Chapter 3 - The Hostile Return
The Mercer Tower in Manhattan was a fortress of glass and steel. At 11:15 p.m., the executive boardroom on the sixtieth floor was fully illuminated. Julian was hosting a late-night champagne toast with our international partners to celebrate a massive acquisition.
He thought he was untouchable. He thought I was gone.
The heavy mahogany doors to the boardroom didn't just open. Marco kicked them off their reinforced hinges.
The wood splintered violently, the deafening crack echoing through the massive room. Women screamed. Champagne flutes shattered against the marble floor. Twelve heavily armed tactical operators flooded the room in perfect, terrifying synchronization, leveling their weapons and forcing the world’s most powerful executives against the glass walls.
Julian dropped his glass, the color completely draining from his arrogant face as I stepped out of the shadows and into the light.
"Luke?" Julian choked out, his hands trembling as he backed away from the head of the table. "What are you doing? You... you left the business!"
"I stepped away to protect the woman I loved," I corrected lethally, my voice a demonic rumble that sucked the oxygen straight out of the room. I walked slowly toward him, the sheer gravity of my presence making the executives whimper in fear. "And you used my absence to starve my pregnant wife."
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Julian’s eyes widened in absolute, unadulterated terror. "She... she's pregnant? Luke, I swear to God, I didn't know about the baby! I just wanted her gone so you would come back to the family!"
"I am the family," I whispered, stopping inches from his face.
