Dominic's POV
"Twins?" Isla's voice is barely a whisper. "That's impossible. I only had one baby. I would know if I had twins!"
Ethan looks between us, confused. "I have a brother?"
My mind races. Victor's message burns in my hand like hot coal. There were two babies that night. Twins. I have the other one.
"Lily." I turn to Isla's best friend, who looks as shocked as the rest of us. "When Isla gave birth, were you there?"
"Yes, I—" Lily's face goes pale. "Oh no. Oh no no no."
"What?" Isla grabs her shoulders. "Lily, what is it?"
"You were so sick that day. You'd been in labor for eighteen hours, and you kept passing out from the pain. They had to do an emergency C-section." Lily's hands shake. "You were unconscious when they took the baby. And when you woke up, you were so drugged and exhausted, you just held Ethan and cried. I never thought—I never even considered—"
"That they took the other baby before I woke up?" Isla's voice rises to near hysteria. "That someone stole my child while I was unconscious on an operating table?"
Ethan starts crying. "Mama, you're scaring me."
Isla immediately pulls herself together, kneeling down to hug him. "I'm sorry, baby. Mama's just upset. Everything's going to be okay."
But everything is NOT okay. My uncle has been holding my other son hostage for five years. Five years of that little boy thinking he was abandoned, unloved, alone—
"I'm going to kill him." The words come out cold and flat. "I'm going to find Victor and I'm going to end him."
"Get in line," Isla snaps. "But first we need a plan. We can't just walk into that warehouse with Ethan and hope for the best."
She's right. I hate that she's right, but she is.
I pull out my phone and dial James. He answers on the first ring, sounding groggy. "Sir? It's not even six AM—"
"Get to my suite. Now. Bring your laptop and every contact you have in private security, FBI, and corporate espionage. We have a situation."
"What kind of situation?"
"The kind where my uncle has been lying to me for fourteen years and is currently holding my son hostage."
A pause. "You said son, sir. Singular. Last night you said—"
"I have twins, James. Ethan, who's here with me, and another boy I've never met. Victor has him."
I hear something crash on James's end. "I'm on my way."
Twenty minutes later, James bursts into my hotel suite wearing yesterday's clothes and carrying his laptop bag. His eyes go wide when he sees Isla, Ethan, and Lily.
"Ms. Chen. I, uh—" He looks at me helplessly.
"She knows everything," I tell him. "And we're working together now."
Ethan stares at James with that unnerving intelligence. "Are you my daddy's friend?"
James's expression softens. "Yes, I am. And you must be Ethan."
"I'm five years old. I like math and building things. Mama says I'm too smart for my own good." Ethan says this matter-of-factly, and despite everything, I feel a surge of pride. That's my son. Brilliant and confident.
"Okay." James sets up his laptop on the table. "Let's figure out what we're dealing with. Sir, you said Victor has had this other child for five years?"
"That's what his message claims." I show James the text. His face goes through several emotions—shock, anger, calculation.
"If that's true, we need to find out where Victor's been keeping the boy. He can't have a five-year-old child hidden away without someone noticing. Nannies, tutors, medical records—there has to be a trail."
"Unless he kept him overseas," Isla says quietly. "Victor travels constantly for business. He could have the boy in another country where no one would ask questions."
James is already typing furiously. "I'm pulling Victor's travel records now. Private jet manifests, hotel stays, credit card transactions—everything leaves a digital footprint."
"Wait." Lily holds up her phone. "I just got a message. From Sarah."
"Who's Sarah?" I demand.
"My half-sister," Isla explains. "And Marcus's full sister. It's complicated. What does she say?"
Lily reads aloud: "Marcus and I dug deeper. Victor Ashford owns a private estate in Switzerland under a shell company. Property records show modifications made five years ago—specifically, a children's playroom, nursery, and security system upgrade. He visits every month. Never brings anyone with him. Never mentions it in interviews or public records."
Switzerland. Of course. Far enough away that no one would connect it to him. Private enough that he could hide a child indefinitely.
"How did Sarah find this?" I ask.
"She's a corporate spy," Isla says flatly. "Or was. Now she's trying to help us."
"We need to move fast." James pulls up satellite images of the Swiss estate. "But sir, even with our fastest jet, Switzerland is eight hours away. We don't have eight hours—Victor gave us one."
Ethan tugs on my sleeve. "Mr. Daddy? If the bad man has my brother, why don't we just call the police?"
Out of the mouths of children. "Because, Ethan, Victor is very powerful. He has friends in the police, friends in the government. If we call them, he'll know, and he might hurt your brother."
"That's not fair." Ethan's face scrunches up in anger. "Bad people shouldn't have powerful friends."
"You're absolutely right," I tell him, and I mean it.
My phone buzzes. Another message from Victor: "Tick tock, nephew. 45 minutes left. The warehouse. Alone. Just you, the woman, and the boy. Anyone else, and I disappear with your other son forever. Oh, and Dominic? I've already transferred $500 million from Ashford Global to my private accounts. Consider it payment for raising your son while you played CEO."
White-hot rage floods through me. "He's been stealing from my company. For how long, James?"
James's fingers fly over the keyboard. "I'm checking now. Oh my God. Sir, the embezzlement goes back fourteen years. Small amounts at first, but increasing over time. He's stolen nearly two billion dollars."
Isla gasps. "Two billion?"
"And he's been using it to fund his entire operation—the drugging six years ago, paying off Vivienne Chen, hiring kidnappers, keeping your other son hidden." James looks sick. "He's been planning this for over a decade."
"Planning what, exactly?" Lily asks. "What's his endgame?"
I stare at Victor's message, and suddenly it all clicks into place. "He wants to destroy the Ashford bloodline. When my parents died, I inherited everything at nineteen. Victor became my guardian and advisor, but he never got control of the company—the board wouldn't allow it. He's been waiting for me to die or become incompetent so he could take over."
"But then you had children," Isla says slowly. "Heirs. Which meant even if something happened to you—"
"The company would go to my sons. Not to Victor." I feel sick. "So he's been trying to eliminate any heirs. He kept one son hidden so I wouldn't know to protect him. And now he wants Ethan too, probably to—"
I can't finish the sentence. Can't say out loud what Victor might want to do with two innocent children who stand between him and billions of dollars.
Ethan starts crying again. "I want my brother. I want him right now!"
Isla holds him tight, her face fierce with maternal protection. "We're going to get him, baby. I promise."
"How?" I demand. "Victor has all the cards. We can't get to Switzerland in time. We can't bring police or FBI. We can't even bring extra security without him knowing. It's a death trap."
James straightens up from his laptop, his expression strange. "Sir, I just got an alert. Someone hacked into my system remotely. They left a message."
He turns the screen toward us. A video file, titled simply: "PLAY ME."
I click it.
The video shows a boy—five years old, with dark hair and silver-gray eyes exactly like Ethan's. He's sitting in a cold-looking room, wearing pajamas, holding a stuffed rabbit. He looks tired and scared.
"Hi," the boy says to the camera. "My name is Aiden. Uncle Victor says I'm going to meet my brother today. Is that true? Do I really have a brother?"
Tears stream down Isla's face. "Oh my God. That's him. That's our other baby."
Ethan presses close to the screen. "He looks just like me! He even has my birthmark!" He points to a small mark on Aiden's left wrist—the same mark Ethan has.
The video continues. "Uncle Victor says my daddy didn't want me. That's why I live here alone. But I don't believe him anymore. I think maybe my daddy just didn't know about me. Right?"
The hope in that little boy's voice destroys me.
"I'm coming," I whisper to the screen. "I'm coming for you, Aiden. I swear it."
The video cuts to Victor's face—cold, smiling, victorious. "One hour, Dominic. The warehouse. Bring Ethan, or you'll never see Aiden again. Oh, and one more thing—"
The camera pans to show someone tied to a chair in the corner of the room. A woman with silver hair and Isla's eyes.
Isla screams.
It's her mother. The woman who was supposed to be dead for twenty years is tied up, gagged, and bleeding from a cut on her forehead.
Victor's smile widens. "Bring the whole family, nephew. It's time we all had a reunion."
The screen goes black.