Chapter 16 Chapter 16
"The boys are inside now. Security cameras show the girl leaving a study room with the Kennedy son."
Richard's eyes narrowed. "What is Julius playing at?" he muttered. The question that had consumed him for two decades hung in the air: Could this girl truly be Roxanne?
Tony led Iris down the service corridor, his hand hovering near her elbow without quite touching her. The hallway smelled of cleaning supplies and old paint, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead.
"My car is just outside," Tony said, pushing open the heavy metal door that led to a small auxiliary parking lot.
The winter air hit them like a physical force, cold and sharp. Iris pulled her coat tighter around herself, still clutching her portfolio case protectively against her chest.
"Tony," she said as they hurried across the asphalt, "if what you're saying is true, if these people really think I might be this missing heiress, what exactly do they want from me?"
Tony unlocked his car with a beep, glancing nervously around the lot. "It depends. Your birth family, I think, would want to get to know you. As for my parents, who knows, but they might finally let me have what I want for a change rather than just what’s good for business. And what I want Iris is you I want to be your boyfriend.”
Iris stared at Tony, her mind struggling to process everything at once: the revelation about her possible identity, the mysterious interest from powerful families, and now this unexpected declaration. The portfolio case suddenly felt heavy in her arms.
"You want to be my boyfriend," she repeated slowly. "That's what you're focused on right now? When you've just told me two powerful families might be hunting me down because I could be a kidnapped heiress?"
Before Tony could respond, the sound of car doors slamming echoed across the parking lot. He glanced over his shoulder to see three men in dark suits approaching from different directions. They moved with purpose, their gazes locked on Iris.
"Get in," Tony urged, opening the passenger door. "Now!"
Iris hesitated for only a second before sliding into the seat, her survival instincts overriding her doubts. Tony rushed around to the driver's side, his heart hammering against his ribs. As he started the engine, one of the men called out.
"Miss Maxwell! Please wait!" The tallest of the three quickened his pace. "We just want to talk!"
Tony threw the car into reverse, tyres squealing as he backed out of the parking space. The men weren't running yet, their movements deliberate rather than frantic, which somehow made them more intimidating.
"Who are they?" Iris demanded, clutching her seatbelt as Tony accelerated toward the exit.
"I don't know," Tony admitted, checking his rearview mirror. "But they're not with my parents. My guess? The Lawsons."
Across campus, Helga Kennedy received an urgent call from their investigator. "Mrs Kennedy, we have a situation. Your son is leaving with the girl. And the Lawsons are here, all three sons."
Helga's perfectly manicured nails dug into her palm. "Where are they headed?"
"East exit. The Kennedy boy is driving."
"Intercept them," Helga ordered, her voice cold with determination. "We need that girl."
In Richard Lawson's car, the aging businessman listened to his sons' report with growing frustration. "What do you mean they're leaving? Don't let them get away!"
"We're trying to be discreet, Father," Theodore's voice came through the speaker. "We don't want to frighten her."
"She's already frightened," Richard snapped. "The Kennedy boy is filling her head with who knows what. Follow them, but don't be obvious about it."
Tony navigated through the campus streets with practised precision, constantly checking his mirrors for signs of pursuit. Iris sat rigid beside him, her knuckles white around the handle of her portfolio case.
"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.
"Somewhere safe," Tony replied, making a sudden turn down a side street. "Somewhere neither my parents nor the Lawsons would think to look."
Iris stared at him, “Let me guess your condo?”
“Ah, no, I don’t live there, that’s where my parents think I live. I have an apartment I bought under Tony Kennedy, not my birth name, Antony. I set everything up years ago so I could have a life I really wanted. I just didn’t think I’d meet someone that I could really fall in love with. If she let me.”
Iris's mouth fell open slightly at Tony's words. The revelation that he had a secret life, a separate apartment, even a different version of his name, was almost as shocking as the suggestion that she might be the missing Lawson heiress.
"You have a whole secret identity?" she asked, her analytical mind already piecing together the implications. "How long have you been planning this escape from your family?"
"Since I was sixteen," Tony admitted, making another sharp turn down a narrow street lined with older brick buildings. "My parents had my entire life planned out, the right schools, the right career, the right wife. This was my way of creating something that was just mine."
In the sleek black SUV following at a discreet distance, Theodore Lawson kept his eyes fixed on Tony's car as his brother, Victor, called their father.
"They're heading toward the older part of town," Theodore reported, his voice calm despite the tension vibrating through him. "East of the university district."
"Stay with them," Richard Lawson ordered through the speakerphone. "But don't approach until we know more. The girl must not be frightened away."
Bryce, the youngest Lawson brother, leaned forward from the back seat. "What if she really is Roxanne?" he asked, voicing the question that had consumed their family for twenty years. "What if we've finally found her?"
"Then everything changes," Theodore replied, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel. "For all of us."
Across town, Julius and Helga Kennedy watched the tracking dot on their security team's monitor. The GPS device that their investigator had slipped onto Tony's car blinked steadily, revealing his path through the city.
"He's trying to lose any potential followers," Julius observed, his expression grim. "Our son has become quite adept at deception."
"He gets that from you," Helga replied coldly. She turned to their head of security. "I want that girl brought to us before the Lawsons get to her. Use whatever means necessary, but be discreet."
The security chief nodded and left to deploy his team, leaving the Kennedys alone in their penthouse office.