Chapter 4 - THREE HEARTBEATS AND ONE SECRET
Lily escaped through the fire stairs.
She reached the street barefoot.
Edward's car was already waiting.
He opened the door.
“Get in.”
She did.
Marcus didn't follow.
That frightened her more.
“He wanted me to see him,” Lily said.
Edward looked at her.
“Why?”
“To scare me.”
Edward's jaw tightened.
“No.”
“What?”
“He wanted to know whether you still had Orion.”
Lily went silent.
The car moved through Manhattan.
Edward's driver took them to a private residence outside the city.
It wasn't a mansion.
It was a quiet stone house surrounded by trees.
Inside, Edward gave Lily a blanket and called her doctor.
The babies were stable.
Again.
But Lily could feel the strain.
She sat on the sofa.
“I don't understand.”
Edward sat across from her.
“Five years ago, my wife discovered a financial network manipulating several of my companies.”
“Charlotte?”
“Yes.”
“She found Orion?”
“No.”
“She found the people using it.”
Lily listened.
“Charlotte tried to expose them.”
Edward's expression became distant.
“She died three months later.”
Lily's breath caught.
“Was it an accident?”
“The official report says yes.”
“And you don't believe it.”
“No.”
Silence filled the room.
Edward continued.
“I spent five years trying to find whoever was responsible.”
“And now?”
“I think they're using you to finish what they started.”
Lily looked down at her stomach.
The babies moved.
Three small kicks.
Edward noticed.
His expression softened.
“Have you chosen names?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was waiting.”
“For Cole?”
She shook her head.
“For the right moment.”
Edward nodded.
“Then don't let this destroy that moment.”
Lily looked at him.
For the first time in months, someone wasn't telling her what she should do.
He was reminding her she still had a future.
The next morning, Lily discovered something shocking.
Her father's old company had been connected to Orion.
Her father had been one of the original investors.
And before his death, he had transferred ownership of a small technology patent into Lily's name.
She had never known.
Edward found the record.
“This patent is the key.”
“To what?”
“Control.”
Lily frowned.
The patent wasn't valuable by itself.
But combined with Orion, it could prevent the system from manipulating financial forecasts.
Someone had spent years trying to acquire it.
And now Lily understood why Cole had wanted her signature.
He didn't simply want a divorce.
He wanted control of the patent.
Her phone rang.
Cole.
She answered.
“Lily.”
“What do you want?”
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what's happening.”
“Then explain it.”
Silence.
Finally, Cole said:
“Marcus has gone rogue.”
Lily's heart stopped.
“What?”
“He's been using the company.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected?”
Cole sounded desperate.
“I was trying to contain it.”
“You left me pregnant.”
“I thought leaving you would keep you safe.”
Lily laughed bitterly.
“You abandoned me to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you marry Sloan?”
Another silence.
“I didn't.”
Lily closed her eyes.
She suddenly realized something.
Cole had never married Sloan.
The entire public story had been constructed.
Why?
Because Cole needed everyone to believe he had chosen Sloan.
While secretly fighting Marcus.
But why had he made Lily hate him?
She asked:
“Did you forge my divorce documents?”
“No.”
“Did you use Orion?”
“No.”
“Then why did you make me believe you stopped loving me?”
Cole whispered:
“Because Marcus was watching you.”
Lily went still.
“He told me that if I didn't make you leave voluntarily, he'd kill you.”
The line went silent.
May you like
Then Cole said something that changed everything.
“He knows about the babies.”
