Chapter 14 - The Lang Estate
At 11:52 p.m., I drove through the gates alone.
At least that was what Isabella saw.
Maya was not with me.
A tactical team waited beyond the property line.
Marcus monitored from a mobile command vehicle.
Victoria had drawn the estate from memory.
Main house.
Service wing.
Cellar.
Tunnel.
Boathouse.
I carried a folder.
Inside were fake transfer documents.
My phone buzzed.
Front door.
I entered.
The house had been empty for fifteen years.
Dust covered the furniture.
Moonlight crossed the floor.
Noah cried somewhere below me.
My heart pounded.
“Isabella.”
Her voice came from the staircase.
“Folder on the table.”
She appeared wearing jeans and a dark coat.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
No elegant charity-dinner smile.
This was the first time I had ever seen her without a role.
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
She held up a baby monitor.
The screen showed Noah sleeping in a portable crib.
Basement walls.
I recognized the old wine cellar from Victoria’s drawings.
“You brought Maya?”
“No.”
Isabella’s face changed.
“You idiot.”
“You were never getting her.”
“You think this is about hurting her?”
“Yes.”
“It’s about securing what belongs to Noah.”
“Noah is Julian’s son.”
“He deserves something.”
“Then Julian can give him something.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Julian has nothing.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“He built your company.”
“He stole from it.”
“He made you rich.”
“I was rich before you met me.”
Her jaw tightened.
That was the truth Isabella hated most.
She had convinced herself that everything around me existed because smarter people had built it for me.
It justified taking it.
She pointed toward the folder.
“Sign.”
“Those documents are worthless.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They transfer assets you don’t understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You never understood Maya’s trust.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I know exactly what it’s worth.”
“Do you?”
That stopped her.
“You thought fourteen million.”
Silence.
I smiled.
“You didn’t know.”
“How much?”
“That’s why Julian came back, isn’t it?”
Her face told me I was right.
He discovered the biotech shares after their plan was already underway.
Two hundred and eighty-six million changed everything.
I continued.
“He didn’t tell you the full value.”
Isabella’s breathing changed.
“How much?”
“He was going to steal it from you too.”
“How much, Nathan?”
“Almost three hundred million.”
Her face collapsed.
For one beautiful second, Isabella forgot I was the enemy.
She realized Julian had betrayed her.
Then a sound came from below us.
A door.
She spun around.
“No.”
Marcus’s voice entered my hidden earpiece.
“Basement team is in.”
Isabella ran.
I followed.
She reached the cellar stairs as officers entered from below.
She turned and bolted toward the tunnel.
Exactly as planned.
She disappeared through the stone doorway.
Thirty seconds later, we heard her scream.
The collapsed section blocked the exit.
There was nowhere to go.
Officers moved in.
I ran to Noah.
He was crying.
I lifted him.
His tiny fingers grabbed my collar.
Behind me, Isabella was handcuffed.
She looked at Noah.
Then at me.
“You can’t keep him.”
Maybe she was right.
Legally.
Biologically.
But as I held him, I realized something.
The next battle would not be about money.
It would be about who got to call this child family.
Then one of the officers shouted from inside the tunnel.
“We found something.”
A metal case had been hidden behind loose stones.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Fake identification.
And a laptop.
Marcus opened it.
One folder sat on the desktop.
May you like
EMILY HART.
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