Chapter 2 - Bloodlines and Barbed Wire
Dr. Vance arrived at our Manhattan penthouse within twelve minutes, accompanied by two top-tier obstetric nurses. The next three hours were a blur of warm blankets, intravenous fluids, fetal monitors, and hushed, anxious medical chatter.
I lay on the oversized sofa, my body wrapped in cashmere throws, watching the heart rate monitor beat steadily. Thump-thump, thump-thump. The sound was the sweetest music I had ever heard.
" setup is stable, Mr. Kane," Dr. Vance declared, stepping out into the living room where Roman stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the stormy city skyline. "The baby's heart rate is strong. The sudden cold shock induced early mild Braxton-Hicks contractions, but we've administered medication to halt them. Mrs. Kane needs strict bed rest, warmth, and zero stress."
"Zero stress," Roman repeated, staring at his reflection in the dark glass. He had changed into a dark turtleneck, looking like a grim shadow against the sparkling lights of New York City. "Thank you, Doctor. Lucas will compensate you three times your standard rate. Keep a nurse here twenty-four seven."
Once the medical team stepped away to set up monitoring equipment in the guest room, Roman walked over and sat on the edge of the sofa. He took my hand, kissing each of my cold knuckles.
"You should sleep," he said gently.
I reached up, my hand brushing over my scalp. Tears welled in my eyes again—not from pain, but from the brutal humiliation of it. "She hated that I didn't come from money, Roman. She wanted to strip away the only thing she thought made me pretty. She wanted to make me look like a prisoner."
Roman’s jaw tightened so hard I heard the bone crack. "My mother thinks money buys invincibility. She thinks the Kane name shields her from consequences. She forgot who actually runs Kane Capital. She forgot who holds the titles to her estate, her offshore trusts, and her bodyguards' payroll."
"What are you going to do?" I asked quietly.
"Tonight, I destroy her world piece by piece," Roman replied, his voice devoid of any emotion. "She didn't just attack my wife, Bianca. She attacked the mother of my child. In our world, that isn't a family dispute. It's a declaration of war."
His phone buzzed on the coffee table. It was an encrypted call from Julian, his personal attorney and chief legal strategist. Roman pressed speaker.
"Roman," Julian’s grave voice echoed through the room. "I’ve audited the family trust deeds as you asked. Eleanor holds a twenty percent lifetime beneficiary interest in the Long Island estate and the global holdings, but the master voting shares were transferred to you when your father passed three years ago."
"Execute the emergency revocation clause," Roman ordered smoothly.
"Roman, if you do that, she loses her liquid capital, her legal defense funds, and her property access rights instantly. She’ll be effectively bankrupted within forty-eight hours."
"Do it," Roman said without hesitation. "And liquidate the security company guarding the Long Island estate. Every guard who stood in that room and watched my wife be assaulted is to be blacklisted from the private security industry globally. Sue them individually for grand assault and complicity."
"Consider it done," Julian responded. "There’s one more thing. Your uncle, Arthur Kane, has already called three times. Eleanor reached out to him from her cell phone before the power was cut. Arthur is rallying the secondary board members. They're claiming you're unstable and unfit to run Kane Capital."
Roman let out a cold, dark chuckle. "Let Arthur rally them. Let them all gather at the board emergency meeting tomorrow morning. I want every viper in the family in one room."
May you like
He hung up the phone and looked back down at me. He bent over and gently kissed my bare, cut head, his lips hovering over the jagged patches where my long hair used to be.
"Tomorrow, my love, you rest," Roman whispered. "And I go to work."
