Chapter 5

The GPS coordinates led me to the edge of the earth.

The storm battered my stolen SUV as I pulled up to a massive, iron-wrought gate hidden deep within the coastal woods. The desolate estate loomed in the darkness like a fortress of stone and secrets.

I killed the engine. In the backseat, Lily was finally asleep, her small chest rising and falling beneath my oversized coat. I locked the childproof doors from the outside. I wasn't bringing her into the unknown.

I gripped Arthur’s heavy black handgun. The cold metal grounded me. My clothes were still damp with rain and stained with my husband’s blood.

I pushed open the heavy oak front doors of the mansion. They were unlocked. Waiting for me.

The grand foyer was dimly lit, devoid of the lavish warmth of Arthur's home. It was cold.

"I'm here," I called out. My voice echoed off the barren stone walls. I raised the gun, aiming it at the shadows. "Where is she?"

Footsteps echoed from the grand staircase.

A man stepped into the dim light.

My breath hitched. He had the same towering height as Arthur. The same sharp, aristocratic jawline. But his eyes were different. They weren't the cold, empty voids of my husband. They were a piercing, stormy gray.

"Put the gun down, Zoe," he said. His voice was a deep, resonant baritone that sent a shiver down my spine.

I tightened my grip on the handle. I aimed directly at his chest. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alexander," he said calmly, stepping off the final stair. "Alexander Sterling."

The name hit me like a physical blow. Sterling.

"You are his brother," I hissed. My blood boiled with instant, feral hatred. "You are one of them."

"I am nothing like Arthur," Alexander replied smoothly. He didn't flinch at the weapon pointed at his heart. "I am the man who saved your daughter's life."

"Where is she?" I screamed. The raw agony tore through my throat. "If you have my baby, give her to me right now!"

"You cannot see her yet."

"I will shoot you!" I stepped forward, my finger trembling on the trigger. "I already shot your brother tonight. Do not test me."

Alexander’s eyes flicked to the blood on my clothes. A faint, grim smile touched his lips. "I see you finally woke up, Zoe. Good."

"Where is my daughter?"

"She is safe. She is asleep upstairs," Alexander said, his tone entirely unbothered by my threats. "Her name is Zandra. I named her after you."

My heart shattered all over again. Zandra. My baby had a name. She had a life.

"Six years ago, I found out what Arthur was planning," Alexander continued, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "I knew about Serena’s dying child. I knew he was going to harvest your baby. I couldn't stop the early induction. But I could bribe the surgical team."

I stared at him, the gun shaking in my hands.

"I paid them to fake the extraction complications," he said. "I paid them to hand her to me the exact second she was born, and I forged the death certificate. I have raised Zandra in secret ever since."

Tears spilled down my cheeks. My baby was alive. She was breathing. She was upstairs.

"Take me to her," I sobbed, lowering the gun just a fraction. "Please."

"Not yet," Alexander said. He walked over to a heavy wooden table in the center of the foyer. He picked up a thick stack of papers. "First, we have a problem to solve."

"What problem?" I demanded.

"Arthur is a monster, but he is a powerful one," Alexander stated coldly. "He has an army of lawyers and politicians in his pocket. The moment he finds out Zandra is alive, he will claim custody. He will take her from both of us. Legally, I am just her estranged uncle. I have no rights to her."

"I am her mother!"

"And you are currently a fugitive who just shot her husband and kidnapped his surrogate child," Alexander pointed out ruthlessly. "Arthur will paint you as an insane, violent woman. He will have you locked in a psychiatric ward for the rest of your life."

The horrifying truth of his words choked me. He was right. Arthur would destroy me.

"So how do we stop him?" I asked, my voice a hollow whisper.

Alexander slid the papers across the table. He handed me a silver pen.

"You marry me," he said.

I froze. I stared at the marriage license resting on the dark wood.

"If we are married, I become Zandra's legal stepfather," Alexander explained, his stormy eyes locking onto mine. "It solidifies my standing. It unites our claims. Together, we can build a fortress around her that Arthur cannot penetrate."

I looked at the man standing before me. He was a Sterling. He shared the same blood as the monster who had ripped my life apart. I despised everything about his family.

"This is a business transaction," I said, my voice turning to absolute ice. I stepped up to the table. "Do not mistake this for anything else. I hate your family. I hate your name. I am doing this for my daughter."

"I expect nothing less," Alexander murmured.

I snatched the silver pen. I didn't read the fine print. I didn't care. I pressed the tip to the paper and signed my name with violent, jagged strokes.

Zoe Sterling.

Again.

The ink was still wet when the deafening sound of shattering iron echoed through the night.

I jumped, dropping the pen.

Outside, the blinding glare of tactical headlights pierced through the torrential rain. Heavy armored vehicles smashed through the estate's front gates, tearing the iron from its stone hinges.

"What is that?" I gasped, raising the gun again.

Alexander’s jaw clenched tight. He looked at the security monitors mounted on the wall. "Arthur’s men."

"How?" Panic seized my chest. "I made sure I wasn't followed!"

"He didn't follow you," Alexander hissed, his eyes narrowing at the screens. "He tracked you. He must have installed a hidden GPS tracker inside your SUV years ago. He has been monitoring your every move."

My stomach violently dropped. Arthur had treated me like a tagged animal.

Dozens of armed men poured out of the vehicles, their assault rifles raised in the pouring rain. They surrounded my stolen SUV. They surrounded the house.

But as I watched them on the monitors, I noticed something. They were moving cautiously. They were hesitating.

"They don't know where they are," Alexander said softly, a dark, lethal smirk spreading across his handsome face. He reached under the heavy wooden table and pulled out a sleek, tactical shotgun. "They tracked the car. But they have absolutely no idea who owns this heavily fortified estate."

Alexander racked the shotgun. The loud, metallic click echoed through the grand foyer.

"Let's welcome my brother's men to the family."