Chapter Ten #2
As if feeling the weight of her gaze, Cameron ended the call abruptly, tossing his phone onto the desk. He walked into the lounge, his broad shoulders relaxing the moment his eyes found hers.
"You've been reading for two hours," Cameron murmured, taking a seat on the edge of the plush sofa beside her. He reached out, his large hand gently brushing a stray curl from her cheek. "Are you tired? Do you need to lie down?"
"I am perfectly fine," Aurelia laughed softly, leaning into the warmth of his touch. "You ask me that every twenty minutes. I promise, if I need a nap, I will take one."
Cameron smiled, a rare, beautiful expression that erased the ruthless executive and left only the devoted partner.
He dropped his gaze to the swell of her stomach, his eyes softening into liquid silver.
He reached out, hovering his hand an inch above her sweater, always waiting for her silent permission before making contact.
Aurelia took his hand, guiding his palm to rest flat against her side.
For a moment, there was only the quiet hum of the ventilation system. And then, it happened.
A sharp, distinct flutter pressed outward from within her, a solid, undeniable kick that vibrated directly against the center of Cameron's palm.
Cameron gasped, his entire body jerking in shock. His eyes flew wide, locking onto Aurelia’s face. "Did you... did you feel that?"
"The baby has been practicing martial arts all morning," Aurelia beamed, tears of joy sparkling in her dark eyes.
Another kick, stronger this time, tapped against his hand.
The breath left Cameron’s lungs. The billionaire slid off the edge of the sofa, dropping to his knees on the thick carpet. He pressed both of his hands gently against the sides of her stomach, bowing his head until his forehead rested against her knee.
Aurelia threaded her fingers through his dark hair, feeling the violent, silent tremor wracking his broad shoulders. She thought he was merely overwhelmed by the miracle of new life.
She didn't know the agonizing ghosts haunting the corridors of his mind.
As Cameron knelt there, feeling the fluttering life of his child, a crushing wave of remorse crashed over him.
He remembered the cold, barren silence of their previous life.
He remembered the five years of isolation, the tears she had shed in the shadows of his estate, the devastating emotional starvation he had subjected her to because of his own blind, arrogant pride.
He had lost her to a shattered windshield and twisted metal, unaware of the magnificent, radiant light she possessed.
He didn't deserve this. He knew, with clarity, that he was unworthy of the grace she offered him every single day.
Never again, Cameron vowed silently into the fabric of her dress, hot tears carving paths down his face, hidden from her view. I will spend every second of my borrowed time making up for the pain I caused you. I will build an empire of light for you. I swear it on my soul.
"Cameron?" Aurelia whispered softly, her fingers gently massaging his scalp. "Are you crying?"
He lifted his head, making no effort to wipe the tears away. He looked at her, his soul laid bare. "I am just... so incredibly in love with you," he choked out, his voice hoarse with emotion. "You are everything. You are my entire world."
Aurelia’s breath caught. She leaned down, pressing a tender, lingering kiss to his forehead, her heart overflowing with a love she could no longer deny.
***
While the penthouse remained a sanctuary of warmth, a war room had been established two floors below.
Harper paced the length of Julian’s private conference room, a dry-erase marker clutched like a weapon in her fist. The massive glass whiteboard covering the far wall was a chaotic web of timelines, names, and aggressive, underlined warnings.
She was a soldier trapped in a state of perpetual vigilance.
She knew the mechanics of the previous timeline.
She knew how Elena operated—the leaked emails, the manufactured scandals, the quiet manipulation of Isla’s vast social network.
Harper was desperately trying to anticipate an attack from an enemy who didn't even know they were playing the same game.
"She was in the building," Harper said, tapping the marker aggressively against a printed still-frame of security footage taped to the board. It showed Elena’s crimson coat disappearing into an elevator on the night Cameron was drugged.
"Elena orchestrated the dosage. We know that.
But she hasn't made a move since. It’s been months.
Why is she waiting? What is she planning? "
Julian sat at the head of the conference table, sipping a glass of mineral water, unruffled by his sister’s frantic energy. Sebastian slouched in a chair nearby, twirling a pen between his fingers, watching Harper with a mixture of amusement and deep affection.
"You need to stop grinding your teeth, Harps, you’re going to give yourself a migraine," Sebastian noted casually.
Harper spun around, glaring at the media mogul. "Don't tell me to relax! The timeline is repeating itself, just in a different font! Isla hates Aurelia. Elena is plotting. If we don't strike first, they are going to find a way to tear her down."
"Harper, please, sit down," Julian commanded gently, gesturing to the empty chair beside him.
Harper scowled, but the exhaustion in her bones forced her to comply. She dropped into the leather chair, crossing her arms defensively.
Julian pulled a sleek, encrypted tablet from the center of the table and slid it across the polished wood until it rested in front of her.
"We are not sitting on our hands, Harper," Julian explained, his voice dropping into the cold, clinical register of a predator outlining a kill.
"You are anticipating a frontal assault.
That is not how we fight. We are architects.
We are currently building a trap so comprehensive that when it finally snaps shut, neither Elena nor Isla will ever see daylight again. "
Harper uncrossed her arms, her eyes narrowing as she tapped the screen of the tablet.
Dozens of meticulously organized folders appeared.
"What is this?" she asked, her voice hushed.
"That is the financial guillotine," Sebastian smiled, though there was zero warmth in his eyes.
"Elena has been embezzling from the Langsford philanthropic trusts for three years.
She funneled the capital through offshore shells in the Caymans to fund her narcotics habits and pay off her tabloid contacts.
In the previous timeline, we never looked for it because we trusted her.
This time, Julian had his forensic accountants rip the ledger apart. "
Julian leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "We have the wire transfers. We have the digital footprint she left when she bypassed the security grid to drug Cameron. I have enough irrefutable, hard evidence to send her to a federal penitentiary for the next twenty years."
Harper stared at the digital files, the sheer, devastating magnitude of the brothers' retaliation washing over her. They weren't just going to fire Elena. They were going to obliterate her existence.
"And Isla?" Harper asked, looking up at Julian. "She isn't embezzling. But she is just as dangerous."
"Mother will be handled legally," Julian stated, his tone devoid of any familial affection.
"I have spent the last two months quietly restructuring the holding company's trust mechanisms. Her voting shares are currently being legally diluted.
By the time I am finished, her seat on the board will be ceremonial.
She will have her allowance, her estate, and absolutely zero functional power to harm anyone in this family ever again. "
Harper leaned back in her chair, a long, shaky exhale leaving her lungs. The frantic, clawing anxiety that had driven her for months finally began to recede, replaced by awe.
She had spent five years in the previous timeline trying to shield Aurelia with nothing but her own body. Now, she was watching three billionaires construct a titanium fortress around them, weaponizing the full might of their empire to annihilate the threats before they could even breach the walls.
"So why wait?" Harper asked, tracing the edge of the tablet. "If you have the proof, why let Elena keep walking around breathing free air?"
"Because striking now would cause a media firestorm," Cameron’s voice echoed from the doorway.
Harper turned as the eldest brother walked into the conference room. He looked exhausted, yet deeply at peace, carrying the lingering warmth of the moment he had just shared in the penthouse.
Cameron took a seat beside Sebastian, his gray eyes locking onto his sister.
"Aurelia is five months pregnant. Her blood pressure needs to remain perfectly stable.
If we drop federal indictments on our adopted sister, the press will swarm this building like locusts.
It will cause chaos, stress, and noise. I will not subject Aurelia to that kind of toxic environment while she is carrying our child. "
"So we wait," Julian confirmed, nodding at Cameron. "We hold the blade suspended. The second the child is born, and Aurelia is safely insulated in the private recovery wing, I pull the trigger. Elena goes in handcuffs, and Mother is exiled."
Harper looked at the three men. The resentment she harbored for their past failures was still a scar on her heart, but the undeniable devotion they were displaying in this lifetime was impossible to ignore. They weren't reacting to the danger; they were mastering it.
"Alright," Harper finally nodded, sliding the tablet back across the table. A fierce, predatory smirk slowly curved her lips. "We wait. But when the time comes to pull that trigger... I want Elena to be ruined."
Sebastian smirked, a gleam in his eyes. "Of course."