. But he was too late. She was already gone, and Rebecca had already called it a heart attack."
"But the letter said she was poisoned."
"Slow poisoning looks like natural causes." James pulled out another folder. "I've been investigating for years. Every doctor who treated your mother either disappeared or suddenly got very rich."
"Dr. Mills." I remembered the call. "She tried to tell me something before my phone died."
"She's in a nursing home now. Dementia, supposedly." James's jaw tightened. "But I think she was silenced on purpose. People who cross Rebecca tend to lose their memories. Or their lives."
A chill ran down my spine. "Why are you helping me? Really?"
James was quiet for a long moment. The car turned onto a highway, leaving the city behind.
"Because my mother saved your mother's life once," he said finally. "And your mother saved mine. I was drowning in a lake when I was ten. Your mother pulled me out. She made me promise to always help people who couldn't help themselves."
He turned to look at me, and his eyes were full of something fierce and painful.
"I failed her when she needed me most. I was just a kid, but I should have done something. Should have told someone what I knew." He reached out and took my hand. "I won't fail you, Hermione. I promise."
"What if I can't be saved?" My voice broke. "What if it's too late?"
"It's never too late for revenge." James squeezed my hand. "But I need to know you're ready for what comes next. Because once we start this war, there's no going back. Rebecca will fight with everything she has. She'll try to destroy you completely."
"She already destroyed me."
"No." James shook his head. "She destroyed the old Hermione. The one who trusted people. The one who believed in love and family and happy endings." He leaned closer. "But we're going to build a new Hermione. One who's stronger. Smarter. More dangerous than Rebecca could ever imagine."
"How long will that take?"
"As long as it needs to." James pulled out a passport with my photo but a different name. "First, we disappear. I have a house overseas. Private tutors. Business connections. Everything you need to become someone new."
I stared at the passport. At the stranger with my face.
"And then?"
"Then we come back." James's smile turned cold. "And we take everything from them. Just like they took everything from you."
The car pulled up to a private airfield. A jet sat waiting, its engines already running.
"Last chance to say no," James said. "If you get on that plane, your old life is over. Forever."
I thought about Jerry marrying Linda right now. About Rebecca sleeping in my mother's bed. About all the lies and betrayal and stolen dreams.
I grabbed the passport and opened the car door.
"Good." James followed me out. "Welcome to your new life, Hermione Hale. Or should I say—"
He showed me the name on the passport.
"Maria Blackwood."
I stopped walking. "You gave me my mother's name?"
"And my family name." James stood beside me. "Because we're going to finish what our parents started. Together."
We walked toward the plane. I was about to climb the stairs when James's phone rang.
He answered, listened for a moment, then went completely still.
"What?" His voice was barely a whisper. "When?"
He hung up and turned to me, his face pale.
"That was my contact at the hospital." James grabbed my shoulders. "Linda's wedding just got interrupted. She collapsed during the ceremony."
"Is she—"
"She's fine. Better than fine, actually." James's eyes burned with fury. "The paramedics ran tests. Hermione, Linda isn't dying. She never was. But here's the thing—"
He pulled up a photo on his phone. Medical records with Linda's name.
"She's six weeks pregnant. And according to the dates—" James's voice turned to ice. "Jerry isn't the father."