Chapter 1275 She Married Beneath Her Station

Chapter 1275 She Married Beneath Her Station

"Ruby, go home. Now."

"Why?"

Arthur suddenly tightened his grip on her hand.

"If I go dark for a couple of days — no calls, no texts — that means I need your help. Go to your father."

Ruby felt a cold knot form in her chest. "Arthur, what's going on? What happened?"

Faye hadn't asked a single question. She'd just caught Arthur's eye for a brief moment, and that was enough. Her expression had already shifted into something quiet and tense.

Because yes — her son had never once lost sleep over the divestments. The Montgomery Group had only ever been a front, a carefully constructed illusion meant to keep everyone else looking the wrong direction.

"Ruby, just listen to Arthur," Faye said, her voice steady but firm. "Don't ask questions. Go home, take care of yourself, and take care of that baby. We'll stay in touch by phone."

"But —"

"But the most important thing," Faye cut in, "is that you make sure you always have a phone on you."

"I — what? What do you mean?"

Ruby blinked, thrown off.

"Have you already forgotten what happened before? When your mother confiscated your phone and tried to cut you off from Arthur entirely?"

"Oh." Ruby went still. "I understand."

It clicked immediately. She already had a few spare phones at home — she'd pick up some extra SIM cards on the way back, just in case.

"Ruby," Faye said, taking her hands gently, "if the two of you had decided to part ways in the past, I would have hated to see you go, yet I would only have felt regret and wished you a better life with someone else. But now you carry the Montgomery child. I know it means you will be settling to marry into the Montgomery family, marrying beneath your station. Even so, if the three of us stick together and care for each other, we will have a good future ahead of us, won't we?"

"I'll do whatever you say, Ms. Lee."

Ruby didn't yet sense the danger closing in around them. She only knew that every word Faye had said felt true.

"Ms. Lee?" Faye raised an eyebrow. "You two already have a marriage certificate."

"...Mom."

The word came out soft and flustered, color rushing to Ruby's cheeks before she could stop it.

Arthur watched her. Something in him settled — seeing how naturally Faye had drawn Ruby in, how completely she'd been folded into their world.

He had the driver take Ruby back to the Ward Manor.

The moment she was gone, the tension returned.

Faye closed the door and turned to her son. "Tell me everything."

"Alexander may have figured it out."

"What?"

The color drained from her face. Then, quickly: "What do we do now?"

"He'll probably call us in for questioning tomorrow."

Arthur stood abruptly. He moved behind the sofa, pacing — back and forth, back and forth — before finally going still.

"When that happens, I'm going to need you working every contact you have on the outside."

"Goes without saying. But — will they be able to trace it back to us?"

"I've always believed that success means gambling in dangerous territory and finding a way to survive." He exhaled. "Right now, the priority is containing this before it spreads."

He forced himself to breathe. To think clearly.

He refused to believe it ended here.

No matter what else was true — Ruby was carrying his child.

With the Ward family in his corner, he could find a way out of this.

He had to.

He'd spent over twenty years as a ghost — an illegitimate son with no name, no claim. He'd clawed his way back from that. And now, after all of it, he was supposed to end up behind bars?

No.

That wasn't going to happen.

The Montgomery family had seen plenty of people fall. He would not be one of them.

What consumed him now was Victoria. Alexander couldn't find out about that. If he did —

But then —

His phone buzzed.

He picked up. "What now?"

"The two old women are gone. I think Alexander has them."

The bottom dropped out of his stomach.

That couldn't be right. Alexander had been at his wedding just two days ago, smiling across the reception like everything was fine.

It wasn't possible.

The Harrington Manor.

Alexander sat alone on the rooftop terrace, sunk into the sofa cushions, a cigarette burning slowly between his fingers. On the table beside him, his phone vibrated against the glass surface — an unknown number cycling across the screen, unanswered.