The gates groaned shut behind Roman’s order

Every guard on the estate reached for his radio. Every face behind the mansion windows disappeared. Vivienne Kane stood very still beneath the portico, her silk dress untouched by rain, but her eyes had changed.

For the first time, she looked afraid.

Roman crossed the driveway without looking at anyone else. He took off his coat and wrapped it around my shoulders, then dropped to one knee in the rain and touched my bare feet as if checking whether the ground itself had wounded me.

“Bianca,” he said, his voice rough. “Look at me.”

I tried. My teeth were chattering too hard.

“She touched the baby,” I whispered.

Something cold passed over his face.

He stood slowly.

“Who held my wife down?”

No one answered.

Roman turned his head. “Ask again.”

One of his men moved, and a maid near the doorway broke first. “Mrs. Kane ordered it. She said the child was a curse.”

Vivienne’s chin lifted. “I said what everyone was thinking.”

Roman stepped toward her.

“You put hands on my wife.”

“I protected this family.”

“You humiliated the mother of my child.”

Vivienne smiled, but it trembled. “Your child? Roman, don’t be sentimental. That girl from Queens was never meant to carry our name.”

“Our name?” Roman repeated softly.

A black SUV rolled through the inner drive. The family doctor stepped out, carrying an emergency bag. Behind him came Roman’s lawyer, holding a sealed file.

Vivienne’s face drained.

Roman noticed.

“Open it,” he ordered.

The lawyer broke the seal with shaking fingers. “It was found in Mrs. Kane’s private safe.”

Roman read one page.

Then another.

The rain beat harder against the stone.

“What is it?” I asked.

He looked up at Vivienne, and there was no son left in his eyes.

Only a king finding a traitor.

“You knew,” he said. “All these years, you knew.”

Vivienne backed away. “Roman—”