Chapter 7 - The Secret of the Tower
The next few days were a blur of medical checks and legal briefings.
Adeline was moved to a private suite on the top floor,
a place that felt more like a luxury hotel than a hospital.
Flowers arrived every hour,
not from Nick,
but from business associates who suddenly remembered she existed.
Lucien visited every evening.
He didn't bring flowers;
he brought reports.
He sat in the chair by the window,
the city lights reflecting in his dark eyes.
"Nick is desperate,"
Lucien said one night.
"His investors are pulling out."
"The news of his fraud has hit the stock market."
"Drayke Industries is bleeding."
Adeline looked at him,
curious about the man behind the power.
"Why did you wait so long?"
she asked.
"If you wanted to destroy him,"
"you could have done it years ago."
Lucien was silent for a moment,
the only sound the hum of the heart monitor.
"I was waiting for the right moment,"
he admitted.
"I was waiting for the person who could truly bring him down."
"I thought it would be a business rival,"
"or a government audit."
"But when I saw you,"
"wet and broken on that bus,"
"I realized the only person who could finish a Drayke,"
"is a Vance."
He stood up and walked to the bed,
leaning over the railing.
"Your father didn't just lose a company, Adeline."
"He kept a secret."
"A secret that Thomas Drayke would have killed for."
Adeline’s heart raced.
"What secret?"
"A piece of land,"
Lucien explained.
"Underneath the old Vance factory."
"It wasn't just industrial land."
"It’s sitting on the largest lithium deposit in the coastal region."
"Nick needs that land to save his company."
"And he thought that by marrying you,"
"and eventually divorcing you,"
"he could claim it through the marriage assets."
Adeline gasped.
The marriage hadn't been about love,
or even a mistake.
It had been a long-term heist.
"He never loved me,"
she whispered,
the final piece of the puzzle falling into place.
"He was just waiting for me to sign it over."
"But he didn't count on the babies,"
Lucien said.
"Because under the old Vance laws,"
"the land can only pass to a direct heir."
"If he doesn't have the children,"
"he doesn't get the land."
"And if he doesn't get the land,"
"he goes bankrupt."
Adeline felt a sudden,
sharp pain in her abdomen.
She gasped,
clutching the sheets.
"Lucien..."
He was at her side instantly,
his hand on the call button.
"Doctors!"
he shouted.
The room was suddenly filled with people in scrubs.
"The babies are coming,"
a doctor said,
his voice urgent.
"We have to go now!"
Adeline looked at Lucien,
terror filling her eyes.
"Don't let him in,"
she begged.
"Don't let him near them."
Lucien leaned down,
his forehead touching hers.
"I swear on my life,"
"he will never touch them."
"Go,"
"be strong,"
"and bring the Vances back to the world."
As she was wheeled away,
the last thing she saw was Lucien Arkwright,
May you like
standing like a guardian at the gate,
ready to fight the world for her.
