Chapter 2 - The Cage of Silk and Steel
Before I could process the terror bleeding through Sebastian's words, three black SUV armors pulled up onto the pedestrian walkway of Central Park—a completely illegal maneuver that sent park pedestrians scattering in outrage. Men in crisp black suits stepped out, instantly forming a perimeter around us.
"Mr. Vale," the lead security officer said, bowing his head slightly. "The estate in Greenwich is secure. We swept the perimeter three minutes ago."
"Change of plans, Marcus," Sebastian ordered, his eyes never leaving my face. "We aren't going to Greenwich. My grandfather controls the security staff at the estate. We are going to the penthouse on 57th Street. The safe-house floor."
"Sebastian!" Clarissa shouted, grabbing his arm again. "What about our dinner with the Mayor? What about the wedding press release? You're ignoring me!"
Sebastian turned his head slowly. The look he gave Clarissa was so devoid of human warmth that she instinctively took two steps back.
"The wedding is canceled," Sebastian said plainly. "Your father's firm will receive a severance package of fifty million dollars tomorrow morning to offset the public relations damage. If you breathe a single word of what you witnessed here today to the press, my legal team will file criminal non-disclosure violations that will bankrupt your family by midnight."
"You... you're casting me aside for her?" Clarissa shrieked, her voice cracking. "For a woman who looks like a beggar?"
"That woman," Sebastian said, his voice ringing across the open terrace like a death knell, "is the lawful Mrs. Vale. She always was. And she is carrying the future of everything I own."
He turned to me, offering a gloved hand. "Maya. Please. For the children's safety. Get in the car."
I looked at the tinted windows of the massive SUV. I looked at the dark-suited security guards standing at attention. Every instinct I had urged me to run, to slip back into the crowded anonymity of the subway and hide in my small, drafty two-bedroom apartment in Astoria. But I wasn't stupid. I knew Arthur Vale. I remembered the cold, ancient eyes of the patriarch who had looked at my pregnant belly four years ago as if I were a stray dog carrying parasites.
If Arthur realized Sebastian had seen the triplets, my children were in mortal danger.
"If any of your men so much as raise their voice near my kids," I whispered, my voice shaking, "I will cut you, Sebastian. I swear to God I will."
A ghost of a sad, broken smile touched Sebastian’s lips. "I would expect nothing less, my love."
The drive to Billionaires' Row on 57th Street was conducted in total, suffocating silence. Noah sat between my knees, clutching my coat, while Ivy and Owen fell fast asleep in the back seat, exhausted by the cold and the unfamiliar tension. Sebastian sat opposite us on the rear-facing leather bench, his eyes fixed on the three little faces with an intensity that bordered on religious devotion.
Every few seconds, he would reach out a trembling hand, stopping an inch away from Owen’s soft hair or Ivy’s tiny fingers, as if terrified that touching them would cause them to vanish like a dream.
"They have my mother's nose," Sebastian whispered quietly as the vehicle entered the private underground garage of the glass skyscraper. "Ivy does, at least."
"She has your temper," I snapped, keeping my arms tightly wrapped around Noah. "And Owen has your stubbornness. He refuses to wear his coat unless I tell him it's an armor plate."
Sebastian choked back a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. He covered his face with both hands, his broad shoulders shaking silently in the dim interior light of the armored car.
"I missed four years," he choked out, his fingers digging into his scalp. "Four years of their lives. I missed their first words. Their first steps. I was living in a dark room, Maya... thinking you hated me. Thinking I wasn't good enough for you."
May you like
"You weren't," I said coldly, stepping out as the security guard opened the door. "Because a real man doesn't let his grandfather sign his divorce papers without looking his wife in the eye first."
Sebastian looked up, his face pale, his gray eyes tortured. "You're right," he said softly. "You're completely right."
