128

128
CASSIAN'S POV

I pushed through the doors of my building so fast the security guard did not even finish his greeting. My tie was still loose from earlier. My heartbeat felt like a war drum inside my chest.

“Where is she?” I barked at Colin as soon as I spotted him near the lobby.

He stepped in front of me, hesitating. “She is upstairs. Your penthouse. She let herself in with the old code.”

Of course she did. She still thought this building belonged to her. I took the stairs. I needed the burn in my legs to keep my anger from spilling everywhere.

I found her by the window, swirling a glass of something dark that was not wine. She turned slowly, that Viero smirk already loaded.

“You look like you have seen a ghost,” she said. “Though I suppose you have. A very small one.”

“Who told you?” I asked tightly, my voice like cold steel.

Victoria tilted her head. “Does it matter? You have a son, Cassian. And no one thought I deserved to know?”

I did not answer. I had no answer she would accept anyway. Her eyes narrowed. Her hands tightened around the glass.

“Was it true?” she asked. “Is the child Aurora’s? Is he yours?”

I nodded once. Her face cracked, just for a moment. Then the ice slid back into place. “You let me sit beside you for months,” she said. “And you never told me I had a grandson.”

I took a step forward. “Because I did not know. Not when it mattered.”

“You are lying,” she snapped. “You always knew something. You just did not want to deal with it.”

“No,” I said. “I did not want to destroy what little chance I had left.”

She laughed, bitter and sharp. “So instead, you destroyed your son’s right to know his family?”

“That was never my choice,” I said quietly. “You were the one who made Aurora feel like she was nothing.”

Victoria slammed the glass down on the table. “Do not put this on me. You were the one who married her and treated her like a ghost.”

I did not flinch. I deserved that. But it did not make her right. “You used her,” I said. “You manipulated her until she could not breathe.”

She crossed her arms. “And what have you done to fix it?”

“I have tried,” I said. “But you coming back into this now is not going to help.”

She stepped closer. “He is my blood. I have a right to him.”

My jaw locked. “You lost that right when you made sure she ran.”

She blinked slowly. Her voice dropped. “You really think I am going to stay away from my grandson?”

“If you care about him,” I said, “you will.”

There was a pause. A stretch of silence that felt sharp as glass. Then her lips curved. “That sounds like a challenge.”

AURORA'S POV

I knew the knock on the door before I even reached it. There was something too precise about it. Too controlled. When I opened it, my stomach sank.

Victoria Viero stood there, draped in pearls and poison.

She looked at me the way she always had. Like I was something inconvenient clinging to her life. Something that refused to die quietly.

“Hello, Aurora,” she said, her tone like silk soaked in vinegar.

I stepped halfway into the hall, blocking her view. “You should not be here.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Then you should not have lied.”

“I did not lie,” I said. “I left. That is not the same thing.”

She took a slow breath, as if preparing for battle. “You had a child. My grandchild. And you kept him hidden.”

“You made it unsafe,” I said. “For both of us.”

“Do not pretend you did this for safety,” she snapped. “You did this to punish him.”

I folded my arms. “And you think barging into my life now is going to fix that?”

“I think you have no idea what you have done,” she said. “That boy has a legacy. And you tried to erase it.”

I stepped back, fingers digging into the doorframe. “He has love. He has protection. That is all he needs.”

She leaned in slightly. “What he needs is his family. His name.”

My voice cracked. “He has my name.”

She smiled then. Cruel and bright. “Then you better get ready. Because I am not leaving without seeing him.”

CASSIAN'S POV

I reached her building just as she was stepping into the elevator. The sight of her there, all polished fury and purpose, made me curse under my breath.

I caught the doors with my hand and stepped in. “You need to stop.”

Victoria did not even glance at me. “You should have stopped me years ago.”

“This is not about power,” I said. “This is not about the company or the family.”

She turned to me sharply. “Everything is about the family.”

“This is about Leo,” I said, my voice low. “And if you hurt him, I swear—”

She cut me off. “I am not going to hurt him. I am going to meet him.”

“You do not get to decide that,” I said.

She tilted her head. “Then we will let the law decide.”

The elevator doors opened. She stepped out first. I watched her walk like the queen she still thought she was. But there was something dangerous now.

I followed her, heart pounding. I should have stopped this before it started. But now the fire was already lit.

AURORA'S POV

Leo was still asleep. His small body curled against his stuffed rabbit. I closed the bedroom door quietly, trying to steady my breath.

She was here. In my home. Like it still belonged to her.

“I will not let you near him,” I said, voice shaking. “You are not safe.”

Victoria sat calmly on the couch, crossing one leg over the other. “And who decides that? You?”

“I am his mother,” I said. “That is all the authority I need.”

She stood. Slowly. “Then you better use it. Because this is not going to go away.”

I could not breathe. My chest ached. My fingers trembled. I hated how easy it was for her to reduce me to nothing again.

Cassian walked in then. His face was tight. His eyes locked on mine. “I tried to stop her.”

I nodded once. But it did not matter now.

Victoria looked at both of us like she had already won. “I want to meet him.”

“You will not,” I said. “Not now. Not like this.”

She smiled. Cold. Final. “Then I will make sure I do.”

She turned and walked out without another word. The silence she left behind felt loud.

Cassian closed the door. “I am sorry.”

I could not look at him. “You should be.”

He reached for me, then stopped. “She will not win.”

I stared at the floor. “She already did.”

He opened his mouth to speak. But before he could, the doorbell rang again.

We both froze. I moved first, stepping toward it with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

I opened the door slowly. A man in a dark suit handed me a crisp envelope and said nothing.

The letter inside was from Victoria.

It was from her lawyer.