He looked at her briefly and said, “The driver will not stop this bus, and you are coming with me immediately,” in a voice that allowed no argument.
Before she could react, he lifted her into his arms as if her weight did not matter, while protests erupted around them in confusion and fear.
The rear emergency exit opened under his forceful push, and rain rushed in as he stepped outside carrying her toward a waiting armored vehicle parked discreetly behind traffic barriers.
Adeline felt fear rising again, but this time it was not only about pain, because the presence of this man carried authority that felt impossible to ignore.
He placed her inside the vehicle, gave a single command to the driver, and then handed her a black card with gold lettering pressed into her palm.
He said quietly, “Breathe steadily and call this number if Nick Drayke comes anywhere near you again tonight.”
The name printed on the card read Lucien Arkwright, a man whose influence reportedly reached judges, senators, and financial institutions across the entire country.
Adeline whispered, “Why are you helping me at all,” while clutching the card as if it might disappear.
Lucien looked at her for a moment that felt older than the situation itself, then replied, “Because your mother asked me to protect you before she died.”
Before she could respond, her phone vibrated violently with a message that made her entire body freeze in terror.
A photo showed Nick standing at a hospital reception desk with lawyers behind him, while the message beneath it read, “I know you are carrying triplets, and you will not leave that hospital with my heirs.”
Adeline whispered in disbelief while pain and fear collided inside her chest, because the knowledge that her condition had been exposed felt like betrayal from every direction.
