A.Four years after my husband destroyed our secret marriage and convinced me I meant nothing to him, I saw Sebastian Vale across Central Park and ran with a stroller carrying three children he never knew existed. I almost escaped—until my son turned around, and Sebastian saw the same gray eyes that had belonged to Vale men for generations.

Before I could process the implication of that photo, the double doors of the study burst open.

Marcus walked in, carrying a thick yellowed folder and an encrypted iPad. His expression was grim.

"Boss," Marcus said, laying the tablet on the desk. "I breached the Greenwich mail logs from 2022 to 2023. It's worse than we thought."

Sebastian stepped up to the desk, his hands leaning on the glass surface. "Show me."

Marcus tapped the screen. Dozens of scanned documents appeared. My stomach flipped as I recognized my own handwriting on handwritten letters, dated five months into my pregnancy.

Dear Sebastian, one letter read, I am writing this from the clinic in Queens. I have tried calling your office twenty times. They say you are in Asia, but I know you are in New York. I am pregnant with triplets. They are yours. Please, just talk to me. Don't let your grandfather destroy us.

Beneath the scanned image was an official Vale Security disposition memo, signed by Thomas Vance—Arthur Vale’s chief of security and Marcus's former boss.

Instruction from Arthur Vale: Intercept all communications from Maya Lin. Shred original documents. Under no circumstances is Sebastian Vale to be made aware of the pregnancy or her location. Issue funds from offshore shell company to simulate settlement payouts.

"He faked the trust fund payouts," Marcus explained grimly. "Arthur set up a dummy corporation in the Cayman Islands under Maya's name, routed two million dollars through it, and showed you the bank transfers to make it look like she took the money and fled."

Sebastian stared at the screen, his body shaking with a fury so intense that the heavy mahogany desk seemed to vibrate beneath his hands.

"He destroyed my marriage," Sebastian whispered, his voice dangerously low. "He erased my children. He made me live in hell for four years believing the only woman I ever loved had murdered our unborn child."

He turned abruptly, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a heavy, platinum wristwatch and a sleek obsidian coat.

"Where are you going?" I demanded, stepping into his path.

"To Vale Tower," Sebastian said, his gray eyes blazing with an uncompromising vengeance. "My grandfather is currently holding the quarterly board meeting. It's time Arthur Vale answered for what he did."

"I'm coming with you," I said firmly.

Sebastian paused, looking at me in surprise. "Maya, no. It's going to get ugly. I don't want you exposed to him again."

"He stole four years of my life, Sebastian!" I snapped back, my own long-suppressed rage finally igniting. "He made me feel like a disposable piece of trash! I am not going to sit here in safety while you handle this in secret. I am the mother of those children, and Arthur Vale needs to look me in the eye when his empire falls!"

Sebastian looked at me for a long moment, a faint, proud smile breaking through his dark expression.