Aria POV
I was in Noah’s room, helping him pick out clothes for the rest of the week, when I heard the sound.
A soft click. Like a door closing.
I froze, listening. The penthouse was quiet—too quiet. Jas had stationed guards outside, but they’d been silent for the last ten minutes. Usually I could hear them talking, their radios crackling.
Now? Nothing.
"Mama?" Noah looked up from his toy box, sensing my tension. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, baby. Keep playing." I kept my voice light even as my heart started racing. "Mama needs to check sothing."
I walked slowly toward the living room, my phone in my hand. I should call security.
But sothing made hesitate. So instinct that said making noise right now would be a very bad idea.
The living room was empty. So was the kitchen. Everything looked normal, untouched.
But I could feel it—that prickling sensation of being watched.
I turned toward the hallway that led to my office, and that’s when I saw him.
Marcus Blackwood stood in my foyer, his face illuminated by the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. He looked calm, almost casual, like he’d been invited.
"Hello, Aria," he said pleasantly. "We need to talk."
I moved imdiately, putting myself between him and Noah’s room. "How did you get in here?"
"I’m very resourceful." He took a step closer, and I noticed sothing in his hand. A small black device. "Your security system is quite good. But nothing’s perfect."
"The guards outside"
"Are unconscious at least but not dead," he added, like that made it better. "I’m not a monster. Just a man protecting his interests."
My phone was still in my hand, but he saw glance at it and smiled.
"Go ahead. Call for help. But by the ti anyone gets here, this conversation will be over. One way or another."
"What do you want?" I kept my voice steady, my body blocking the hallway to Noah’s room.
"What I’ve always wanted. My family’s company. My birthright." He moved closer, and I fought the urge to back away. "Damien thinks he’s won. That his little folder of evidence will stop . But he’s forgotten sothing important."
"What’s that?"
"I have nothing left to lose." His smile widened. "He took everything from . My place in the family, my inheritance, my future. All because our father decided he was the better son. The golden child."
"So this is about jealousy?" I asked, trying to keep him talking. Trying to give soone—anyone—ti to realize sothing was wrong.
"This is about justice." His eyes hardened. "But Damien complicated things. He had to fall in love with you. He had to have a child which gave leverage I never expected."
My blood ran cold. "If you touch Noah"
"I don’t want to hurt the boy," Marcus interrupted. "I’m not a child killer, Aria. But I need Damien to understand that he can’t win this. That so battles cost more than they’re worth."
"So what’s your plan? Take us hostage? Force Damien to give you the company?"
"Nothing so crude." He pulled sothing else from his pocket—a syringe filled with clear liquid. "I’m going to make you disappear. Both of you. Sowhere Damien will never find you. And I’m going to let him spend the rest of his life wondering if you’re alive or dead."
The casual way he said it, like he was discussing dinner plans, made my stomach turn.
"You’re insane."
"Maybe." He shrugged. "But I’m also very good at disappearing people. I’ve had years to perfect the skill."
I heard it then—a soft sound from Noah’s room. The creak of a floorboard.
Marcus heard it too. His eyes flicked toward the hallway, and his smile grew.
"Is that him? Little Noah?" He started walking toward , toward the hallway, and I moved to block him completely.
"You’ll have to go through first."
"If you insist." He raised the syringe.
I threw my phone at his face.
It was a desperate move, but it worked. The phone hit him square in the nose, and he stumbled back with a curse. I didn’t wait—I ran to Noah’s room, slamd the door, and locked it.
"Mama!" Noah’s eyes were huge with fear. He’d heard everything.
"It’s okay, baby. We’re okay." I looked around frantically. The room had one window, but we were forty-three floors up. The door was solid, but Marcus would get through it eventually.
I pulled out my phone—wait, no, I’d thrown it. Stupid .
The door handle rattled. Then there was a thump as Marcus threw his weight against it.
"Aria, you’re only making this harder," his voice ca through the door, muffled but clear. "I don’t want to hurt you. But I will if you make ."
I grabbed Noah and pulled him into the closet, the only space with a second door. My mind raced through options. The panic button Jas had installed in every room—where was it? There, by the light switch.
I lunged for it as the bedroom door splintered.
Marcus walked through, calm and unhurried, the syringe still in his hand. "Really, Aria. This is beneath you."
I pressed the panic button and heard nothing. No alarm. No alert.
Marcus saw my expression and smiled. "I disabled it. Along with your caras, your communications, everything. You’re completely isolated."
Noah whimpered behind , and sothing in snapped.
I’d spent years surviving, rebuilding and Protecting my son. I’d escaped from an toxic man, rebuilt my life from nothing, beco a CEO who commanded respect and fear.
I was not going to let this psychopath take that away.
"You made a mistake," I said quietly.
"Oh? What’s that?"
"You ca here alone." I stepped out of the closet, away from Noah. Drawing Marcus’s attention to . "And you underestimated what a mother will do to protect her child."
I grabbed the heavy lamp from Noah’s dresser and swung it at Marcus’s head.
He ducked, but not fast enough. The lamp caught him on the shoulder, and he dropped the syringe with a curse. It rolled across the floor, and we both dove for it.
I got there first, but he grabbed my ankle and pulled. I kicked back, felt my heel connect with sothing—his face, maybe—and heard him grunt in pain.
"Noah, run!" I shouted. "Go! Lock yourself in the bathroom!"
But my sweet, stubborn son didn’t run. Instead, he grabbed his toy baseball bat—a plastic thing that couldn’t hurt anyone—and charged at Marcus.
"Leave my mama alone!" he scread, swinging the bat.
"Noah, no!"
Everything happened at once.
Marcus grabbed Noah, using him as a shield. Noah started crying, terrified. I scrambled to my feet, the syringe in my hand like a weapon.
"Let him go," I said, my voice deadly calm. "Now."
"Or what? You’ll inject ?" Marcus laughed, but he looked uncertain. "You don’t have the spine for it."
"Try ."
We stood there, frozen in a terrible tableau. Marcus holding my crying son. holding the syringe. Both of us knowing that soone was about to make a move.
Then I heard it—footsteps in the hallway.
"Aria!" Olivia’s voice. "Aria, where are you?"
"In here!" I shouted. "He has Noah!"
Olivia, Jas, and three security guards flooded in.
Marcus’s eyes darted between them and , calculating. Then he did sothing I didn’t expect.
He ran toward the window.
With Noah in his arms.
"No!" I lunged forward, but I was too far away.
Marcus hit the window with his shoulder. The glass, designed to be unbreakable, cracked but held. He hit it again, and this ti it spiderwebbed.
"Put the boy down!" Jas had his gun out, but he couldn’t shoot—not with Noah so close.
"Mama!" Noah was screaming, reaching for . "Mama, help!"
Marcus looked at , his expression wild. "You want him? Co get him."
And then he hit the window one more ti.
It shattered.
He stepped toward the opening, forty-three stories of empty air beyond him, and held Noah out over the edge.
"One wrong move," Marcus said, his voice eerily calm, "and I drop him."
Ti stopped.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think I could only stare at my son dangling in a madman’s arms forty-three stories above the street.
"Marcus, please." My voice broke. "Please. Take . Do whatever you want to just don’t hurt him."
"Mama!" Noah sobbed. "I’m scared!"
"I know, baby. I know. Just hold still and don’t move."
Marcus’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out one-handed, still holding Noah, and smiled at whatever he saw.
"Looks like your knight in shining armor is on his way," he said. "Damien will be here in five minutes. Should we wait for him? Let him watch?"
"You’re insane," Olivia breathed.
"I’m free," Marcus corrected. "Free from living in my brother’s shadow. Free from caring what anyone thinks. Free to finally take what should have been mine."
His grip on Noah shifted slightly, and my son slipped an inch closer to the void.
"No!" I lunged forward, but Jas grabbed .
"Don’t," he hissed in my ear. "You’ll spook him."
Marcus laughed. "Smart man but unfortunately ultimately futile. Because I’m going to"
His phone rang as Damien’s na flashed on the screen. Marcus answered, putting it on speaker. "Hello, brother."
"Marcus, listen to ." Damien’s voice ca through, strained and desperate. "You can have it all. The company, the money. Everything. But please just let them go."
"Everything?" Marcus’s eyes glead. "You’d really give up Blackwood Enterprises? For them?"
"Yes. Take it. It’s yours. Just don’t hurt my son."
"Your son." Marcus looked down at Noah, who was still crying. "Did you hear that, boy? Your father values you more than his empire. More than everything he’s built. How touching."
"Marcus, please"
"But here’s the thing, Damien. I don’t want your empire anymore." His voice dropped to sothing dark and cold. "I want you to suffer the way I’ve suffered. I want you to know what it’s like to lose everything."
"If you hurt them, I’ll kill you," Damien said flatly. "Brother or not, I will hunt you down and end you."
"Then you’ll have to catch first."
And Marcus stepped backward, through the broken window, onto the narrow ledge beyond.
With Noah still in his arms.
The wind whipped through the opening, carrying the sounds of the city below.
"Mama!" Noah scread, his small fingers clutching at Marcus’s shirt.
"Hold on, baby!" I was crying now, unable to stop. "Just hold on!"
Marcus looked back at , standing on the ledge with my son, and smiled.
"Tell Damien," he said, "that so debts can never be repaid."
Then he jumped.
And took Noah with him.
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