Chapter 6 - The Broken Crown
Lucian swiped the screen, setting the phone flat on the mahogany table between his lead attorneys and my daybed.
The video feed connected instantly.
Nathan’s face filled the high-definition screen. But he no longer looked like the polished, impeccably groomed billionaire who had sneered at me across the divorce table twenty-four hours ago.
His tie was undone at the neck, his hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot with wild, frantic rage. Behind him, the glass windows of his executive office were dark, save for the flashing lights of emergency news vehicles gathered on the street below.
"Ava!" Nathan roared into the camera, his voice shaking with hysteria. "What the hell did you do?! What did you tell Blackwood?!"
I took a deep, steady breath, resting my hands over my swollen stomach. For the first time in five years, I didn't feel terrified of his voice.
"I didn't tell him anything, Nathan," I said, my voice calm, clean, and crystal clear. "You did this to yourself."
"You lying bitch!" Nathan screamed, slamming his fist against his desk. "My bank accounts are frozen! My construction sites have been shut down by federal marshals! And Chloe just packed her bags and left my apartment twenty minutes ago!"
"Mr. Drake," Lucian spoke up, stepping into the camera’s field of view. He didn't raise his voice, but his sheer presence caused Nathan’s wild ranting to freeze instantly. "You are speaking to the future mother of three Blackwood trust beneficiaries. Adjust your tone immediately."
Nathan stared at Lucian through the screen, his mouth opening and closing like a landed fish.
"Blackwood..." Nathan stammered, his voice dropping into a desperate plea. "Please... this is a business misunderstanding! Ava was my wife! We had a private domestic arrangement! I am willing to settle out of court! I will double her temporary support payment! I’ll give her two million dollars!"
"Two million dollars?" Eleanor Vance laughed aloud from the conference table, opening her blue binder. "Mr. Drake, our forensic accounting team has already identified forty-eight million dollars in undisclosed marital assets. Under Washington state community property laws, Mrs. Bennett is entitled to twenty-four million dollars immediately, alongside full legal and physical custody of the children."
"Twenty-four million?!" Nathan gasped, grabbing the edges of his desk as if he were about to faint. "That will liquidate my entire holding company!"
"Then I suggest you prepare for liquidation, Nathan," Lucian said smoothly. "Because tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, my legal team is filing formal criminal charges regarding your offshore tax fraud."
"Ava, please!" Nathan screamed, turning his frantic eyes back toward me on the screen. "Tell him to stop! We were married for five years! Think about our history! Think about the babies!"
I looked at the screen—at the man who had left me bleeding and terrified in the rain, who had sent lawyers to steal my unborn children before their hearts had even fully developed.
"I am thinking about the babies, Nathan," I said softly. "And that is why I am letting Lucian finish what you started."
Lucian reached out and disconnected the call with a single swipe of his thumb.
The library fell into a deep, peaceful silence once more.
I leaned back against my plush pillows, closing my eyes as a profound sense of warmth and victory washed through my entire body.
Beside me, I felt Lucian sit down on the edge of the daybed. His large, warm hand gently reached out, resting over mine where it lay on my stomach.
Instantly, three distinct, tiny thumps kicked against the palm of his hand from within my womb.
Lucian froze, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down at my stomach in absolute, reverent wonder.
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"They... they kicked," Lucian whispered, his voice trembling with a raw, gentle awe I had never heard in him before.
"They like you, Lucian," I smiled, tears of true happiness filling my eyes. "They know who saved them."
