Chapter 4 - The Price of Blood
Adeline lay in the recovery room,
the smell of antiseptic heavy in the air.
The doctors had managed to stabilize her,
delaying the labor for a few more crucial days.
The babies needed more time,
and she needed to gather her strength.
She looked at the window,
where the rain was still lashing against the glass.
The hospital wing was silent,
guarded by men who looked like they were carved from stone.
Lucien was gone,
or so she thought,
until the door pushed open quietly.
He walked in,
holding a small cup of tea.
He looked tired,
the shadows under his eyes making him look more human.
"He won't come back tonight,"
Lucien said,
placing the tea on her bedside table.
Adeline looked at him,
truly looked at him,
wondering what a man like him wanted with a woman like her.
"Why are you doing this, Mr. Arkwright?"
she asked,
her voice soft and weary.
"You don't know me."
"We've never met until tonight."
Lucien sat in the chair beside her,
crossing his legs with effortless grace.
"We haven't met,"
he agreed,
"but I knew your father."
Adeline stiffened,
the memory of her father,
a man who had died in debt and disgrace,
stinging like a fresh wound.
"My father was a failed businessman,"
she whispered.
"He lost everything."
Lucien shook his head slowly.
"He didn't lose it, Adeline."
"It was stolen from him."
"By Thomas Drayke."
"Nick's father."
The revelation hit her like a physical blow.
She had married the son of the man who destroyed her family.
She hadn't known.
Her father had kept the details secret,
dying with his pride intact and his pockets empty.
"I've spent years watching the Draykes,"
Lucien continued,
his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"I've watched them take,
and break,
and ruin."
"When I saw you on that bus,"
"I didn't just see a woman in trouble."
"I saw the last piece of a debt that needed to be settled."
Adeline felt a chill that had nothing to do with the room temperature.
"So I'm just a pawn?"
she asked,
her heart sinking.
"Another way to get to Nick?"
Lucien reached out,
tilting her chin up with one finger.
"No,"
he said,
his gaze locking onto hers.
"You are the reason I'm going to finish them."
"Because no one,"
"not even a Drayke,"
"throws a woman into a storm with three lives inside her."
"Not on my watch."
He stood up to leave,
but Adeline grabbed his sleeve.
"Nick has the lawyers,"
she said,
panic rising in her throat.
"He'll try to take them."
"He'll say I'm unfit,"
"that I have no money,"
"that I'm homeless."
Lucien leaned down,
his face inches from hers.
"Let him try."
"By tomorrow morning,"
"you will be the wealthiest woman in Stonebridge."
"And he will be a man,"
"begging for a seat at the table he used to own."
He walked out,
leaving Adeline with a thousand questions,
May you like
and a strange,
terrifying sense of hope.
