Chapter 3

I drove to the Ashford Estate at ninety miles per hour.

The iron gates loomed ahead, the same gates that had closed behind me three years ago when I left with nothing but the clothes on my back and a secret growing inside me.

The guards recognized my car—or rather, the car of the woman who was about to acquire their employer's company. They opened the gates without question.

I parked and walked up the marble steps, my heart pounding but my face perfectly composed.

The door opened before I could knock.

Stellan stood there, his expression unreadable. But his eyes—his eyes were wild.

"You," he breathed. "It's you."

He had figured it out.

"Where are my children?" I pushed past him into the foyer.

He grabbed my arm, spinning me around. "Our children, Liora. You kept my children from me for three years."

"You divorced me." I yanked my arm free. "You threw me away like garbage. You don't get to play the victim."

"I didn't know—"

"You didn't want to know!" My voice cracked, and I hated myself for it. "I tried to tell you. The day you handed me those papers, I tried to tell you I was pregnant. But your precious Lily was standing right there, and you told me to—what was it?—'stop making pathetic excuses.'"

His face drained of color. "That's not—"

"MOMMY!"

Two small bodies slammed into my legs. Lucas and Lily—my Lily, not that woman—clung to me, their faces streaked with tears.

"Mommy, the scary lady said we have to live here now," Lucas whimpered. "She said you're not our real mommy."

I knelt down, gathering them in my arms. "She lied. I'm your mommy. I'll always be your mommy."

"How touching."

Margaret Ashford descended the staircase like a queen surveying her kingdom. Lily Chen followed behind her, a smug smile on her face.

"The children belong here," Margaret declared. "They're Ashford heirs. They'll be raised properly, not hidden away like shameful secrets."

"They're not your property." I stood, positioning myself between my children and these vultures.

"Perhaps we should let the courts decide." Margaret's smile was venomous. "I wonder what a judge will think when they learn you concealed children from their father. Denied them their birthright. Raised them under a false name."

I felt Stellan's eyes on me. Waiting. Watching.

This was it. The moment everything could fall apart.

Lily Chen stepped forward, her hand resting on her own swollen belly. "Face it, Liora. You lost. You'll always lose. Stellan chose me. His family chose me. And soon, I'll give him another heir—a legitimate one."

She smiled sweetly at my twins. "Don't worry, children. I'll be a wonderful stepmother."

Lucas shrank against my leg. But my daughter—my fierce, brave daughter—stepped forward.

"You're not our stepmother," she said, her small voice steady. "My daddy doesn't even like you. I heard him tell Grandma Margaret."

The room went silent.

Lily Chen's face twisted with rage.

And Stellan—Stellan was staring at his daughter like he'd seen a ghost.

"What did you hear, sweetheart?" he asked quietly.