The canister hissed before it exploded.
Not fire. Not shrapnel.
Something worse silent, invisible, and already inside Ruby's lungs.
Kelvin slammed his shoulder into her, dragging her across the floor as a thick white fog burst from the small black device. It rolled fast, unnatural, spewing clouds that swallowed the room in seconds. The air changed instantly sharp, bitter, chemical. It burned Ruby's throat and coated her tongue with a sickly sweetness that made her stomach flip.
Don't breathe! Kelvin shouted.
Too late.
Ruby coughed hard, her chest seizing as the gas forced its way in. Her eyes burned, tears streaming uncontrollably. The room spun. Sounds blurred alarms stretched into warped echoes, footsteps turned distant, like she was sinking underwater.
Kelvin ripped off his jacket and pressed it over her mouth and nose, his hands shaking despite his control. Focus on me, he ordered. "Ruby. Stay with me."
She tried. God, she tried.
Her body felt heavy, like her bones were filling with sand. Her limbs tingled, then went numb. The smell sweet and metallic wrapped around her senses, crawling into her head.
"Kelvin…" she whispered. Her tongue felt thick. Wrong. I can't
I know, he said, voice breaking for the first time. "I've got you."
He hauled her up, half-carrying her toward the door. The hallway beyond was already filling with fog. Red emergency lights pulsed faintly, casting the smoke in hellish waves.
Ruby's heartbeat thundered in her ears.
Two heartbeats.
Panic sliced through the haze. She clawed weakly at Kelvin's shirt. "The babies….
"They'll be fine," he said fiercely. "You hear me? This gas is designed to sedate, not harm. He wants you alive."
That realization hit harder than fear.
He? she slurred.
Kelvin didn't answer.
They stumbled down the stairs. Kelvin kicked open a side door, cold night air rushing in like salvation. The gas thinned, but the damage was already done.
Ruby's vision fractured.
She barely felt Kelvin lower her onto the grass behind the house, his coat still pressed to her face. Stars blinked overhead, too bright, too many. The world tilted violently.
"Stay awake," Kelvin whispered, kneeling beside her. His face hovered above hers, blurred at the edges. Please. Stay awake.
She tried to answer. Her mouth wouldn't cooperate.
Footsteps crunched nearby.
Kelvin looked up sharply.
Secure the perimeter! someone shouted.
Not Dante's voice.
Kelvin stiffened.
Black SUVs emerged from the tree line, headlights slicing through the darkness. Men poured out, dressed in tactical black, moving with precision. One of them crouched beside Ruby, checking her pulse, shining a light into her eyes.
"She's been exposed," the man said. "Moderate dosage. She'll be unconscious soon."
Kelvin grabbed him by the collar. "Who the hell are you?"
The man didn't resist. "Friends. For now."
Ruby's eyelids fluttered. Fear surged again. She tried to speak, but the darkness dragged her down fast.
Before she lost consciousness, she heard one sentence quiet, controlled, and devastating.
"She was never meant to stay hidden."
When Ruby woke, the world was white.
Not hospital white warmer, softer. The air smelled clean, faintly floral, like lavender and something metallic underneath. Machines hummed gently. Her head throbbed, heavy and slow.
She tried to move.
Restraints.
Her breath caught as panic spiked, sharp and immediate. Soft straps secured her wrists to the bed. Not tight. Careful. Intentional.
"Easy," a woman's voice said calmly. "You're safe."
Ruby turned her head sluggishly. A woman stood beside the bed mid-forties, composed, dark hair pulled into a neat bun. She wore a tailored suit, not scrubs.
"This doesn't feel safe," Ruby rasped.
The woman smiled slightly. It rarely does at first.
Where's Kelvin? Ruby demanded, her voice shaking. Where is my husband?
"He's alive," the woman said smoothly. And furious.
Relief hit Ruby so hard it made her dizzy. Let me see him.
"In time."
Ruby struggled against the restraints, panic flaring. "You can't keep me like this. I didn't consent
You did, the woman interrupted gently. When you signed the Blackwood marital protection clause.
Ruby froze.
"What?" she whispered.
The woman stepped closer. "You didn't read the full document, did you?"
Ruby's mouth went dry. She remembered the thick contract. The legal language. The exhaustion. Kelvin's calm voice telling her his lawyers would handle the rest.
There is a contingency, the woman continued, for extraordinary reproductive circumstances.
Ruby's hand trembled. "You mean… the embryos."
"Yes."
Her stomach twisted painfully. You're monitoring me.
"We're protecting an asset," the woman corrected.
Rage surged through the fog. I'm not an asset. I'm a person.
The woman's gaze softened, almost regretful. You are both.
The door opened.
Kelvin stormed in.
His face was thunder eyes blazing, jaw clenched so tight Ruby thought his teeth might crack. He crossed the room in seconds, gripping the bed rail.
"Untie her," he demanded.
"Kelvin," Ruby whispered, tears burning her eyes. Please.
The woman raised her hand calmly. "She's still under sedation effects. Movement isn't advisable."
Kelvin rounded on her. You promised me she'd be protected, not imprisoned.
"I promised survival," the woman replied. Dante deployed a sleeping gas because killing her would trigger automatic succession audits. He wants access, not blood.
Ruby's chest tightened. "Access to what?"
The woman met her gaze. "To proof."
Kelvin looked away.
That silence shattered something inside Ruby.
"Kelvin," she said, voice breaking. "What proof?"
He didn't answer.
"Kelvin," she repeated, louder now. "What proof?"
The woman exhaled. One of the embryos is not yours.
Ruby's world collapsed.
No, she whispered. That's not true. You said testing wasn't
"It wasn't," Kelvin said hoarsely. Not directly.
Her eyes flew to him. "What did you do?"
He looked at her then, really looked at her. Pain carved deep lines into his face. "I ran a genetic probability analysis. Based on timing. Medical records. Data Dante never thought I'd see."
Ruby shook her head violently. "I didn't sleep with him. I would remember."
"You didn't consent," the woman said quietly.
The words hit like a gunshot.
Ruby screamed.
It tore from her chest, raw and broken. Memories surged violently flashes she had buried. A glass of tea. A strange taste. Heavy limbs. A voice too close to her ear.
Dante's voice.
Her body shook uncontrollably as realization crashed over her.
"He drugged me," she sobbed. "He…he….
Kelvin grabbed her face gently, forcing her to look at him. His hands trembled. "I know."
Tears streamed freely down his face now. "I didn't want to tell you until I was sure. I wanted to protect you."
"By lying to me?" she cried. By letting me think I betrayed you?
"I was afraid," he admitted. Afraid if you knew, it would destroy you.
She laughed hysterically through tears. It already has.
The woman stepped back, giving them space. "Dante's endgame isn't the company," she said. "It's control. One child ties him legally to Blackwood Holdings. The other ties you emotionally to Kelvin."
Ruby's breath hitched. "So I'm trapped no matter what."
"Yes," the woman said softly. "Unless you choose."
"Choose what?" Ruby whispered.
The woman met her eyes. "Which truth comes out."
Kelvin stiffened. "What are you saying?"
"There's a way to protect the company," the woman continued, "and eliminate Dante's leverage."
Ruby's heart pounded. "How?"
The woman glanced at Ruby's stomach. "Only one child can be acknowledged."
Silence.
Cold. Crushing. Absolute.
Ruby stared at her in horror. "You want me to…
"No," Kelvin snapped. "Absolutely not."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "Then Dante wins."
Ruby's chest burned as she gasped for air. "You're asking me to erase one of them."
"I'm offering survival," the woman replied.
Kelvin shook his head. "There has to be another way."
"There is," the woman said. "But it requires the mother's cooperation."
Ruby swallowed hard. "What kind of cooperation?"
The woman smiled thinly.
"Disappearance."
Kelvin turned sharply. "No."
"Not death," the woman clarified. "Reassignment. New identity. One child delivered under sealed protection. The other remains Blackwood."
Ruby's heart shattered into pieces too small to breathe through.
You'd separate them, she whispered. "My babies."
"Yes," the woman said. Before Dante can claim either.
Kelvin grabbed Ruby's hand desperately. We'll find another way. I promise.
Before Ruby could respond, alarms blared again this time louder, closer.
The woman's eyes widened slightly. That's not ours.
A voice crackled over the intercom.
"Facility breach. Lower level compromised."
Kelvin spun. "Dante."
The woman's calm finally cracked. "He found us."
The lights flickered.
Ruby clutched her stomach as fear surged fresh and sharp.
The door slammed open.
A familiar voice echoed through the corridor smooth, amused, and far too close.
"Did you really think," Dante Blackwood said lightly, "that I'd let you choose without me?"
Footsteps approached.
Kelvin stepped in front of Ruby, shielding her with his body.
Dante's shadow stretched across the doorway.
And Ruby realized with chilling clarity
This time, he hadn't come to watch.
He'd come to take.