Chapter 10
Finally Free.
The soft morning light spilled across the bedroom, golden rays catching on the silk curtains of Rio’s mansion. Kylee stirred awake, her cheek pressed against the warmth of Rio’s chest. For the first time in what felt like forever, her body wasn’t weighed down by fear or heartbreak, just calm.
Through the cracked door, she could hear the faint sound of laughter. Macy’s high-pitched giggles, Kayla’s squeals, and Jake Jr.’s booming little voice carried through the hallways. They were safe. They were happy. Her heart swelled.
Rio shifted beside her, half-awake, his arm instinctively tightening around her waist. “Mmm… good morning, Mrs. Rock Star,” he teased, his voice gravelly with sleep.
She laughed softly, pressing a kiss to his chest. “Don’t start with that already.”
But part of her loved the sound of it, the idea that her future was no longer tied to betrayal, or heartbreak, or Jake.
It was here, wrapped in this man who had shown her what it meant to be chosen, fiercely and unapologetically.
The door burst open suddenly, and Jake Jr. Came bounding in, his hair messy from sleep. “Mom! Rio! Can we go swimming after breakfast? Pleaseee!”
Before Kylee could answer, Macy, carrying Kayla, tumbled in behind him giggling and climbing onto the giant bed. Within seconds, the quiet cocoon she and Rio shared was overtaken by squeals and bouncing.
Rio sat up, laughing as Kayla wrapped herself around his arm. “Looks like we’re not sleeping in,” he said, flashing Kylee a grin.
And in that moment, surrounded by her children’s joy and Rio’s steady presence, Kylee realized something: This was it.
This was the life she deserved. Not the one where she begged for scraps of love.
Not the one where she looked over her shoulder.
This was her forever. Rio leaned close to Kylee over breakfast, lowering his voice so the kids wouldn’t hear.
“Take them swimming after this. Keep them outside… I’ll handle the situation downstairs. ”
Kylee froze for a moment, the fork halfway to her mouth. Even though she’d agreed last night, hearing it put so bluntly made her stomach twist. Still, she nodded. “Okay. Just… don’t let them hear anything.”
Rio kissed her forehead reassuringly. “They won’t. I promised you, I’ll take care of everything.”
An hour later, sunlight shimmered off the turquoise water as Macy and Kayla splashed, Jake Jr. showing off cannonballs at the deep end.
Kylee sat poolside, her sunglasses hiding the storm of emotions rolling behind her eyes.
She clapped and cheered, smiling for her kids but her thoughts drifted again and again to what was happening beneath the mansion.
Meanwhile, Rio descended the stairs into the basement, the heavy door sealing behind him with a metallic clang. The air was cool, the faint hum of the soundproof glass box echoing in the space.
Jake sat inside, slumped in the chair, his face battered from the fight, his eyes red with exhaustion. He jolted up as Rio approached, slamming his fists against the glass.
“You think this is over?!” Jake snarled, his voice muffled, desperate. “She’s mine! Those kids are mine!”
Rio smirked darkly, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Correction. They were yours. You had a beautiful family, and you destroyed it. You handed them to me the second you chose Rachel over Kylee.”
Jake’s nose twitched, fury and desperation mixing in His expression. “You don’t know shit about us!”
Rio leaned forward, his voice low and lethal. “I know enough. And I know one more thing karma’s a bitch, Jake. And I’m her delivery man.”
Jake lunged at the glass, screaming curses, but the sound never carried beyond the box. Upstairs, all Kylee and the kids could hear was laughter and splashing in the pool a world away from the torment unraveling beneath their feet.
Rio stood before the glass box, his reflection faint in the polished surface, his voice steady and cold.
“I’ll have someone here in the morning to collect you,” he said, his tone final, as if he were signing off on a business deal.
“And before you start screaming your bullshit again, let me make something perfectly clear.”
Jake glared back, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his temple. He pressed his palms against the glass. “You can’t keep me in here forever.”
Rio smirked, a slow, dangerous curve of his lips. “Forever? No. I don’t need forever. I just need enough time to teach you the rules of your new life. A life where you don’t breathe in Kylee’s direction again.”
Jake’s nostrils flared, his fists clenching. “She’s my wife. Those are my kids. You can’t erase me.”
Rio stepped closer, his shadow falling over Jake. “You erased yourself the moment you put Rachel on your desk.
Don’t stand there acting like a victim. You had a family most men would kill for and you threw it away. Now you’re going to live with that mistake for the rest of your pathetic existence.”
Jake bared his teeth. “You think she’s yours now? She’ll wake up, Rio. She’ll see who you really are.”
Rio laughed a low, humorless sound that made Jake’s skin crawl. “She’s already awake, Doc. Awake to the truth. She saw you for who you are when she walked into your office that day. She felt what real love is the second I licked her beautiful pussy. And every night since, she’s chosen me.”
Jake slammed his fist against the glass so hard his knuckles split, blood smearing the transparent wall. “You son of a bitch!”
Rio didn’t flinch. His eyes sharpened. “Let me explain something to you. When this is over, you will go far, far away. You won’t call.
You won’t write. You won’t show your face.
Because if you do, if you even think about stepping foot near my house, near Kylee, or near those kids” he leaned in until his voice was barely a growl, “you’ll wish you never crawled out of your mother’s womb. ”
Jake’s jaw twitched, his breathing ragged. For the first time, doubt flickered in his eyes.
Rio straightened, his calm composure returning like a well-tailored suit. “You want to see your children again someday? Then disappear. Be a ghost. Learn what it feels like to be forgotten. That’s your only chance at survival.”
Jake sagged against the chair, fury burning in his eyes, but beneath it …Fear. Rio tapped on the glass once, almost casual, like a man closing a deal.
“Enjoy your silence, Doc. You’ve got one night left to think about all the ways you fucked up. In the morning… your new life begins.”
With that, Rio turned and walked out, the heavy steel door locking shut behind him. The soundproof walls held Jake’s muffled curses in the dark, while above ground, sunlight and laughter spilled across the pool deck as if nothing sinister existed below.
Jake sat slumped in the chair inside the glass box, every nerve raw, and every breath heavy with anger and humiliation.
He could hear the faint hum of life upstairs muffled laughter, footsteps, and the distant clink of glasses but no matter how much he screamed, nothing escaped.
The silence pressing in on him was maddening.
His nose still ached from Rio’s punch. His knuckles throbbed where they’d split against the glass. Hours crawled by, each second stretching, each reminder that he wasn’t in control gnawing deeper at his pride.
Then faintly he heard something that made his gut twist. Rio’s voice, low, commanding, calm.
“Yeah. Tomorrow morning. Early. Discreet. Bring a secure vehicle. I don’t care where you take him, just make sure it’s far enough that he won’t find his way back.
Money isn’t an issue.” A pause. Then Rio’s voice dipped into a darker register.
“And make it clear… if he even thinks about breaking the terms, there will be no second chance.”
Jake’s stomach sank. He strained against the chair, desperate to catch every word, but the rest blurred into background noise.
One thing was clear: his fate was being decided without him.
Rio ended the call, sliding his phone back into his pocket as if he’d just ordered wine instead of arranging someone’s disappearance.
He stepped out onto the pool deck, the late-morning sun catching on the surface of the water. Kylee sat at the edge with her legs dangling in, Macy and Kayla splashing each other in the shallow end while Jake Jr. attempted a clumsy cannonball. Their laughter carried in the air, pure and innocent.
Rio’s expression softened. He shed the weight of the basement like a coat he didn’t need here. Walking over, he slipped behind Kylee, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pressing a kiss against her temple. “How’s my girl?” he murmured.
Kylee leaned into him, her eyes fixed on the kids, a smile tugging at her lips. “They’re happy. That’s all I want.”
Rio squeezed her gently. “Then that’s exactly what they’ll have.”
Below, in the cold silence of the basement, Jake seethed, powerless, knowing that just above his head the family he once claimed as his own was already slipping further from his grasp and closer into Rio’s.
Jake’s head throbbed from where it had smacked against the glass earlier in his frenzy.
The sterile lights above him buzzed faintly, the laughs from Kylee and the kids haunted him.
His throat was raw from screaming, though no one had heard him no one ever would.
He pressed his palms against the glass, staring at the distorted reflection of himself.
His own blood smeared faintly where his nose had bled, drying into dark streaks.
He looked like an animal in a cage, and that’s exactly how Rio wanted him to feel.
“This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening.” He screamed. But it was.