Chapter 6 - WHEN THE PAST CAME KNOCKING
They went north.
Not to another mansion.
Not to a luxury hotel.
To an old farmhouse in Vermont that Edward had inherited from his grandfather.
No staff.
No security cameras.
No corporate records.
For the first time in months, Lily woke without checking her phone.
Snow covered the fields.
The house was warm.
Quiet.
Almost peaceful.
But peace didn't last.
On the third morning, someone knocked on the door.
Edward reached for the weapon hidden beneath the counter.
Lily froze.
A woman's voice came from outside.
“Lily?”
She recognized it.
Sloan.
Edward opened the door halfway.
Sloan stood in the snow.
“I need to talk to her.”
Edward didn't move.
“I know what Marcus is planning.”
Lily stepped forward.
“Let her in.”
Sloan entered.
She looked exhausted.
“He knows about the drive.”
“Who?”
“The person above Marcus.”
Sloan hesitated.
“Cole's father.”
Lily stared.
“Cole's father died.”
“No.”
Sloan shook her head.
“He disappeared.”
Edward's expression changed.
“How do you know?”
“Because I worked for him.”
Lily felt the room tilt.
Sloan explained everything.
Cole's father had built the original financial network behind Mercer Systems.
When he supposedly died, Marcus took control.
But the older man had survived.
He had been operating through offshore entities for years.
He was the real architect behind Orion.
And Cole had discovered it only after Lily became pregnant.
“Why would he target Lily?”
“Because your children give him leverage.”
Lily touched her stomach.
Sloan continued.
“Your triplets are not the reason he's afraid.”
“What is?”
“The patent.”
Lily's blood ran cold.
The patent could stop Orion.
And her children were listed as future beneficiaries in the trust attached to it.
If Lily died, control would transfer to them.
Three unborn children.
Three future owners.
Three reasons to eliminate their mother.
Edward looked at Lily.
“We need to change the trust.”
“Can we?”
“Yes.”
Sloan looked toward the window.
“Not if they get to you first.”
A vehicle appeared on the road.
Then another.
Edward immediately moved Lily toward the basement.
The house exploded into chaos.
Windows shattered.
Snow filled the room.
Edward pulled Lily behind cover.
Sloan grabbed a weapon.
Lily stared at her.
“You know how to shoot?”
Sloan gave a grim smile.
“I wasn't always a model.”
They defended the house long enough to escape through a tunnel beneath the barn.
At the end of the tunnel, Edward stopped.
He looked back.
His grandfather's house burned in the distance.
Lily expected him to be devastated.
Instead, he took her hand.
“Keep moving.”
They reached a waiting vehicle.
Edward drove.
Hours later, they crossed into Canada.
Lily stared through the window.
“Everything I owned is gone.”
Edward looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“You still have yourself.”
She looked down.
“And them.”
Edward smiled.
“And them.”
For the first time, Lily smiled back.
May you like
Neither of them said what was beginning to grow between them.
They didn't need to.
