Chapter 25 Twenty Five
IDALIA SOLENE
The photograph lay on my desk like a live grenade.
I stared at it until my vision blurred — my younger self, heavy with pregnancy, smiling up at Thane like he was my entire universe. His hand was splayed possessively over my belly. I remembered that exact moment. I remembered the way he had kissed my temple afterward and whispered, “We’re going to be a family.”
My fingers trembled as I picked it up. For one dangerous second, I let myself feel it — the ache, the longing, the love I had buried under layers of ice and steel.
Then I ripped the photo in half.
I kept ripping until it was nothing but confetti scattered across my desk. I swept every piece into the trash bin with a vicious swipe of my arm.
He knew.
Of course he knew. Thane Devereux had never been a man who accepted loss. Not even death could keep him away.
My office door opened again. This time it was Cassian.
He took one look at my face and closed the door behind him. “He came to you.”
It wasn’t a question.
“He has the old photo,” I said, voice flat. “He called me his wife in this very room. He’s planning something after the surgery.”
Cassian exhaled slowly and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. The easy charm he usually wore had been replaced by cold calculation.
“Silas wants us to accelerate. The board is getting nervous. Julian is sniffing around my involvement. If Thane connects all the dots before we’re ready—”
“I know,” I cut him off. I walked to the window and stared out at the city skyline. “But I won’t let him near the twins. Not yet. Not until I decide it’s safe.”
Cassian was quiet for a long moment. “Leo’s drawing… that wasn’t random, Solene. Blood recognizes blood. You can’t fight biology forever.”
I turned on him, eyes blazing. “Watch me.”
THANE DEVEREUX
The Devereux family estate felt like a pressure cooker.
I stood in the war room — my father’s old study — with Jaxson and three of his best hackers. Screens glowed with every scrap of information we’d dug up on Dr. Lia Solene.
“Still no official records before Zurich,” Jaxson said, rubbing his eyes. “But we found this.”
He slid a printed photo across the table. It was grainy, taken five years ago outside a private clinic in Switzerland. A heavily pregnant woman in a wheelchair being pushed by a man in a white coat.
Even with her head down and face partially obscured, I knew it was her.
My chest tightened with a brutal mix of fury and fierce, possessive joy.
“Cassian,” I growled.
Jaxson nodded. “He’s been her handler the entire time. Your cousin played us all.”
I picked up the photo and stared at the curve of her belly. My child. My children.
The thought nearly brought me to my knees.
“Find me everything on Silas,” I ordered. “Every property, every offshore account, every enemy he’s made. We’re ending this shadow war.”
One of the hackers cleared his throat. “There’s… something else, sir. We traced some encrypted communications. Dr. Solene has been in contact with a journalist who specializes in exposing corporate corruption. Specifically targeting Devereux Industries.”
I smiled, slow and dark.
So my wife wanted to destroy my family.
Good.
I would let her try. And when she was done swinging her blade, I would remind her exactly who she belonged to.
IDALIA SOLENE
The night before the surgery, I couldn’t sleep.
I sat on the edge of my bed in the dark, wearing nothing but an oversized silk robe. My hands — the same hands that would be inside Kimberly Devereux’s chest tomorrow — wouldn’t stop shaking.
The bedroom door creaked open.
Thane stepped inside like he owned the space.
I shot to my feet. “How the hell did you get past security?”
He didn’t answer. He just closed the door and walked toward me, eyes locked on mine with terrifying intensity.
“I told you,” he said, voice low and rough. “No more running.”
I backed up until my thighs hit the bed. “Get out or I’ll scream.”
“Go ahead.” He stopped inches away, towering over me. “Scream. Tell the world that the mother of my children is alive and planning to ruin my family.”
My breath hitched.
Thane’s hand rose slowly, giving me time to pull away. When I didn’t, his fingers brushed my jaw, tilting my face up to his.
“I hate you,” I whispered, but the words cracked.
“I know.” His thumb traced my lower lip. “But you still love me too. That’s why it hurts so much.”
The dam broke.
I grabbed his shirt and yanked him down into a violent kiss. It wasn’t gentle. It was five years of grief, rage, and unbearable longing exploding between us. Thane groaned against my mouth, lifting me effortlessly and laying me back on the bed.
His body covered mine. Heavy. Familiar. Devastating.
Clothes were torn away in a frenzy. His mouth was everywhere — my neck, the mole he remembered, my breasts, lower. When he finally pushed inside me, deep and bare, I cried out, nails raking down his back.
“Idalia,” he growled against my throat, thrusting hard. “Mine.”
We didn’t make love.
We warred.
Every stroke was a claim. Every moan was a surrender and a challenge. I bit his shoulder when I came, hard enough to draw blood. He followed right after, burying himself to the hilt with a guttural sound that vibrated through my entire body.
Afterward, we lay tangled in the sheets, breathing hard.
Thane pulled me against his chest, one large hand possessively cupping my hip.
“Tomorrow,” he said quietly, “you save my mother. Then we talk about our family. No more secrets.”
I closed my eyes, heart still racing.
I didn’t answer.
Because tomorrow, after I saved Kimberly Devereux… I still planned to destroy everything else he loved.